[WBHG News] – The security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is rapidly deteriorating as Chinese and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels claim they have captured the regional capital of Goma.
On Saturday, 13 peacekeepers, including nine South African soldiers, were killed and another 11 wounded as fighting raged between M23 and the Congolese Army. Three soldiers attached to the U.N. mission in Congo from Mali and one from Uruguay were among the dead.
Regional leaders in Congo reported over 200 civilians have been killed in the last week, with “hundreds” in hospital.
By Sunday night, M23 rebels, supported by the Rwandan army, had reached the Munigi United Nations Camp on the N2 Highway, just 9 kilometers from the center of Goma and 4 kilometers from the international airport. Their leaders vowed they would have full control of the city within the next 48 hours and issued an ultimatum to the Congolese Army to lay down their arms.
Hours later, M23 leaders claimed they had captured the city, with videos showing M23 militants or Rwandan soldiers marching through empty streets. The Uruguayan National Army released photos of Congolese soldiers lined up to surrender their weapons to U.N. peacekeeping forces.
Earlier in the day, panicked residents of the Kanyaruchinya Refugee Camp were fleeing south on foot deeper into Goma. The sound of gunfire and artillery could be heard within the city, with the United Nations declaring there was a “mass panic.”
Diplomatic Efforts
On Saturday, the DRC severed all diplomatic ties with Rwanda and recalled its entire diplomatic staff “with immediate effect.”
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, told the Associated Press that Kinshasa made a unilateral decision “that was even published on social media before being sent to our embassy.”
In an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Sunday, the DRC ambassador to the U.N. accused Rwanda of sending their forces over the border, calling it equal to a “declaration of war” and demanded sanctions be placed. Rwanda did not deny the claim.
Rwanda’s ambassador to the U.N., Ernest Rwamucyo, accused the body of using its peacekeepers in the conflict and plotting to force “regime change” in Rwanda.
Last year, Kigali confirmed that it had troops and air defense systems in eastern Congo as a “safeguard” for its security, citing a provocative build-up by the Congolese Army. The U.N. estimates that there are 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, equal to a brigade, in the Congo.
The U.N. announced it was “temporarily relocating non-essential staff from Goma” but would continue its mission. During the Security Council session, the U.N. Special Representative for Congo said the staff was now trapped. The International Airport has been closed, and the city is cut off from all sides, with Lake Kivu to the south and Rwandan and M23 forces to the east and north.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Rwandan forces to withdraw and for Rwanda to end its support of M23 rebels. Gueterres’ spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said through a statement that the Secretary-General “reiterates his strongest condemnation of the M23 armed group’s ongoing offensive and advances towards Goma in North Kivu with the support of the Rwanda Defence Forces.”
The Security Council showed extremely rare unity, with Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian permanent ambassador to the U.N., calling for “an immediate cessation of hostilities, and [I] urge Rwanda and the DRC to return to the negotiating table under Angolan mediation.”
Nebenzia also condemned the DRC’s support of the ethnic Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a rebel faction that includes perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide within its leadership.
China, however, was muted in its response.
South Africa’s U.N. ambassador, Mathu Joyini, condemned the death of nine of their peacekeepers and blamed M23. “Nine of these fallen peacekeepers are South Africans who showed immense bravery amidst relentless attacks from the M23,” Joyini told the council. “These attacks from the M23 are in violation of the ceasefire that was brokered through the Luanda Process…We deplore these unwarranted attacks against [U.N. peacekeepers] and the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC).”
The acting U.S. Ambassador warned Rwanda that Washington would “consider all tools at its disposal” to hold those responsible for continuing the conflict. French officials also appealed for Rwanda to withdraw its forces immediately and end its support of M23.
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame in Ankara, said he was prepared to serve as a mediator to end the conflict. Kagame praised Erdoğan, citing his “mediating role in various conflicts, bringing Somalia and Ethiopia together.”
Over the last 25 years, Türkiye has significantly expanded its sphere of influence in Africa, with major economic, diplomatic, and military support activities in Libya, Algeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and Rwanda. Additionally, Türkiye almost tripled its diplomatic presence on the continent, opening 32 new embassies since 2002, and established its largest overseas military base in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Historical Context
War, genocide, violence, natural disasters, and food insecurity have ravaged Rwanda and the DRC for over 30 years. Last year, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reported over 25 million people in the DRC, “approximately one-quarter of the population, are facing conflict, violence, and disasters” due to 25 years of unrest. An estimated 6 million people have died from non-natural causes during the same period.
Local U.N. representatives estimate over 400,000 people have been internally displaced in the Goma region since January 1.
The current conflict in the eastern DRC is partially rooted in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, when the Hutu majority, led by Théoneste Bagosora, killed up to one million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu supporters in just 100 days. Another 250,000 to 500,000 Tutsi women were sexually assaulted.
Since 2009, Rwanda and elements within the DRC have used the genocide as an excuse to back ethnic Tutsi forces, claiming that the threat from ethnic Hutus remains. Within Rwanda, ethnic Tutsi rebels with the FDLR are backed by Congo as a destabilizing force. The group is small and has little political power.
Tutsis are more integrated into political power structures in the DRC and, to a lesser extent, Uganda. Regional experts estimate that M23 only has 5,000 fighters.
M23 was formed in 2012 and took control of Goma in June of the same year. The non-governmental rebels withdrew after significant international pressure was placed on Rwanda, but fighting between almost 100 different factions has never stopped.
In July 2024, Rwanda and the DRC signed a formal ceasefire, which was to take effect in August. Fighting only stopped briefly and continued to escalate through the fall. On December 15, Kigali and Kinshasa canceled plans to renew talks.
Military Support and International Presence
Rwanda’s military is backed by the BRICS nations of Brazil, China, and India and receives additional weapons and ammunition support from Serbia and Türkiye. Despite the oppositional position of the Russian Federation in the U.N. Security Council, Rwanda also receives support from several African nations in the Sahel, including the Central African Republic and Mali.
Open-source intelligence shows that China is arming M23, with Rwanda serving as the intermediary. Beijing and Kigali have repeatedly denied the claims, but pictures and videos of M23 forces show they are well-equipped with Chinese kit and weapons.
Egypt, Brazil, China, France, and Türkiye support the DRC’s military, although most heavy weapons were purchased before 2010. Up until 2014, Ukraine was the largest arms supplier to the Congo, selling mostly second-hand Soviet-era tanks and armored vehicles. The DRC also received limited support from several European nations, including Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.
Up to 1,000 Russian mercenaries, including elements of the Rosgvardiya Afrika Corps (formerly PMC Wagner Group), are stationed in the DRC. However, there is no evidence that they are engaged in direct fighting against M23 and their Rwandan Army backers.
The U.N. Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has an estimated 16,000 foreign peacekeepers on the ground and another 2,500 administrative and support personnel.
The Southern African Development Community formed SAMIDRC in December 2023 in support of the U.N. Currently, a regional force of 2,900 peacekeepers from Malawi, South Africa, and the United Republic of Tanzania are deployed.
The Humanitarian Crisis
The DRC is roughly the size of Western Europe and is one of the most mineral-rich nations on the planet. Despite being in the Sub-Sahara, it has significant forests, water, and hydropower resources. The nation has direct access to the Atlantic Ocean, and its main port is located in Banana.
Despite the material wealth and water resources, the DRC is the third poorest nation in Africa by GDP Purchasing Power Parity, only ahead of the Central African Republic and Burundi. In 2022, the U.N. reported that 60% of the population lives on less than $1.90 per day.
According to the IPC, over 3 million Congolese, mostly in refugee camps in the east, are on the brink of famine, and the entire population of almost 100 million suffers from some degree of food insecurity.
M23 and their Rwandan military backers and the Congolese Army have both been accused of human rights violations and atrocities since fighting erupted in 2012. International Humanitarian Law violations have included looting, sexual violence, extrajudicial executions, the intentional targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, forced conscription, and the use of child soldiers.
A Proxy War for the Largest Cobalt Deposits in the World
Congo’s mineral wealth includes large deposits of tantalum, gold, and high-grade copper ore. The country also has commercially viable deposits of lithium and diamonds and proven oil reserves of 180 million barrels. However, the most valuable resource within the DRC is cobalt, where almost half of the known global reserves are located.
Cobalt is a critical element for the production of many common items, including polish, dyes, alloys, and car airbags. However, over the past 15 years, demand has exploded due to its importance in the production of rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries used by electric vehicles, electronics, and cell phones. According to public records compiled by the U.N., in 2024, Rwanda exported more cobalt ore than it produced.
Some have accused the European Union of complicity in the conflict after Brussels signed a “Memorandum of Understanding of Sustainable Raw Material Value Chains” with Rwanda in February 2024. Beyond cobalt, the agreement declared that Rwanda “is a major player in [sic] the world’s tantalum extraction” and that “a tantalum refinery will soon be operational.”
The document added that the partnership would “contribute to ensuring a sustainable supply of…especially critical raw materials, as an essential prerequisite for delivering on green and clean energy objectives.”
Tantalum is a critical mineral for the production of small capacitors, which are found in many electronic devices, including computers and cell phones.
Across the border in the DRC, China controls almost all of the cobalt mining interests. In a 2024 report for the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, Farrell Gregory and Paul J. Milas concluded, “The DRC produces 80% of the world’s cobalt, and Chinese state-owned enterprises and policy banks control 80% of the total output.”
Nine of the ten largest cobalt mines in the world are in the DRC, and five of them are owned by Chinese companies.
Today, almost 80% of the world’s refined cobalt is used to produce rechargeable batteries. China consumes about one-third of the global supply, with Tesla and Volkswagen Group among the largest customers. North America (Canada, United States, Mexico) is in second place, using approximately 23%, followed by Europe, which consumes approximately 18% of global production.
With M23 and Rwanda now in control of Goma, Africa’s longest continuous conflict has no end in sight.
[Kent, WA – WBHG News] – A King County Judge sentenced former Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson to almost 17 years in prison for the 2019 murder of Jesse Sarey.
Nelson was convicted in June 2024 for the in-the-line-of-duty shooting of Sarey and became the first police officer convicted under I-940. The 2018 law removed the “malice of heart” standard to charge police officers with negligent shootings.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Nicole Phelps asked Nelson if he wanted to make a statement on his own behalf, which he declined. The judge handed down a 200 month sentence for second-degree murder and 123 months for first-degree assault, with the sentences to run concurrently – or 16 years and 8 months. The sentence aligned with the prosecutor’s recommendation.
In their sentencing recommendation, King County Special Prosecutor Patty Eakes wrote, “Doing so will reflect Nelson’s long history of violence towards the less powerful, the egregious nature of his conduct, his dishonesty, and the great damage he has caused in our community.”
Nelson’s defense attorney, Kristen Murray, argued that “Officer Nelson chose a career in law enforcement because he was driven by his sense of duty to others” and requested a sentence of 6.5 years.
During the hearing, Judge Phelps had to stop the proceedings and clear the courtroom after people watching on Zoom started holding up pornographic pictures. Nelson’s sentence had already been rendered when the online protest started.
Sarey was murdered on May 31, 2019, after Nelson responded to a disturbance call at an Auburn Walgreens and had a brief interaction with him. Sarey then crossed the street and was outside Sunshine Grocery in the middle of a mental health episode. A manager of a nearby Starbucks called 911, claiming that Sarey was “attempting to access cars” in the parking lot. That claim was never substantiated.
Nelson arrived at Sunshine Grocery and, according to his official statement about the incident, had “the intent to arrest Sarey for disorderly conduct.” The entire interaction lasted 67 seconds. Nelson tried to handcuff Sarey, but he resisted. Multiple videos show that Nelson punched Sarey seven times and tried to throw him to the ground. He then pushed him up against the wall of the store and shot him in the chest. Sarey fell to the ground and, according to the autopsy, was already mortally wounded from the bullet that shredded his liver.
Nelson tried to fire a second time, but the gun jammed. Surveillance videos show he cleared the round, looked briefly, and fired for a third time, shooting Sarey in the forehead. The time from the first to the third shot was under four seconds.
Because of where Nelson parked his police cruiser, the dashboard camera did not record the details of the incident, and Auburn police did not wear body cameras. The barking of his K9 dog drowned out most of the audio from Nelson’s microphone.
In the official police report from the Auburn Police Department, released on August 16, 2019, Nelson claimed that Sarey had tried to take his service weapon from him during the struggle, which is why he shot him. The surveillance videos in the area did not show a struggle for the gun.
Nelson was charged with murder and assault in August 2020 and, due to the COVID pandemic and legal procedures, repeatedly delayed his trial until June 2024. During that time, he continued to collect his salary and benefits from Auburn, almost $100,000 a year.
After his 2024 conviction, Nelson was supposed to be sentenced on July 16. His lawyers appealed and, by the end of the year, had exhausted all legal avenues.
In an 8-1/2 year span, Nelson killed three people in the line of duty, including Sarey. Law enforcement experts said that it is highly unusual for an officer to be involved in three on-duty shootings during an entire police career and that most officers will never draw their service weapon.
In 2011, he fatally shot Brain Scaman after pulling him over for a burnt-out headlight. Scaman, a Vietnam War veteran with a known mental health history, exited the car with a knife, refused to drop it, was was shot in the head. An inquest determined Nelson’s actions were justified.
In 2017, Nelson shot Isiah Obet in the torso and then the head after releasing his service dog on the suspect. Nelson claimed that Obet was acting erratically and was armed with a knife. While the Auburn Police Department claimed there was no wrongdoing, the city reached a civil settlement of $1.25 million with Obet’s family.
Since Nelson’s 2020 arraignment, the City of Auburn settled a $4 million civil rights claim with Sarey’s family and has paid out almost $2 million additional to settle other civil claims against Nelson and other officers.
[Kirkland, WA – WBHG News] – During the 2024 United States elections, inflation and grocery prices took center stage, with the blame for post-COVID inflation placed on politicians from both parties, corporations, and private equity firms. President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to lower grocery prices, while his opponents and some economists argued that the White House doesn’t have much direct control over the price of Kraft mac and cheese or a gallon of gasoline.
Inflation at the grocery store has been a very real problem for Americans since 2020, caused by COVID-19 supply chain disruptions. The reasons why prices have continued to increase, and inflation has remained stubborn are complex and go beyond national politics. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) peaked in 2022 at 8.0% and has since dropped to 3.2% in 2024. Economists prefer to see an inflation rate between 2% and 3%, so the U.S. economy remains slightly overheated. Additionally, CPI doesn’t account for shrinkflation, when companies make a product smaller without changing the price.
During Trump’s inauguration, our team benchmarked grocery, fuel, and fast food prices in Kirkland to track over the next four years. Will grocery prices drop now that the Republicans have control of the House, Senate, the White House, and confirmed a majority of the sitting Supreme Court justices?
Methodology
Our team established the following rules for identifying what items to track and how to keep the methodology as fair as possible.
We benchmarked prices using national brands, which are less impacted by local market fluctuations, with two exceptions. We benchmarked milk based on the Kroger store brand and ground beef using Kroger’s Simple Truth organic brand. Dairies in the United States are regional, which impacts local prices and supply. Four corporations control most of the meat product distribution and pricing in the United States, and the house Kroger brand provides a fixed product with a known weight.
We decided not to track the price of eggs or poultry due to the bird flu epidemic, which is decimating egg and poultry production across the United States. The current outbreak is outside of the control of the previous and current administration. Further, the egg cases in the local stores were practically empty and missing most of their price tags.
We did not benchmark the price of fresh produce because Washington is one of the largest producers of some items in the country, such as apples. This increases our supply and variety, which lowers our regional prices. In contrast, fresh corn and lettuce are more expensive in the winter months compared to the southern United States due to the need to import these items over very long distances. Additionally, prices are impacted by acts of God and weather, creating another layer of complexity.
The size of each product was carefully recorded, including the unit count and the weight or volume of each unit within the package. This will enable our team to track shrinkflation, which could hide a price increase.
We will recheck the prices once a month on the 20th. In the event that one of the stores we benchmarked is closed on the 20th, we will check prices on the closest opening day after the 20th. If a location permanently closes, we will record prices as the next closest location, preferably within Kirkland.
Prices from McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Domino’s were logged using their respective apps and are determined without using any coupons, incentives, or benefits from customer loyalty programs.
We Couldn’t Benchmark Every Item on our List
During our audit, we noted that almost all items were on sale or had new price reductions in the Kroger-branded stores in the Kirkland area. Some of the sale tags showed the normal retail price, while others didn’t. We were unable to benchmark shampoo, toothpaste, razors, canned and frozen vegetables, and other popular items.
In other cases, there were problems with the posted price tags. For example, we wanted to benchmark Cascade automatic dishwashing pods, which is the most popular national brand. However, the item on the shell was 62 count, while the price tag reflected a 57 count product. We could not determine if the 57 count price was an error or misplaced under the slightly larger product being sold or if Cascade is rolling out a smaller package.
We photographed each product with its published price tag, documenting the count, weight, and volume.
Here are the Products
We will track the prices of 27 popular items, regular unleaded gasoline, and three popular fast food brands. We will publish our next update on February 21.
Item
Weight, Volume, Quantity
January 20, 2025, Non-sale Price
Most Recent Price
Change
Dairy Products
Whole Milk – Kroger Brand
128 fluid ounces
$3.99
Land O Lakes Unsalted Butter
4 count – total weight 16 ounces
$6.99
Kraft Singles American processed cheese food product
24 individual slices – 16 ounces by weight
$6.29
Household Products
Tide 3-in-1 Pods laundry detergent
112 count – 93 ounces
$27.99
Dawn Ultra dishwashing soap
38 fluid ounces
$6.29
Bounty 6=12 doubles paper towels
6 2-ply rolls, 58 11 inches X 10.2 inches sheets per roll, 270 square feet
$14.99
Breakfast Foods
Cheerios toasted oat cereal
18 ounces
$5.99
Starbucks Pike Place Roast ground coffee – medium roast
12 2-ply rolls, 220 3.92 inches x 4 inches sheets per roll, 287 square feet
$16.99
Snack and Convenience Foods
Red Baron brick oven crust pepperoni pizza
17.89 ounces
$4.99
Hot Pockets Pepperoni Pizza flavor
8 count – total weight 36 ounces
$10.99
Oreo cookies
18.12 ounces
$4.99
Doritos – Cool Ranch Flavor – party size
14.5 ounces
$6.99
Coca-Cola – canned, sweetened with corn syrup
12 count – 12 fluid ounce cans
$9.99
Soups and Broths
Swanson chicken broth
32 fluid ounces
$2.99
Quick Meals
Prego Traditional jarred prepared pasta sauce, tomato
24 ounces by weight
$2.79
Barilla rotini pasta
16 ounces
$1.99
Kraft mac & cheese dinner, original flavor
7.25 ounces
$1.29
Wonder Bread, white, sliced
20 ounces
$3.99
Staples
C&H premium pure can granulated sugar in bag
64 ounces
$4.99
Pillsbury Best All Purpose Flour, bleached and enriched
80 ounces
$5.69
Condiments
Hidden Valley Ranch ranch salad dressing
16 fluid ounces
$4.39
Heinz real tomato ketchup in the easy squeeze bottle
20 ounces
$3.99
Gasoline
Regular unleaded E-10 87-octane gasoline at the Totem Lake Fred Meyer location
128 fluid ounces
$3.71-9/10, which includes 18.4 cents federal motor fuel tax, 49.4 cents Washington state gasoline tax, and approximately 43.4 cents for Washington state cap and trade fees
Fast Food
McDonald’s Big Mac meal at the 124th Ave NE, Kirkland, location
BigMac with 2 2-ounce beef patties, medium French fry, and medium 21 fluid ounce Coca-Cola with regular ice
$11.49 before tax
Taco Bell 3 Crunch Taco Combo at the 124th Ave NE, Kirkland, location
3 hard shell tacos with ground beef filling, included toppings, and a large 30 fluid ounces Pepsi with regular ice
$8.69 before tax
Domino’s large Ultimate Pepperoni pizza for store pickup at the 100th Ave NE, Kirkland location
14″ pizza with hand-tossed crust, pepperoni (extra), shredded parmesan asiago and provolone cheeses, and tomato sauce
Former United States President Jimmy Carter passed away in his Georgia home surrounded by family. He was 100 years old. He is survived by his four children: Jack, Chip, Jeff, and Amy; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. His wife passed in November 2023 due to complications from dementia.
Carter was the 39th President, serving from January 1977 to January 1981 during a turbulent time in U.S. history. He is best known for the 1978 Camp David Accords, which settled decades of dispute between Israel and Egypt, including the return of the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had occupied after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He also negotiated the Salt II Nuclear Arms Treaty in June 1979 but asked Congress to suspend ratification after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
James Earl Carter Junior was born on 1 October 1924 in Plains, Georgia, and was the first American President to be born in a hospital. He graduated high school in 1941 and studied at Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where he joined the Reserve Officer’s Training Corps. In 1943, he was assigned to the U.S. Naval Academy, a lifelong goal, and graduated in 1946. He met with his wife while at the Academy, and they married shortly after his graduation.
Carter served as a Navy officer from 1946 to 1953. In 1951, he was assigned to the submarine USS K-1 and eventually became its executive officer. In 1952, he was transferred to the command of Captain Hyman Rickover, who led the U.S. Navy’s new nuclear submarine program.
On 12 December 1952, an accident at the experimental NRX reactor at Atomic Energy of Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories caused a partial meltdown, flooding the basement area with radioactive water and debris. Carter was ordered to the facility and led a team of soldiers with other members of the U.S. and Canadian military to clean up the accident and decommission the reactor. Carter and his subordinates were lowered into the radioactive areas for 90-second periods to carry out complex tasks and help drain the contaminated water.
In 1953, Carter was supposed to be transferred to the USS Seawolf, the second nuclear power submarine in the U.S. Navy. However, his father died in the same year, and he received a discharge so he could take over the family’s peanut farm.
He entered politics a decade later and was a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967. Carter attempted to run for governor in 1966 and was defeated in the primary. In 1970, he won a bitter election in the post-Equal Rights Amendment South to become Georgia’s 76th governor from 1971 to 1975.
In 1976, he was elected as the 39th President against incumbent Gerald Ford, who became President on 9 August 1974 when then President Richard M. Nixon resigned due to the Watergate Scandal. He won with just 50.1% of the popular vote, taking 297 electoral votes, receiving virtually no support west of the Mississippi River.
After his Presidency, Carter remained extremely active in international diplomacy, working toward conflict resolution in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
In 1984, Carter and his wife formed the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project to support the charity now known as Habitat for Humanity. On their 40th wedding anniversary in 1986, they assisted in renovating four Chicago-area homes. Over the next 40 years, Carter’s foundation would help build over 4,350 homes, and as recently as 2019, he was still swinging a hammer.
In 1986, the Carter Center started the Guinea Worm Eradication Program. In the 1980s, almost four million people in 21 countries were infected by a parasitic roundworm that would enter the body during its larval stage. Growing up to a meter long, they would slowly emerge through the skin, causing excruciating pain. The parasite is on the brink of elimination, with only 16 probable cases reported in 2023.
In 2015, Carter was diagnosed with cancer of the liver and underwent surgery. Doctors found he had melanoma, a type of skin cancer, that had also spread to his brain. Carter had hip replacement surgery in 2019, followed by a brain bleed due to a fall and then a series of hospitalizations. In early 2023, he ended his medical treatment and moved to in-home hospice.
With 44 years of hindsight, most historians consider Carter a “below average” President but one of the most effective past presidents in U.S. history due to his diplomatic, humanitarian, and peacekeeping efforts.
[WBHG NEWS – Seattle, WA] – The Seattle-area abandoned Tesla Cybertruck, known on the internet as “Cyberstuck,” ended up in a Copart junkyard waiting to be sold at auction.
Back in early September, pictures were shared on Reddit about the Cybertruck parked on Martin Luther King Way. The $90,235 Tesla, with its love-it-or-hate-it looks, had its license plates removed and its rear wheel twisted in an odd way. In the following days, news articles spread around the world, and the truck even became a listed tourist attraction on Google Maps called “Cyberstuck.”
A Redditor claimed to have spoken to the owner in early September, who said that his Cybertruck had “a kid hit [it]…a few weeks ago and was still trying to figure out the insurance to get it fixed.”
The fun of the Cyberstuck tourist spot didn’t last long. On the night of September 10, the City of Seattle had the Tesla towed away. A video showed the Cybertruck, with its unique suspension damage, being towed by Lang Towing, Inc., which has been providing “towing and storage services in District III” for the Seattle Police Department since 2001.
Even though the visible body damage was limited to some plastic pieces by the driver’s side rear wheel, the Cyberstuck turned into Cyberjunk, ending up at a junkyard in Arlington, Washington. In mid-November, it was listed on Copart’s website with 12 photos. The company says the salvage value of this once $90,000 truck is now down to $31,156. The mileage is officially listed as “zero,” but there are no keys, so no one can check the odometer.
Photo credit – Copart
Claims on social media that the Seattle Cybertruck was vandalized are untrue. Pictures that recently circulated claiming to show the windows smashed and other damage are from a different wrecked Tesla in a Texas Copart yard.
Many reviews of the Cybertruck, which started selling in November 2023, have pointed out that its suspension might not be strong enough for its 7,000-pound weight, especially considering Tesla’s marketing claims. Owners have posted photos of bent or broken parts of the rear suspension. These issues are often seen in photos and videos where some of the wheels are twisted, just like Seattle’s Cyberstuck.
However, the photos raise more questions than they answer. The only clear damage is around the driver’s side rear wheel, with just a bit of rust on the front trunk from sitting in the rain. Today, Copart has 21 salvage Cybertrucks up for sale across the U.S. Three of these are totaled because of front or rear suspension damage, but they have more damage than the famous one in Arlington.
It will remain a mystery how Seattle’s Cyberstuck Cybertruck ended up as Cyberjunk unless its eventual new owner shares more information.
[WBHG News – Kirkland, WA] Puget Sound Energy reported almost 39,000 customers were without power after a late morning windstorm moved through Puget Sound. Whidbey Island was the hardest hit, with scattered outages reported in Kirkland, Bellevue, Sammamish, Mercer Island, and Bainbridge Island.
Sustained winds at Paine Field in Everett reached 30 MPH with gusts to 56 MPH. At Seatac International Airport, a gust of 47 MPH was recorded. At the storm’s peak, over 64,000 homes and businesses were without power. Trees weakened by the November 19 windstorm, which knocked out power in some areas for a week, were toppled across the region.
December 14, 2024 – Downed trees tore down powerlines and damaged electrical infrastructure in Kirkland, Washington. Photo credit – David Obelcz
In Kirkland, NE 112th Street was blocked by a down tree, which damaged utility poles, power lines, and Internet cables. Kirkland police had blocked off the area. At the time of publication, Puget Sound Energy’s outage map indicated that many ongoing outages should have been resolved between 1 PM and 5 PM but did not have crews assigned.
Over the last 12 months, over 1,100 unrecorded charter flights have arrived in Managua, Nicaragua, carrying more than 80,000 people from North Africa, the Middle East, India, and China, with hopes of reaching the United States. Border incidents spiked in early 2024 as Russian state media, propagandists, and their proxies amplified stories about the southwestern border crisis.
A months-long investigation, including interviewing victims, uncovered a complex web of propagandists, government officials, charter flight executives, and human traffickers selling hope of a better life in the United States via Nicaragua. What many find on their road to the southwest border is crippling debt to human smugglers, a dangerous journey through Guatemala and Mexico, and no guarantee of entry or asylum when they reach the United States.
Nicaragua’s involvement started in 2021, but in the spring of 2023, French language immigration ads targeting the citizens of Africa’s coup belt in the Sahel exploded, promising easy access to the United States. Some of the ads are financially backed by self-described Stalinist Luc Michel and his Rossosphere network and other Russian and pro-Russian sources. The social media influence campaign worked, fueling a 500% increase in United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) encounters with African nationals in 2023 that continues today.
According to CBP data, through June 2024, 54.5% of all encounters at the southwest land border of the United States were with citizens from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. In 2014, it was 96.2%. Some of the shift is due to a sharp increase in the number of Haitians and Cubans attempting to cross the border, who are also part of the Nicaraguan pipeline.
Lost in the CBP 2023 data, an estimated 60,000 people from African nations were arrested at the southwest border, a 500% increase from 2022. Over one-third of those arrested from July to December 2023 were from Senegal.
US: Large numbers of single adult men from all over the world are crossing illegally into Border Patrol’s Tucson, AZ sector.
Our team shot this video in Lukeville, AZ, where men from Africa have been crossing daily, Bill Melugin reports.
A shadowy network of travel agents, tour companies, and charter airlines, supported by advertising on WhatsApp and Telegram and social media influencers on TikTok and Twitter (also known as X), charge migrants $10,000 to $100,000 for transport to Nicaragua, then a taxi ride to Honduras, and overland travel by handlers to the United States-Mexico border.
Changes in Nicaraguan visa laws and the selling of special immigration visas by the Daniel Ortega regime have turned Mangua into what some activists call a hub for human trafficking.
Russia and its alliance of nations have weaponized immigration in Europe, with Poland and Finland bearing the brunt of attempted border crossings. Moscow has learned that anti-immigration sentiment is a hot-button issue for pro-Russian isolationists and uses information warfare to amplify fear and misinformation, with increasingly violent results. In 2023, investigators in Europe found that Moscow went further and was directly involved in funneling migrants from Northern Africa and the Middle East to the Polish border through Belarus and the Finnish border.
Nicaragua’s Weaponization of U.S. Immigration is Profitable
Passports from African nations are among the weakest in the world, requiring travelers from a majority of countries to apply for visas before arrival. In late 2021, Nicaraguan Dictator Daniel Ortega loosened visa requirements for Cubans, Haitians, and several African nations and made further changes in early 2023. Despite the formal immigration policies, a program was created to sell visas at Nicaragua’s points of entry to immigrants arriving on charter flights. Their information is undocumented, and they don’t receive a passport stamp.
May 2024 – Irregular migrants from Africa outside the main airport terminal at Augusto Cesar Sandino International Airport in Managua, Nicaragua, awaiting transport to the Honduras border – photo credit AriosMedios, photographer name withheld for their protection
Called irregular migrants, upon arrival, they pay between $150 and $250 in cash to Nicaragua’s General Directorate of Migration and Immigration (GDMI). The funds are classified as “other service fees” and “fines” by the Ortega regime and netted $43.5 million in 2023, almost 65% of the income collected by the GDMI. Reviewing public records from 2021 and 2022, the revenue from “other service fees” grew by 62% in 2023.
Migrants have been instructed to hire a taxi driver, who will charge around $50 for the 5-hour drive to the Honduras border or are met by handlers. The drivers who wait for the migrants are authorized to access the airport and use the same taxi stands for tourist and business travelers. They gather as the charter flights arrive, with some walking outside the airport, holding up the pictures and names of the irregular migrants they’ve been pre-hired to transport.
People from Africa and the Middle East pay agencies between $5,000 and $10,000 for charter flights from Dakar, Dubai, Madrid, and Casablanca and another $3,000 to $5,000 for the journey to the U.S. border. Citizens of India and China, which make up a much smaller percentage of immigrants, are charged as much as $96,000 while receiving a “white glove” experience. The common experience between them all is the charter flight to Managua.
The human trade isn’t limited to the Middle East and Africa. Through October 2023, charter flight operators flew over 35,000 people out of Haiti and up to 20,000 from Cuba, charging $3,000 to $5,000 for the short flight to Managua. On October 31, 2023, the Port-au-Prince government banned all charter flights to Nicaragua, leaving thousands stranded and in debt. Before the ban, 60% of Haitians arriving at the Southwest border connected through Nicaragua.
In June, the U.S. government accused Ortega and his wife of putting in place “migration policies that have introduced opportunities for migrant smuggling and trafficking networks to exploit migrants for economic gain and fuel dangerous, irregular travel towards the U.S. southwest border.”
Fear Sells Plane Tickets and Funds Human Smugglers
The cheaper route for migration to the United States is via flights to Brazil, Columbia, and Venezuela. However, this route requires a 130-kilometer crossing of the Darien Gap. The region divides Panama and Columbia and is made up of mosquito-infested swamps, rainforests, and steep mountains. Less than 9,000 people live in the region, which has no infrastructure, not even primitive roads. The terrain isn’t the only danger. Human traffickers, cartels, kidnappers, and robbers operate throughout the gap, targeting people moving north.
In May 2023, the migrant route through Managua became so popular that the Nicaraguan government hired a Dubai-based company to train Nicaragua’s civil aviation officials to create and manage immigration procedures for the charter flights.
El Salvador was also a growing port of entry for migrants seeking access to the United States. In October 2023, the country added a $1,130 per person tax on travelers arriving from 57 countries, mostly in Africa, to deter irregular immigration.
Russia’s 40-Year History with Dictator Daniel Ortega and a Renewed Relationship
Ortega has opposed the United States since the 1980s when he led the Soviet-backed Sandinistas against the United States-backed Contra rebels. He and his wife, Rosario Murillo, have ruled Nicaragua as dictators since 2007 and embraced Russia in 2015. In 2016, Moscow donated 50 T-72 main battle tanks, with Nicaragua’s neighbors expressing concern over the import of heavy weapons. In 2017, Russia built a GLONASS satellite navigation ground station and, in 2022, established a small permanent military base.
Also, in 2022, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on three Nicaraguan entities for “repressive actions” and a failure to decrease human smuggling through the country. One of the sanctioned companies is a Russian training center operating in Managua since October 2017 that enables anti-democratic behavior and repression. A press release from the Treasury Department said Russia was one of Nicaragua’s “main partners” and accused Russia of providing specialized courts for the Nicaraguan National Police. Moscow backs “a repressive state apparatus, carrying out extrajudicial killings, using live ammunition against peaceful protests, and even participating in death squads.”
Highlighting the strength of the relationship between Managua and Moscow, on October 12, 2022, Nicaragua was one of only four countries in the United Nations that voted against condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, joining The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and Syria.
Honduras Supports the Nicaraguan Route by Creating a Legal Path
In response to the growing tension along the Nicaragua border and the increasing number of undocumented migrants reaching Honduras, the government created a program that permits undocumented migrants to pass through the country if they exit within five days. In 2023, Honduras also waived fines normally levied on irregular migrants trying to buy bus tickets, as it left thousands stranded.
When taxi drivers drop off the irregular migrants on the border, they are greeted by handlers who provide one-night lodging with a meal and assistance on their journey through Honduras. The agencies and handlers complete the government paperwork and give the migrants a bright yellow bracelet. The bracelet identifies them as “legal travelers” through Honduras, so the police do not stop them. They travel in groups of 20 to 100 and connect with new handlers in Guatemala.
These programs have turned Honduras into a sort of rest area before the harder and more dangerous journey through Guatemala and Mexico.
Nicaragua is Working with Russia to Influence U.S. Politics and Elections
Speaking with El Pais, Manuel Orozco, a migration expert and analyst at The Inter-American Dialogue, said that Ortega’s ultimate goal is to provoke the United States. “Ortega said that they were going to send migrants to the United States. So, the motivation is fundamentally political and ideological due to the hatred that Ortega has for the U.S.”
Russia has run similar hybrid warfare campaigns across Europe with mixed results. Illegal immigration, particularly from the Sahel and Northern Africa, was front and center during recent elections in The Netherlands, Germany, and France.
In November 2023, Finland closed its border crossing with Russia due to the weaponization of immigration and Moscow’s direct involvement.
The situation on Poland’s border with Belarus is worse. Middle East agencies have created videos mocking Polish border guards, openly showing that Russia and Belarus are directly involved in their transit. In May, a Polish soldier was stabbed to death by a migrant attempting to cross the Belarus-Polish border. On July 13, the Polish Seym approved a law that authorizes border guards and soldiers to fire live ammunition at migrants for “self-defense” and in a “preventative manner.”
Russian and Iranian Anti-immigration Disinformation Campaigns Fueled Riots in the United Kingdom
A shocking demonstration of how powerful Russia’s hybrid warfare campaigns have become played out in the United Kingdom. On July 29, 17-year-old Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, a British citizen born in Cardiff, entered a studio in Southport, stabbed three children to death, and seriously injured eight more and two adults. The victims were attending a summer Taylor Swift-themed dance lesson, and the injured adults tried to stop the attack. A Russian disinformation campaign amplified by far-right parties in the U.K. led to two days of riots, dozens injured, and shops, cars, homes, and a mosque vandalized and burned.
On July 29, while emergency services were still removing the injured, a Russian disinformation campaign started. It was quickly picked up and amplified by the targeted audience. Posts on social media, especially Twitter (also known as X), alleged the attacker was a 20-year-old Islamic extremist who arrived illegally in the U.K. by crossing the English Channel in a boat. They claimed he was a political refugee seeking asylum despite being on a terrorist watch list, and the stabbings were an act of Islamic-motivated terrorism. Those claims were picked up by fake news sites with legitimating sound names and amplified by British tabloids and even ITV, better known as Channel 3.
The false claims spread on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, and Instagram and were viewed over 18 million times and amplified by large accounts, including Tommy Robinson, accused rapist Andrew Tate, and British politician Nigel Farage.
On extreme right-wing social media channels, white nationalists and isolations planned protests, which quickly devolved into riots. In an attempt to quell the unrest, British officials made the unusual step of providing as much information about the suspect within the law as British born with immigrant parents. It did nothing to quell the unrest, which left Southport shattered and local residents feeling they were attacked for a second time.
On August 1, the British court took the extraordinary step of releasing the juvenile attacker’s name and providing press access to his first hearing. Rudakubana didn’t arrive by boat, wasn’t on a terrorist watch list, and isn’t an Islamic extremist.
Prosecutors told the court that he was diagnosed with autism and had been “unwilling to leave the house and communicate with family for a period of time.” The British tabloid The Mirror interviewed neighbors, who described the teen as shy but happy, a lover of singing and music, actively involved with the local church, and, from outward appearances, having supportive parents.
In the aftermath of the disinformation-fueled violence, new U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed that the far-right rioters would face the “full force of the law.” He added that the “criminal disorder” was “clearly driven by far-right hatred” and issued a warning to social media firms. “Let me also say to large social media companies and those who run them. Violent disorder clearly whipped up online: that is also a crime. It’s happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere.”
Hours later, Twitter’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk, responded with exclamation points to a tweet by Tommy Robinson, condemning Starmer for calling the rioters “thugs” and for giving “police more power to prevent further protests.” While a small act, Musk alleges to have over 190 million followers, wielding massive global influence.
The protests are far from over, with up to 30 right-wing and anti-immigration organizations planning to descend on Southport this weekend. A new disinformation campaign is spreading on Twitter, accusing a Muslim extremist of being arrested for having a knife near the damaged mosque in Southport. The man arrested was Jordan Davies, 32, a known British white supremacist.
Weaponized immigration also brought unrest to the United States. In February 2024, hundreds of protesters descended on Eagle Pass, Texas, after Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of emergency and blocked federal officials from accessing a small area of the United States-Mexico border. Those protests were fueled in part by a surge in immigration fueled by the actions of Nicaragua and amplified on social media platforms.
Russian disinformation campaigns made wild claims and actively encouraged the decades-long Texas Secession movement. The right-wing protesters who arrived at Eagle Pass discovered that undocumented migrants arrived in a steady stream of small groups, and along nearby areas on the border, only desert could be found. Others were surprised to find few Latin Americans crossing the border.
The Biden Administration and Other Nations are Quietly Fighting Back
The Biden Administration has quietly taken steps to stem the flow. Sanctions announced on May 15 included over 250 members of the Nicaraguan government, including “select non-government actors for their roles in supporting the Ortega-Murillo regime in its attacks on human rights and fundamental freedoms, repression of civil society organizations and profiting off of vulnerable migrants.”
On June 13, the State Department imposed visa restrictions on an unnamed executive of a “charter flight transport company” for facilitating irregular migration to the United States via Nicaragua from outside the Western Hemisphere.” Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the State Department, said the unnamed individual preys “on vulnerable migrants by operating services designed primarily to facilitate irregular migration to the United States. At the same time, the Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua continues to financially benefit from the exploitation of vulnerable migrants.”
Two days later, it was announced that more sanctions had been imposed. Visa restrictions were added to additional “owners, executives, and senior officials of companies providing transportation by land, sea, or charter air designed for use primarily by persons intending to migrate irregularly to the United States…for knowingly facilitating the travel of irregular migrants to the U.S. southwest border.”
On July 3, an agreement was reached with Panama to cover the costs of repatriating migrants who enter Panama illegally through the Darien Gap. Last year, over 500,000 people made the dangerous journey.
Two weeks later, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino announced security forces had closed some unofficial access points and started installing barbed wire fencing to funnel migrants to a single checkpoint.
In May 2024, according to the State Department, an Egyptian court initiated the trial of 16 people accused of smuggling migrants to the United States and have been charged with acts of organized crime and human smuggling. According to Egyptian officials, the group arranged air transportation of migrants and placed them in “dangerous, degrading, and inhuman circumstances throughout the smuggling process.”
Also in May, authorities in Jamaica refused landing rights to a charter plane carrying irregular migrants.
In June, the number of migrants trying to cross the U.S. border dropped to the lowest level since 2019. Most Americans have forgotten about Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Operation Lonestar, and the standoff between federal officials and the Texas National Guard.
That’s probably set to change. Less than 12 hours after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection, the Associated Press reported that a caravan of 2,000 migrants from over a dozen countries, waiting in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, had started their journey to the U.S. border.
The city sits on the border with Guatemala, and some of the irregular migrants told reporters they had waited for weeks for travel permits, which were unexpectedly approved shortly after Biden’s announcement.
If the Federal Trade Commission is convinced to permit the Kroger and Albertsons merger to move forward, Washington will be the most impacted state in the country.
Last week, Kroger and Albertsons released a list of 579 stores that would be sold to C&S Grocery Wholesalers as part of their merger. One out of five stores in Washington – 124 total – are slated to be sold off. These are the locations in our immediate area,
Bellevue:
QFC — 10116 NE 8th St QFC — 2636 Bellevue Way NE QFC — 3550 Factoria Blvd SE QFC — 15600 NE 8th St Ste K1 QFC — 1510 145th Pl SE
Bothell:
QFC — 18921 Bothell Way NE QFC — 22833 Bothell Everett Hwy Safeway — 20711 Bothell Hwy
Issaquah:
QFC — 1540 NW Gilman Blvd Safeway — 735 NW Gilman Blvd Ste B Safeway — 1451 Highlands Dr NE
Kirkland:
QFC — 11224 NE 124th St QFC — 425 Urban Plaza Ste 100 Safeway — 12519 NE 85th St Safeway — 10020 NE 137th St
Kenmore:
Safeway— 6850 NE Bothell Way
Redmond:
QFC — 15800 Redmond Way QFC — 8867 161st Ave NE QFC — 23475 NE Novelty Hill Rd Safeway — 15000 NE 24th
Woodinville:
Haggen — 17641 Garden Way NE
Kroger, Albertsons, and C&S leaders claim that the merger and sell-off will not impact consumers or employees, and none of the existing locations will close.
On February 26, the FTC moved to block the merger. In a letter, the federal regulator warned that the plan to divest stores was inadequate and that not enough stores were being divested to maintain market competition.
They warned that C&S only operates 23 stores and has no experience as an owner/operator at this scale despite its 106-year history and an estimated $20 billion in gross revenue. The company also has a documented history of closures and liquidation after purchase, including BI-LO, Southern Family Markets, Nell’s, and Olean Wholesale Grocery.
Regulators also believe that because Kroger and Albertsons currently compete at the same level, the combined companies won’t have to try as hard to convince customers to shop at their stores, resulting in lower-quality produce and meat.
C&S Wholesale Grocers, owned by private equity and headquartered in Keene, New Hampshire, announced in 2023 that they agreed to purchase 413 locations, but the number may be as high as 579. The company keeps the list of investors confidential and held its most recent quarterly earnings call on May 14. According to the press release, the company has an undisclosed amount of unsecured debt due in 2028. The most recent publicly available gross revenue data is from 2017, estimated at $20 billion.
C&S is primarily a wholesaler that sells to over 7,500 independent grocery stores, institutional customers, and the U.S. military, stocking 100,000 items. It also owns the Grand Union Supermarkets and Piggly Wiggly brands. Three years ago, according to a 2021 press release, the company serviced more than 7,700 locations with an inventory of over 137,000 products.
In 2003, C&S acquired Fleming Companies, which owned the Piggly Wiggly brand, out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Fleming was forced into reorganization after years of SEC investigation into its business practices and creative accounting. Over the last 21 years, 23% of Piggly Wiggly locations have been shuttered.
Today, there are 12 Piggly Wiggly corporate stores and 491 independently run under a franchise model. Most stores are located in smaller communities in the so-called Bible Belt states, with almost one in four in Alabama. There are a handful of stores in New York, Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. A sub-brand, Piggly Wiggly Midwest, operates in Wisconsin and Illinois.
C&S acquired Grand Union Supermarkets in 2001 after the chain filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and then closed most locations. In 2012, C&S sold the brand and remaining stores to Top Friendly Markets, better known as Top Foods. Top merged with Price Chopper Supermarkets in 2021 and was forced to sell off locations to gain regulatory approval. C&S bought back 12 Grand Union locations and resurrected the brand, and has since shut down one store. The 11 remaining stores are located in Vermont and upstate New York.
C&S also owns or licenses a portfolio of private brands, including Best Yet, That’s Smart, IGA (under license), TopCare, Simply Done, Full Circle, Craven, and the pet brands Paws and Pure Harmony.
A Warning from the Past
The merger goals and sell-off plan proposed by Kroger and Albertsons are eerily similar to those of the earlier Albertsons—Safeway merger.
In 2014, when Albertsons acquired Safeway, it created one the largest grocery retailers in the United States with $61 billion in sales at more than 2,200 locations. To approve the merger, the FTC required 168 stores to be sold off, and Washington was one of the most impacted states. In December 2014, Bellingham, Washington-based Haggen bought 146 Albertsons and Safeway stores for $300 million. Company leaders and the FTC hailed the agreement as a victory for workers and competition, creating a new super-regional grocery chain on the West Coast. Overnight, the boutique brand, with 18 locations, became a regional supermarket chain with 164 locations and 106 pharmacies in five states. The acquisition was a catastrophe, with Haggen closing 26 locations before the transition process was completed.
In September 2015, Haggen management filed a $1 billion lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, seeking triple damages against Albertsons, accusing the company of “coordinated and systematic efforts to eliminate competition and Haggen as a viable competitor in over 130 local grocery markets in five states,” and “made false representations to both Haggen and the FTC about Albertsons’ commitment to a seamless transformation of the stores into viable competitors under the Haggen banner.”
The lawsuit accused Albertsons of “malicious and unfair actions” during the transition, including:
Using proprietary and confidential information to plan and execute aggressive marketing campaigns intended to undermine Haggen grand openings;
Providing Haggen with false and misleading historic pricing data, causing Haggen stores to inflate prices unknowingly;
Cutting off Haggen-acquired store advertising before the transfer, decreasing customer traffic;
Timing the remodeling and rebranding of Albertsons and Safeway stores that prevented Haggen from entering into its acquired markets;
Deliberately understocking inventory at the Haggen-acquired stores below industry levels just prior to conversion, resulting in shortages during grand openings;
Deliberately overstocking perishable goods at Haggen-acquired stores above industry levels just prior to conversion, forcing Haggen to dispose of inventory that Haggen was forced to purchase;
Removing store fixtures and inventory from Haggen-acquired stores that Haggen paid for;
Diverting inventory allocated for Haggen to Albertsons stores; and
Failing to perform routine maintenance on stores and equipment prior to the transfer.
On September 9, Haggen’s grand opening plans were destroyed. The company owed more than 5,000 creditors up to $100 million and was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Later, during the restructuring, the now-merged Safeway and Albertsons bought back 33 of the 146 locations for pennies on the dollar—mostly in the Southwestern United States, with some properties purchased for $1.
The federal lawsuit was settled in 2016. Albertson’s agreed to pay Haggen $5.75 million but admitted no wrongdoing. It then purchased the 29 remaining Haggen locations and brand for $106 million. As part of the purchase, 14 locations were closed.
35 Years of Consolidation has Weakened Competition
In 2023, the top ten grocery chains in the United States control approximately 60 cents of every grocery dollar. This list doesn’t consider total earnings but grocery-specific gross earnings from July 2022 to June 2023,
Walmart – Walmart, Walmart Super Center, Sam’s Club
The Kroger Company – QFC and Fred Meyer
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Albertsons – Safeway, Haggen, and Albertsons
Ahold Delhaize USA – no presence in Washington
Publix Super Markets – no presence in Washington
H-E-B – no presence in Washington
Amazon (online and physical stores combined – grocery and HBA)
Target Corporation
Meijer, Inc – no presence in Washington
According to the most recent data available, a 2019 USDA study found that the top 20 corporations in the grocery industry control almost 70% of the $717 billion Americans spend on groceries. In 1990, the top 20 controlled 35%. If the proposed merger is approved, the new company would be the second largest grocery retailer in the United States, behind Walmart.
Kroger and Albertsons Claim the Merger is a Matter of Survival
A central argument in support of the merger is that Kroger and Albertsons are on the brink of being unprofitable. Publicly available data shows that isn’t true. Margins in the grocery industry, as with most brick-and-mortar retail, have always been low compared to online shopping and other industries. A grocery store chain with a 2% net profit margin is considered extremely healthy. The business model is viable because consumers need to buy groceries.
Kroger’s profits have steadily increased since the beginning of 2022, with a net profit of $1.69 for every $100 spent in its stores, but it still has not recovered from the post-COVID dip.
Albertsons’ profit margins are also recovering. In the most recent quarter, the company earned a net profit of $1.63 for every $100 spent in its stores. That’s a 64% increase since mid-2021 and close to the 1.73% net profit the company was achieving after its 2014 merger with Safeway.
What can you Do
At this point, not much. While the FTC has challenged the merger and appears to be playing hardball, experts believe that, ultimately, the merger will be approved.
For our area? Based on the past history, expect higher prices, less choice, and longer lines coming soon to a Fred Meyer near you. Those stores would remain under the merged Kroger and Albertsons.
An analysis of the 2021 report from the Quincy Institute that has been used to claim the United States maintains almost 750 military bases around the world was found to have significant flaws. In 2020, David Vine, a Professor of Anthropology at American University, made headlines after publishing books, a report, and shared data claiming the U.S. has almost 800 military bases in over 80 countries around the world. The data was updated in 2021 after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the count dropping to 740. Numerous news organizations continue to run stories based on the report, which has been used as a rallying cry against U.S. imperialism.
A review of Vine’s data found significant problems that go beyond the passage of time, which has seen some bases open and other bases close, and new data that answered questions about some facilities. Addressing many issues with the data and methodology, the list shrinks to 166 base sites and 51 lily pads that can be absolutely confirmed for a total of 217 military facilities. If you include the eight verified sites on U.S. territorial soil, which the Department of Defense counts as overseas bases, the count climbs to 225.
If you include another 150 unidentified lily pad sites that did not include any sourcing information in Vine’s data, the figure climbs to 375. That’s still just over half of the 740 sites claimed by the 2021 Quincy Institute study.
The data from Vine’s research is publicly available from the American University website and includes the definition of what a “base site” and “lily pad” is. Vine explained how he and his team created their methodology, writing, “Using the Pentagon’s term ‘base site’ means that, in some cases, an installation generally referred to as a single base—such as Aviano Air Base in Italy—actually consists of multiple base sites—in Aviano’s case, at least eight. Counting each base site makes sense because sites with the same name are often in geographically disparate locations.”
It is important to note that the initial research is four years old and could not have accounted for the closure of the eight U.S. base sites in Afghanistan in 2021, the withdrawal from Mali, the ongoing U.S. withdrawal from Niger, or the recently announced ending of the joint training mission at the Krtsanisi National Training Centre in Georgia.
How Did We Reach Our Conclusion
Using Vine’s publicly available data, we conducted an audit of his list. We realigned his methodology of counting individual facilities within a host nation base or community as unique base sites or lily pads by applying the methodology evenly. Reviewing geolocation information and publicly available addresses, if individually counted base sites were found to be in the same building or adjacent buildings, they were combined into an individual site.
Additionally, a small number of errors were identified, resulting in a reduction in the number of lily pad sites. Civilian support facilities for dependent family members, such as AAFES stores, base housing, and non-military primary schools, were removed from the count. A small number of lily pad sites that additional research discovered were leased storage space within civilian facilities, such as fuel storage at several locations, were also removed. Unmanned base sites, such as the radio transmitter at Grindavik, Greenland (part of Denmark), remained in the count.
Vine’s Research Used Inconsistent Methodology for Duplicate Base Sites and Lily Pads
A significant problem is Vine and his team didn’t consistently adhere to their methodology. In some cases, facilities in the same building were counted as individual base sites or lily pads. Others, such as Diego Garcia, located in British Indian Ocean Territory, were counted as a single base. Addressing Diego Garcia, Vine wrote in his notes, “Could be considered 2 bases because Air Force and Navy.”
For some locations, the data for a base site included the latitude and longitude to the fifth decimal, enabling geolocation by satellite imagery, and was further confirmed using publicly available physical addresses. In another example, Incirlik Air Base in Adana, Türkiye, was counted twice, once as a base site and once as a lily pad, with no distinction between the two in the description or notes and no sourcing information provided.
Address searches, satellite imagery, and public information available through the U.S. Department of Defense identified 138 locations counted as unique sites that did not adhere to Vine’s criteria. When condensing the list, if a base site and lily pad overlapped, we adjusted the count to leave the base site because, by definition, they are more likely capable of supporting combat operations.
Leased Civilian Infrastructure Counted as Base Sites and Lily Pads
Several lily pad sites in Vine’s data are leased commercial fuel storage facilities to support potential military operations. For example, the base site in Takoradi, Ghana, is a non-military port infrastructure tank farm, which by the Department of Defense definition, should have been counted as a lily pad. Demonstrating other inconsistencies, leased fuel storage tanks at civilian locations in Cote D’Ivoire and Botswana were counted as lily pads.
According to the data, a small number of sites are warehouses where humanitarian aid and disaster relief equipment and supplies are forward deployed, including one at Cesar Basa in the Philippines, which includes the note that it is “to be built.”
Sites Where There are Agreements for Military Access During Certain Conditions, Counted as Active Bases
At least 24 bases on the list are locations where the U.S. has a permanent presence but aren’t run by the DoD. Some have a major presence, like bases in Germany, the U.K., and Italy, while others only host small forces for short periods, once a year or less – or possibly never. One example is Queen Beatrix International Airport in Aruba. As the southern Caribbean island’s only airport, it can support military aircraft. Aruba is part of the Netherlands, which is a NATO Alliance member. Vine notes that the airfield could accommodate up to eight U.S. aircraft if a theoretical cooperative security request were made. In his data, Queen Beatrix Airport was counted as an active lily pad.
Another location counted as a lily pad is Shannon Airport in Ireland. It can support refueling and act as an alternative landing site for U.S. military aircraft, but like Aruba, it does not have a full-time military presence.
Muscat International Airport in Oman was counted as a base site, citing the American Security Project. However, the report only states that it is “usable under the Facilities Access Agreement” and that military material is forward deployed. That would be defined as a lily pad.
Other airports with similar agreements include Comalapa International Airport in El Salvador and the airfield on the Galapagos Islands controlled by Ecuador.
Civilian Housing, Hospitals, Shopping Malls, and Children’s Schools Counted as Military Bases
A subset of the 740 military base sites listed in Vine’s data included civilian housing, joint military-civilian hospitals, shopping malls, war memorials, recreation centers, and dependent children schools, including,
The Akasaka Press Center, which houses the offices and print shop of Stars and Stripes in Japan
American Memorial Park, run by the U.S. National Park Service, on Northern Mariana Island
The U.S. National War Dog Cemetery and Memorial at Naval Base Guam
Sungnam Golf Course, Songnam, South Korea
AAFES Distibution Center in Gruenstadt, Germany
Okuma Beach and Outdoor Recreation Facility, Japan
New Sanno Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
Single-person housing (BAQ) at Aviano Air Force Base (2 locations)
Dependent family housing at Baumholder Airfield, Germany
Dependent family housing at Bleidorn, Germany
Dependent family housing at Boeblingen, Germany
Dependent family housing at Garmisch, Germany
Dependent family housing at Moehringen, Stuttgart, Germany
Dependent family housing at Robinson-Grenadier, Germany
Dependent family housing at Steuven and Weicht Village, Germany
Dependent family housing in Wiesbaden, Germany
Dependent family housing in Vicenza, Italy
Dependent family housing Ikego at Yokosuka Naval Base Housing, Japan
Dependent family housing in Hario, Japan
Dependent family housing at Ikeda-Cho, Japan
Dependent family housing at RAF Ely, United Kingdom
Dependent family primary school at NSA Bahrain
Dependent family primary school at Sterrebeek, Brussels
Dependent family primary school in Stuttgart, Germany
Hainerberg Housing and AAFES Shopping Center at Wiesbaden, Germany
U.S. Naval Hospital at Agana Heights, Guam, which is the only trauma center on the island that provides services for military personnel and civilians
U.S. Army Hospital at Baumholder, Germany
Naval Medical Research Center and Infectious Disease Surveillance in Lima, Peru
A warehouse of medical supplies at the same location in Lima, Peru
Naval Medical Research Center and Infectious Disease Surveillance in Cairo, Egypt
Naval Medical Research Center and Infectious Disease Surveillance, Phnom Pehn, Cambodia
Area II Army Religious Retreat Center in Seoul, South Korea, closed on November 25, 2013
In another irregularity, Vine’s list omitted the Naval Medical Research Center in Tokyo, Japan, which is located at the Hardy Barracks, also not counted, in the same building the Stars and Stripes offices are located.
Known Overseas Military Sites Missing and Closed Bases Counted
Google Maps view of Argentia Naval Air Station, abandoned in 1994 but included in David Vine’s database of active U.S. military base sites
The audit found there were inconsistencies and inaccuracies about U.S. base sites and lily pads in Canada. The database listed “small base sites” but counted them as a single lily pad while listing Argentia, Newfoundland, as hosting an operating U.S. base site. Argentia Naval Air Station and Fort McAndrew were closed in 1994 and satellite images show the airfield is unusable. However, Detachment 2, First Air Force, does maintain approximately 150 active duty airmen at the Canadian military base at North Bay, Ontario. That contingent wasn’t included in Vine’s data despite meeting the criteria as a base site.
Vine’s research omitted other known bases, including the International Center for Peacemaking and Security at Yavoriv Military Base, near Lviv, Ukraine. From 2007 to 2022, that facility was used for joint NATO-Ukraine training, including U.S. military personnel. International operations ended in February 2022 due to Russia’s expanded war of aggression against Ukraine. In his notes, there was a question mark, despite the earlier joint training exercises between the U.S. and Ukraine being readily available public information.
Nine more lily pad sites in Saudi Arabia were included despite the U.S. withdrawal in 2003. Vine’s notes indicate that a “small U.S. contingent remains to train Saudis, [and] keep bases warm, and cites the 2018 American Security Project as the source.
The publicly available American Security Project report didn’t support Vine’s conclusion. It stated, “The U.S. withdrew the vast majority of its forces in 2003, as the invasion of Iraq eliminated the need for a troop presence in Saudi Arabia. Today, many of the American military personnel still in Saudi Arabia are part of the U.S. Military Training Mission and do not provide an operational combat capability. Undoubtedly, USMTM personnel travel and work at different Saudi bases to complete their mission, but the primary ‘basing’ point is Eskan Village near Riyadh.”
Two sites in Ethiopia, at Dire Dawa and Arba Minch, were counted as active lily pad sites despite Vine’s notes indicating they were closed in 2012, and the closures were reconfirmed in 2015 and 2017.
The Chinese-controlled Hong Kong port of Qingdao was also included in Vine’s list despite China denying U.S. Navy access since 2019.
Another questionable claim was Clark Air Force Base listed as a “lily pad” site in the 2020 research, with the source noted as “news reports.” In June 1991, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo buried Clark in a foot of rain-soaked volcanic ash, collapsing hangars and buildings. The U.S. had already committed to leaving the base due to demands by the Marcos regime and completed the withdrawal in early 1992. The Philippines partially repaired the base, which remains under the control of the Philipines government and operates as Clark Freeport Zone and Clark International Airport. As of 2024, multiple news reports indicated that access to the U.S. military is still being discussed.
Non-existent Sites on U.S. Territory Counted as Active
Vine’s count included 36 sites located in U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, North Mariana Island, Wake Island, and Johnston Atoll. Of those, 24 were lily pad sites with no listed information or the data source used.
He wrote in his notes that “bases located in U.S. colonies (‘territories’) [are] in my count of bases abroad because these places lack full democratic incorporation into the United States. The Pentagon also considers these locations ‘overseas.’”
Google Maps view of Johnston Atoll runway and military buildings show the site is abandoned
However, there were other problems. For example, Johnston Atoll was counted as an active lily pad site, despite noting it is uninhabited and the airfield is closed. Satellite images show that the runway is overgrown and in complete disrepair, with almost all buildings on the island completely destroyed.
150 Sites Without Any Source
There were 150 sites counted as lily pads in Germany (40), Greece (1), Italy (14), Japan (33), South Korea (14), Portugal (11), Slovenia (1), Türkiye (3), the United Kingdom (2), and U.S. Territories (24), with no listed information on location, function, or data source. All relevant fields were blank.
Applying Vine’s Criteria to Other Nations Paints a Different Picture
The number of equivalent base sites and lily pads operated at overseas locations by the Russian Federation is commonly reported between 18 and 25. However, that consolidates all locations at the overseas sites, which is a different criterion applied to the U.S. by Vine and the Quincy Institute.
Here are three examples. In the occupied Georgian territory of Abkhazia, Russia’s 7th Military Base is counted as a single site. However, Russia maintains base sites at the Bamboura Airport, Gudauta, Ochamchire, and the Kodori Valley, as well as military-administrative buildings and medical facilities in Skuhumi, Gagra, Gudauta, New Athos, and Eshera. Russia has also started construction of a naval base in occupied Abkhazia.
The Russian presence in the self-declared and unrecognized Moldovian territory of Transnistria is commonly counted as a single base site at the Cobasna Ammunition Depot. However, Russian forces operate 15 military checkpoints, have a permanent presence at Tiraspol Airport, and have administrative offices in Tiraspol.
Russia is commonly credited with having two bases in Belarus, but the Russia-Ukraine War has shown that Russian forces have cooperative agreements providing access to all 17 military bases in the country. The use of all 17 bases by Russian forces at different points in time since 2021 is publicly documented.
When applying Vine’s methodology, one country and two areas under Russian occupation have 45 verifiable base sites.
Russian and Indian troops conducting joint anti-terror military training exercises at the Mahajan Fieldfiring Range in India – Photo Credit – Russian Ministry of Defense
When known cooperative agreements and joint annual military training exercises are included, where Russian troops may have a brief presence at host sites in other nations, Russia’s footprint expands at least to South Africa, China, Cuba, India, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, the Central African Republic, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and North Korea. As an example, a 2017 agreement signed between Egypt and Russia that went into effect in 2021 gives Russia cooperative access to 20 Egyptian Air Force bases. This is a similar agreement that the United States has in many countries, which Vine counted as active military sites in his books and data.
Not Enough Questions Asked and Unequal Comparisons
When reporting the news, extraordinary claims require a deeper analysis of the supporting evidence when the information is provided. There is still a case that 375 individual military sites are too many, even with the ongoing shift in geopolitics and increasing threats around the globe. The publicly available data didn’t support the claim that there are 740 U.S. military sites in 81 countries, and the repeated lack of a deep analysis was journalistic malfeasance.
Vine’s effort is commendable despite being flawed. It is critical to consider that his main point was identifying Pentagon spending and operations outside of the public eye. Somewhere in the corners of the DoD, something indicates that 150 sites with no public record may exist. On the surface, counting bases on U.S. territory as foreign seems disingenuous, but the Pentagon classifies them as overseas locations.
The Marine Corps War Dog Cemetery and Memorial In Guam, counted as a “base site” by David Vine – Photo Credit Dawn C. Montgomery, U.S. DoD
However, it is critical to expose that his data contains numerous factual errors that go beyond a handful of political gotchas or minor research mistakes. Including military sites that have been closed for years and, in some cases, decades. Counting multiple sites located in the same buildings while counting Diego Garcia as a single site and missing known overseas bases are glaring issues. Including golf courses, AAFES stores, and hotels as “base sites” with no distinction or footnotes is disingenuous. Adding the U.S. National War Dog Cemetery and Memorial at Naval Base Guam as a distinct military base is reprehensible.
Digging deeper into Vine’s notes, humanitarian aid warehouses were clearly questioned, with the thinly veiled suggestion the classification was a cover for something more sinister. Not everything done by the U.S. military is evil. The easiest example is the response to the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami, where the Pentagon did not wait for guidance from then-President George W. Bush. By the time the White House acknowledged the disaster, the U.S. Navy was three days into its operational plan. The lessons learned in 2004 resulted in President Barack Obama budgeting for the creation of forward-deployed humanitarian aid warehouses starting in 2010 and expansion of the program in 2012 and 2015.
And while the U.S. Navy was conducting a heroic humanitarian aid effort in southeast Asia through April 2005, U.S. troops were torturing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib. The U.S. military absolutely needs to be held accountable when war crimes are committed, and the American taxpayer deserves to know where their money is going.
This is part seven of a ten-part series that explains the rise of modern Islamic extremism. From 1951 to 2021, a series of key geopolitical events, many independent of each other, caused the Islamic Revolution, the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS, the creation and collapse of the caliphate, and the reconstitution of ISIS as ISKP. While Western influence and diplomatic blunders are well documented through this period, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation are equally culpable. The editors would like to note that a vast majority of the 1.8 billion people who are adherents to some form of Islam are peaceful and reject all forms of religious violence.
Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush become partners in the ‘War Against Terror’
The Rise of Al Qaeda
The first al Qaeda plot to attack the United States was uncovered in November 1990 when the FBI arrested operatives who were planning to blow up skyscrapers and government buildings. It would be an aspiration that Osama bin Laden would maintain for 11 more years.
In 1992, two bombs tore through Aden, Yemen, intending to target United States troops staying at the Gold Mohur and Aden Movenpick Hotels. In the first bombing, the small group of troops had already left for Somalia, and in the second, the bomb went off prematurely.
Then, on February 26, 1993, a truck bomb exploded in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in an attempt to topple the towers. The blast caused extensive damage, killing six and wounding over 1,000. Officially, Al Qaeda didn’t order the attack, but the chief architect, Ramzi Yousef, was trained by the terrorist organization.
Heavy equipment excavating the site of the World Trade Center parking garage bombing – February 1993 Credit – Photographer unknown – public domain
The group involved in the planning and execution was exposed when Mohammad Salameh, who rented the truck used to deliver the bomb, returned to the rental agency in New Jersey trying to get his $400 cash security deposit back.
The Saudi government accused bin Laden of being behind a November 1995 bombing in Riyadh that killed five American and two Indian soldiers and wounded 60. Three years later, two bombings targeting the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 224 and wounded more than 5,000 people.
The Millennium Plots and 9/11
Each successful attack drew more money and members to Al Qaeda’s ranks. A wave of terror that was planned for the year 2000 New Year celebrations, dubbed the Millennium Attack Plots, was mostly thwarted, partially by luck.
Jordanian officials uncovered a plot to attack four locations during New Year, including the Radisson Hotel in Amman, the Christian church on Mount Nebo, the border crossing between Israel and Jordan, and a holy site on the Jordan River where it is believed profit John the Baptist baptized Jesus of Nazareth. One of the plotters was Al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who would go on to be the founder of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
On December 12, 1999, Jordanian security forces arrested 16 people involved with the plot, eventually putting 28 people on trial. However, Al Zarqawi fled to Pakistan before he could be arrested. Twenty-two defendants were found guilty of the plot, including six with Al Qaeda, who were all sentenced to death. Another architect of the plot, Saudi national Abu Zubaydah, was the mastermind behind attacks planned in the United States.
Algerian national Ahmed Ressam traveled from Montreal, Canada, and attempted to enter the United States on a ferry through Port Angeles, Washington. Ressam raised suspicion among customs officials who searched his car and found enough explosives to produce four small bombs, timers, and detonators. He was arrested on December 14, 1999, and told investigators that Zubaydah was orchestrating the bombing of LAX Airport in Los Angeles under the order of bin Laden. Further investigation found that the Space Needle in Seattle, the Transamerica Tower in San Francisco, and Ontario Airport in the Los Angeles area were also planned targets.
On the other side of the world, Al Qaeda operatives hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 on December 24, 1999, and crisscrossed the Greater Middle East for a week, stabbing one passenger to death, a German, and wounding 17 others. The Indian government gave in to their demands, releasing convicted Al Qaeda-aligned terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar. Sheikh would go on to be one of the chief planners of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Over the next 20 years, Azhar would lead three terror attacks in India, killing hundreds.
On New Year’s Eve in Syrian-occupied Lebanon, 300 members of the terror group Takfir wal-Hijra secured dozens of villages in northern Lebanon, attempting to establish the first Sharia law-based caliphate in the mountainous region. Over 13,000 troops were deployed to quell the uprising with fighting continuing until January 6, 2000. Twenty-five terrorists were killed, and another 55 were captured. Bin Laden was credited with financing Takfir wal-Hijra through shell companies and a bank in Beirut. The surviving fighters who escaped disappeared into the Palestinian refugee camp in Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon. The 55 who were captured were sentenced to ten years to life in prison, with all receiving pardons in 2005.
The rift between al Qaeda and those who sought an even stricter interpretation of Shari law may go back as far as the mid-1990s. It is alleged that an offshoot of Takfir wal-Hijra in Sudan plotted to assassinate bin Laden in 1995 due to his liberal views on Sharia law and the formation of a caliphate. Despite the rift, the group led over a dozen terror attacks in Africa in coordination with Al Qaeda, mostly in Sudan.
The last part of the plot was an attack on the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans on January 3, 2000, while it was refueling at the Yemeni port of Aden. The attack failed because the small boat, loaded with over 400 kilograms of plastic explosives, sank due to the amount of weight in the bow.
Damage to the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole after the October 12, 2000, Al Qaeda terrorist attack in Aden, Yemen Credit – Photographer unknown – public domain
Al Qaeda learned from its mistake and, on October 12, attacked the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole while it refueled at Aden. Two small fiberglass boats were used, distributing more than 450 kilograms of C4 plastic explosives, and each only had a single suicide bomber onboard. Both boats struck the Cole, tearing a 40-foot-long gash into the port side and sparking a large fire. Seventeen crew members were killed and 39 wounded, and it took three days for damage control to stabilize the ship. U.S. officials would later find the Sudanese government to be complicit in working with Al Qaeda and seized over $13 billion in assets.
Eleven years after the first al Qaeda plot to destroy American skyscrapers was uncovered, bin Laden would achieve his goal. On September 11, 2001, two hijacked commercial airliners struck both towers of the World Trade Center in New York, collapsing the buildings. A third hijacked aircraft struck the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania when passengers tried to regain control. The attacks killed 2,996 and wounded over 6,000. Two decades later, hundreds more would die from illnesses attributed to the 9/11 attacks.
Initially, bin Laden denied any involvement in the 9/11 attacks, but in 2004, as part of a brief manifesto, he wrote, “God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the Towers, but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the US Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women.”
A thirst for revenge fuels Vladimir Putin’s ascendency
When the Red Terror and Soviet Famine ended in 1922, the Soviet Union entered a brief period of reform which ended some of the oppressive Tzarist policies. Vladimir Lenin, who was already in declining health, eased restrictions on the Soviet republics, allowing them to reembrace their original culture, including language, religion, and art. Individuals were permitted to have small businesses within the guidelines of the Soviet government, blending Communism and Socialism.
The economy started to improve, and after decades of repression, deportations, war, famine, revolution, and civil war, the new Soviet society appeared to be finding its feet. All of this came to an end in late 1924 when Joseph Stalin became the Secretary-General, despite Lenin’s warnings. Seventy-five years later, history wouldn’t repeat, but it would rhyme.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly created Russian Federation entered a tumultuous period. Moscow struggled to contain inflation and wild swings of the rouble. The new country would face the 1993 Constitutional Crisis, and the economy would collapse in 1994 and 1998. For the connected and the bold, the underlying chaos was an opportunity for those seeking wealth and the growth of organized crime. However, unlike the turmoil of the Depression and Prohibition Era in the United States, where organized crime bosses fought over the control of bootleg alcohol, gambling, and illegal weapons, the new oligarch class fought for control of the now privatized industrial sectors of Russia—coal, steel, oil and gas, grain, construction, heavy equipment, and technology. Fueled by endemic government corruption, the Yeltsin administration and the now weakened state security services not only ignored the Game of Thrones happening in open view but, for the right price, participated in it. One of the men who grew allies during this period was the now-former KGB agent Vladimir Putin.
In 1991, an embittered Putin resigned from the KGB, refusing to work for the newly created Federal Security Agency (AFB). President Yeltsin dissolved the KGB in November 1991 in response to a failed coup d’etat that was led by Soviet hardliners earlier in the year, including the head of the KGB, Vladimir Kryuchkov. Yeltsin would go on to sign two more decrees, one creating the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation in January 1992 and the second in December 1993, forming the Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation (FSK). Each decree further eroded the legacy power structure created by the KGB.
Putin returned to his native home of St. Petersburg and, using information the KGB had gathered during the Soviet era, blackmailed Mayor Anatoly Sobchak to gain a job in the city government. He started as a reformer in name only, investigating corruption, but in reality, he was Sobchak’s political strongman.
Putin’s career was unremarkable until 1994 when he was named deputy mayor. He and Deputy Vladimir Yakovlev went on to run the city, with Putin building a circle of influence and earning future favors among the influential, wealthy, and the criminal underground. Sobchak’s initial popularity faded from 1995 to 1996 as public services deteriorated, crime increased, and allegations of corruption within the city government grew.
Putin became the local leader of the politically liberal and fiscally conservative Our Home–Russia Political Party in 1995 and ran the reelection campaign for Sobchak. Sobchak lost to his deputy Yakovlev in a close election, putting Putin out of a job. Sobchak would become the focus of a corruption investigation in 1997 and would flee to France.
Using his contacts and network, Putin moved to Moscow in early 1997 and was named the deputy chief of the Presidential Property Management Department. Less than a year later, he joined President Yeltsin’s staff and quickly maneuvered himself through a number of roles before becoming the leader of the FSK replacement, the 1995 Yeltsin-created Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB), on July 25, 1998.
Putin only led the FSB for 13 months, but he implemented a complete restructuring and dismissed almost all of the leadership, installing former Soviet-era KGB agents loyal to the ideals of Kryuchkov and his vision of restoring Russia to its former glory.
Like Lenin in 1922, Yeltsin was in declining health in 1998. Presidential elections were coming in less than two years, and potential candidates were starting to position themselves and build alliances. Within the Kremlin, Yeltsin’s inner circle started to warn him about Putin’s restructuring of the FSB, his growing influence and connections, and his desire to return to restore Soviet-style state controls. His aspirations were supported by a growing list of oligarchs, who viewed Putin as someone they could control while leveraging his vision of state security to grow and protect their wealth.
On August 9, 1999, Putin was appointed as one of three deputy prime ministers of the Russian Federation and endorsed by Yeltsin as his future successor in the upcoming 2000 elections. Eight days later, the State Duma confirmed Putin as the acting Prime Minister.
In the span of 2 1/2 years, Putin had gone from a failed St. Petersburg deputy mayor to the unelected prime minister of the second most powerful country on the planet. Even before Yeltsin’s endorsement, alarm bells were going off within the corners of the FSB and in the pages of the newly created free press about Putin and his plans.
To help his rise to power, Putin makes a series of deals with Islamic terrorist leaders
In the Sixth Part of this series, Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev and his connections to Pakistan and Afghanistan and his encounters with organizations adjacent to Al Qaeda were lightly touched.
A young Basayev arrived in Azerbaijan in 1992 with an estimated 1,000 Chechen militants to fight in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, leading a call for jihad with Chechen leader Salman Raduyev. Basayev left for the Abkhazia region of Georgia in late 1992, while Raduyev continued to command the Chechen contingent. Reportedly, Basayev ordered the withdrawal from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in 1993 due to a series of military defeats and a lack of support for the call to jihad.
Chechen leader and terrorist Shamil Basayev – 1995 Credit – Photographer Natalia Medvedeva – public domain
Basayev would fight on the side of the Moscow-backed Abkhazia separatists, and he would go on to lead up to 1,500 volunteer fighters of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus (CMPC). Basayev is accused of overseeing the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in the breakaway Abkhazia Republic, the September 27 to October 11, 1993, Sukhumi Massacre, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions for the mass executions of captured Georgian soldiers.
This is where Basayev’s history becomes murky. He is believed to have defended Russian President Yeltsin during the failed August 1991 coup d’etat, occupying the barricades of the Russian White House with other Yeltsin supporters. There are many allegations that during the War in Abkhazia, Basayev and up to 200 Chechens within the CMPC received training and arms from the Main Defense Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (GRU). The CMPC would fall apart at the end of the War in Abkhazia, with different factions supporting the Moscow-backed breakaway republic and others aligning with Chechnya and other radical Islamic factions. And despite having a death warrant on his head, Basayev was able to freely travel between Chechnya, Georgia, and the Russian Federation.
Basayev would go on to run for president of Chechnya, coming in second place. He was then appointed deputy prime minister by newly elected president Aslam Maskhadov and actively worked to undermine his government. During a six-month period in which he was symbolically named the acting president of Chechnya, he gutted government oversight, shut down numerous ministries, and turned a blind eye to the theft of natural resources. By the end of 1998, Basayev was a warlord leading a rival faction against Maskhadov and had aligned himself with Afghanistan mujahideen veteran and Al Qaeda leader Ibn al-Khattab, a Saudi national. Al-Khattab had also broken away from President Maskhadov despite being named the Chief of Military Training for the Chechen Armed Forces in 1996.
Basayev met with Putin in March 1999 and agreed to help the Kremlin topple Maskhadov’s Chechen government and support a Russian invasion. Putin would reverse the failure of the First Chechen War with a quick success by taking just the northern third of the republic to the Terek River. Transcripts of phone records would show that Putin and his associates had numerous phone calls with almost a dozen radical Muslims and were using the FSB to orchestrate both kinetic and information warfare plans.
Al-Khattab and Basayev, along with Raduyev, openly called for the occupation of the Russian Federation Republic of Dagestan and the formation of a single state under Islamic Sharia law, declaring the final goal of expelling all Russians from the Caucasus. Putin had reached 20 years into the KGB past to tap the fears of long-dead Soviet leaders that Iranian-style radical Islam would spread to the Caucasus.
Independent of Putin’s plan, in April 1999, the Emir of the Islamic Djamaat of Dagestan (IDD), Bagauddin Magomedov, called for jihad to liberate “Dagestan and the Caucasus from the Russian colonial yoke” and created an unusual and doomed alliance. Magomedov and the IDD were aligned with Wahhabism, while Al-Khattab formed the Islamic Legion, comprised of foreign fighters, with a significant number aligned with the doctrine of Al Qaeda.
In July, Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev, the Deputy Prime Minister of National Security for Chechnya, and Deputy Prosecutor-General Adam Torkhashev traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin and warn him of the imminent invasion of Dagestan, which Putin was well aware of and counting on. Shortly after the Moscow meeting, an article in the Russian newspaper Moskovskaya Pravda warned that the Kremlin was preparing a series of false flag attacks in Moscow to undermine President Yeltsin and cited leaked documents.
The War in Dagestan and false flag attacks in Russia bring Putin to power
On August 4, the IDD launched its first attacks, and three days later, the Muslim Legion invaded the Republic of Dagestan. In an ironic twist, Basayev and al-Khattab were not greeted as liberators and instead were met with fierce resistance. Shortly after, President Yeltsin ordered the bombing of Chechnya. On August 19, newly minted acting prime minister Putin set a deadline for Russian forces to crush the rebellion by the end of the month. In the same speech, Putin threatened to start bombing Dagestani rebels “hiding in Chechnya.” In reality, airstrikes on Chechnya started on August 8, but the Kremlin didn’t acknowledge the bombings until August 26. By September 11, major fighting in Dagestan was over, and the Second Chechen War had started. What Basayev didn’t know is he had been double-crossed by Putin, who had cut another deal. He didn’t want a third of Chechnya; he was going to take it all.
Yeltsin and Putin intentionally delayed the response of Russian ground troops, preferring to let Dagestani forces exhaust themselves while prolonging the raids coming from Chechnya. By the end of August, a wave of terror attacks would spread across Russia, with history revealing the FSB executed most of them under the order of Putin.
The first attack was on August 31 at an arcade in the Manezh Square Shopping Mall in Moscow, adjacent to the Kremlin. Three phone calls allegedly from the Liberation Army of Dagestan took credit for the attack. Future investigations would blame the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade, an Islamist mujahideen organization co-created by al-Khattab and Basayev.
The next bombing was on September 4 in Buynaksk in Dagestan. The apartment building served as housing for Russian border guards and their families and was destroyed by a car bomb. Sixty-four people were killed, and another 133 were wounded. A second car bomb containing 2,700 kilograms of explosives was found by the Russian Army Hospital and defused.
On September 9, a bomb estimated to weigh 400 kilograms exploded in a Moscow apartment building. The nine-story brezhnevka was destroyed, killing 106 and wounding 249. The next day, Putin called United States President Bill Clinton and told him he was confident the bombing was executed by Chechen terrorists, adding that he believed the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa were not executed by Al Qaeda but by Chechnya.
At 5 a.m. on September 13, the next bomb exploded, destroying an eight-story apartment building, killing 119 and wounding 200. Due to poor planning, the false flag plot started to fall apart.
After the second bombing, Moscow businessman and landlord Achemez Gochiyaev had a horrifying realization. An acquaintance of his who was a former FSB agent had requested to rent the basement areas of four apartment buildings. The two blasts were in his buildings. Believing he was being set up, he contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs, explaining what had happened and warning that bombs were likely in two more buildings. Moscow police searched the basements, finding massive bombs made of RDX.
As the smoke was still rising over the apartment block on Kashira Road, State Duma Deputy Gennadiy Seleznyov announced that there had been a third bombing in Volgodonsk in the Rostov-on-Don region of Russia. There had been no such explosion, but on September 16, a third bomb destroyed a nine-story brezhnevka in Volgodonsk, killing 17 and wounding 69.
On September 22, a man in the Russian city of Ryazan reported seeing two suspicious men carrying sacks into the basement of an apartment building from a car with partially obscured Moscow license plates. Police found 150 kilograms of white powder in three sacks with detonators and timers. Onsite testing identified the contents of the bags as the explosive RDX. The next day, Putin ordered the bombing of the Chechen capital of Grozny in response to the allegedly most recent attempted terrorist attack, declaring “no sympathy for the bandits.”
A quick investigation and telephone records traced the car and two men to a telephone number linked to the FSB office in Ryazan. The Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested three people who identified themselves as FSB agents from Moscow. Putin’s operation was in crisis, as Moscow had declared that the explosives were real to justify the bombing of Grozny. On September 24, the Kremlin declared the bags were filled with sugar, and the entire event was an FSB training exercise that ended in success due to the quick reaction of local authorities.
President Boris Yeltsin naming Vladimir Putin acting President of the Russian Federation – December 31, 1999 Credit – Press office of the Russian Federation – photographer unknown
Despite the obvious mistakes pointing to a government plot, Putin’s popularity soared. On December 31, Yeltsin resigned and named Putin acting President. Riding a wave of popularity due to the response to the so-called terror attacks and the initial success in Dagestan, Putin cruised to victory when Russians went to the polls on March 26, 2000.
Looking into Putin’s soul
The United States held elections in November 2000, and George W. Bush was elected the 43rd President in a contested election. On June 16, 2001, President Bush and President Putin met for the first time in Brdo Pri Kranju, Slovenia. Almost the entire world believed the Cold War was over, and despite the U.S. intelligence reports about Moscow’s ties to Islamic terror and the false flag attacks on Moscow, President Bush took his own path.
“This was a very good meeting. And I look forward to my next meeting with President Putin in July. I very much enjoyed our time together. He’s an honest, straightforward man who loves his country. He loves his family. We share a lot of values. I view him as a remarkable leader. I believe his leadership will serve Russia well. Russia and America have the opportunity to accomplish much together; we should seize it. And today, we have begun.”
The Western press asked hard questions after Bush and Putin made their separate remarks. It was a question directed at Putin, which led to a pivotal moment in U.S.-Russian relations.
“A question to both of you, if I may. President Putin, President Bush has said that he’s going to go forward with his missile defense plans basically with or without your blessing. Are you unyielding in your opposition to his missile defense plan? Is there anything you can do to stop it? And to President Bush. Did President Putin ease your concern at all about the spread of nuclear technologies by Russia, and is this a man that Americans can trust?”
Bush directed the question to Putin first, and when the question of trust was addressed, the Russian President said, “Can we trust Russia? I’m not going to answer that. I could ask the very same question.”
There was a brief but awkward pause caused by Putin’s response, with Bush breaking the sudden tension.“I will answer the question. I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. And I appreciated so very much the frank dialogue. There was no kind of diplomatic chit-chat, trying to throw each other off balance. There was a straightforward dialogue. And that’s the beginning of a very constructive relationship. I wouldn’t have invited him to my ranch if I didn’t trust him.”
Russian troops stand over a mass grave in Chechnya – February 2000 Credit – Natalia Medvedeva – Creative Commons 3.0
During their private meeting, Bush and Putin discussed Chechnya, Dagestan, and Russia’s response to Islamic terrorism, among many other topics. Putin was right to refuse to answer the trust question because he wasn’t negotiating honestly. Over a year ago, Putin cut another deal with the Chief Mufti of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation had completed the first phase of its occupation of Chechnya in June 2000, and Putin named Kadyrov the head of the administration of the Chechen Republic.
For Al Qaeda, which was at its apex of power, this was the ultimate betrayal.
Next installment: A second wave of Islamic terror spreads across Russia, and this time, the attacks are real. The Second Chechen War continues for another eight years. Osama bin Laden’s influence fades, and Al Qaeda fractures. The ISIS caliphate rises and falls as Syria becomes the next Russian battleground.
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