The thing about the ongoing “war” on terror is that it seems to get more surreal by the day and indeed, the videos, pictures, and claims that emanate from ISIS’ media arm are at times so outlandish, violent, and outright bizarre that quite a few observers have questioned how they can possibly be authentic.
There was the clip purporting to show [3] members building flying landmines out of condoms for instance and let’s not forget the nearly hour long video (that at times appeared as though it walked right out of a high school social studies class) explaining why ISIS intended to wean [4] the world off of fiat money and transition back to the gold dinar.
And of course no critique of ISIS propaganda would be complete without mentioning their uncanny ability to produce Hollywood-esque murder montages violent enough to make Quentin Tarantino blush (a few installments back, ISIS filmed the drowning of a handful of “spies” and judging from the video, high quality underwater video cameras are something you regularly come across in the Syrian countryside).
Finally, in what has to be considered the silliest terror-related story of the year, al-Qaeda was out this week calling ISIS leader Bakr al-Baghdadi a “feeble, failure person [5]." ISIS responded by calling al-Qaeda a bunch of “donkeys.” If you want to understand just how surreal the whole thing is, look no further than the following picture (note that everyone looks to be wearing white, high top Nikes):
Well, the story took a further turn for the ridiculous on Wednesday after IS Sinai, apparently aggravated by claims that their video of an exploding plane doesn’t actually depict the destruction of the Russian passenger jet that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula last Saturday, released an audio message to confirm that they did indeed “down” the plane and that they’ll prove it when they’re good and ready and not a minute prior.
Some highlights:
- "We downed Russia plane, so die in your rage."
- "Bring your black box, and do your analysis...prove we didn't down it...we will reveal the way at the time we wish."
- "We are the ones who downed it thank to God and we are not forced to reveal how we downed it."
The group says that for now, the proof is that the attack coincided with the one-year anniversary of IS Sinai's pledge of allegiance to Baghdadi (Ayman al-Zawahiri's "feeble, failure person") but the dates appear to be questionable.
Whatever the case, it doesn't seem to have occurred to IS Sinai that they are asking the world to prove a negative.
Meanwhile, the home office in Raqqa is out praising the supposed "downing." In a new video, five ISIS members praise the actions of their "Sinai brothers" and then go the extra mile by directly threatening Vladimir Putin. The video:
Here's a screenshot for your amusement:
[6]
And yes, that is an actual still shot from the video.
Five guys sitting in the front yard waving a bowie knife at The Kremlin.
There you go Moscow. Your move.