BOTTOM LINE UPFRONT: This week TRAC highlights an interesting development on Telegram. The cloud-based instant messaging software and application service that has become a primary conduit for extremists globally has launched a voice chat feature that will provide its community with the ability to build virtual radio stations. The move pits Telegram against Clubhouse which provides voice chat messaging and has seen tremendous growth in the last few months. TRAC assess that unregulated live audio and video streaming have obvious advantages the for the new features to abet malign activity. Because Telegram upgraded its administration abilities to remain anonymous, many will have new megaphones to reach even wider audiences without needing a broadcasting license from the FCC. For now, most of the chatter surrounding Telegram's latest feature center around the extreme far right excitement of using racial slurs aloud without fear of censure. Telegram has also promised to deliver a video feature this Spring and the potential for much more radical recruitment, much like the pitfalls that come from FaceBook and YouTube's live video streaming services, are vast from the extreme left, right and jihadist spheres that operate second-by-second across Telegram. The phenomena of strapping a GoPro body camera to film selfie lone wolf active shootings began when Brenton Tarrant live-streamed on Facebook his armed assault on mosques during Friday prayers in Hagley Park and Linwood in Christchurch, New Zealand on 2019. Since that time many more have been inspired by that video footage which remains in heavy circulation on Telegram. Unquestionably, the new Telegram video service will also provide selfie live streaming, which may add a new dimension to the ability for extremists' message reach and effectiveness.
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Images (Above): Scene of Convoy attack
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TRAC INCIDENT REPORT: La Familia Michoacana (LFM) Suspected Gunmen Ambush Government Convoy Killing Eight Police Officers, the Security Secretariat, and Five Prosecutors in Llano Grande, Coatepec Harinas, Mexico |
On 18 March, police of the Secretariat of Security of the State of Mexico were traveling with agents of the Prosecutor's Office in a convoy on the old highway to Zacualpan near the Llano Grande community. An unknown number of gunmen ambushed the convoy killing the Security Secretariat, five prosecutors and eight police officers of the Attorney General’s office in Mexico State. The gunmen looted weapons out of the vehicles and dragged the dead onto the ground. Police in pursuit of the assailants had a second encounter in the municipality of Almoloya de Alquisiras where the gunmen killed four additional State Police. Though Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) is the largest and most active cartel in Mexico, local sources report that La Familia Michoacana (LFM) are behind the ambush. Indeed, LFM announced a "war" with the Attorney General of Justice of the State of Mexico in July 2020, and proceeded to carry out targeted assassinations of prosecutors immediately after.Given that the convoy was traveling on a rural and old road, it is likely that the assassins knew of the convoy's travel arrangements before the ambush. Though it is unclear how the gunmen stopped the vehicles, images of crude tire shredders, balls containing sharp spikes, have circulated on Telegram and at least one vehicle at each of the crime scenes had a flat tire.
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TRAC Incident Report: Islamic State Claims Two Explosive Devices Destroyed Two Electrical Transmission Towers in Khalis, Diyala, Iraq (Attacks on Infrastructure) |
Islamic State's West Africa affiliate destroyed an electrical transmission tower in southeast Niger, claiming an 'ongoing economic war.' Today's claim below, while targeting similar infrastructure, does not utilize similar wording. In January, seven high-voltage transmission lines were damaged by explosive devices in Diyala, Salahuddin, Ninawa and Anbar provinces according to the spokesman of the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity. The combined effects of deliberate sabotage and the Iranian decision to cut off a percentage of natural gas supplies to Iraq have rendered the nation's electric grid nearly inoperable. Islamic State will most likely continue to target power lines and transmission towers. On 16 March in a yet-to-be confirmed operation, Islamic State operatives placed two explosive devices near transmission towers in the Khalis region of Diyala province. The bombs reportedly destroyed their targets.
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Image (above): PAUL RZEHACZEK (below) Police ask for tips of anyone dressed in black seen on the morning of 11 March 2021 in Eilenburg.
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Images: (Above) Meme first circulated on Telegram channel celebrates Robert Aaron Long's shooting spree. Note the glowing eyes are a white nationalist symbol for the rage of 'acceleration.'
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TRAC INCIDENT REPORT: Robert Aaron Long, 21, Shooting Spree At Three Separate Massage Parlors in Cherokee County and Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
In an interview with a friend who had recently been in a rehabilitation center with Mr. Long, the friend claimed that Long blamed the porn industry for his addition. Even after release from rehabilitation, Long purportedly spent long hours watching pornography. It should be noted that extreme far right circles have long blamed the porn industry on the demise of the potency of man. Often weaving the porn industry into wider conspiracies of Jewish run cabals and pedophilia. Many also blame the women working in the industry, for making men stray from their true purpose of pro-creating. It should be noted that the Terrorgram network on Telegram celebrated the shootings as they occurred in real time. Even created meme's of Robert Aaron Long's photo. Extreme far right Telegram channels constantly circulate propaganda against red-light industries such as porn and prostitution. "Rape culture" is prevalent among the extreme far right and the decidedly misogynistic message appeals to an INCEL audience. Young white males drawn to the INCEL movement are increasingly willing to commit violent acts against women. In February 2020, a minor motivated by the INCEL movement attacked a massage parlor in Toronto, Canada.
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TRAC's Weekly Analyst Review is a small curated list of many events.
For more events TRAC is monitoring click here
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