An overview of articles and narratives published in world publications.
Who is Jack Teixeira, the leaker of classified military information?
A number of media outlets are covering the development of the topic related to the leaked confidential information of the Pentagon from different angles.
In its April 14 issue, the Washington Post featured a video of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who was arrested on suspicion of distributing these documents on the Internet that discredited the US military leadership.
According to reports, he was serving at Otis Air Force Base in the Massachusetts National Guard. The intelligence unit of the Air Force was located at the base. Teixeira joined the Guard on September 26, 2019.
His family lives in Digton, not far from Boston. The newspaper, based on photos and public information, wrote that Thomas Defoe, the stepfather of the soldier, retired after 34 years of service in the same unit. His mother worked in non-governmental organizations helping veterans, and later she was engaged in the flower business. Reporters noted that they could not be contacted.
The Washington Post reported that Teixeira’s right to access classified security documents was unclear. However, he could access the internal computer system of the Ministry of Defense to obtain classified information.
According to one of the officials interviewed by reporters, Teixeira had the opportunity to read and possibly print classified information. The same documents were leaked.
Another article published in the same issue of the publication said that Teixeira, who appeared in photos as a thin, teenage boy, had joined the army in accordance with family tradition, and that the patriotism of a 1st class pilot was normal. According to information, he was involved in the maintenance and repair of computers and system communications in the intelligence section of the base.
According to the newspaper, now during the investigation, the difficult and dangerous aspects of the army will be revealed.
One of the friends who spoke to reporters described Teixeira as “a patriot, a devout Catholic, a gun-obsessed guy who doubts the future of America.” Some people who knew him on the video game platform Discord showed him a video of a soldier shouting racist, anti-Semitic slogans before opening fire. By the way, Teixeira first shared the secret documents right there in a small circle of Internet friends.
One of the group members, who later met him in real life, notes that confidential information began to appear on the Discord server last February, when the war broke out in Ukraine. According to him, the participants of the forum agreed not to distribute those documents, because it would be against the interests of the United States.
Uzbeks suspected of terrorism tried to escape from detention in Indonesia
The Diplomat website reported that on April 13, suspected militants from Uzbekistan tried to escape from the detention center in Indonesia, and focused on the details of the incident.
According to information, a few days ago, three citizens of Uzbekistan, who are suspected of terrorism, tried to escape, stabbed to death an employee of the immigration center, and four were seriously injured. One of the suspects drowned when he jumped into the canal, and the others were recaptured.
They were among four Uzbeks detained by Indonesia’s counter-terrorism service on March 24.
According to Jakarta Police Spokesman Aswin Siregar, Uzbekistan’s National Security Service sent a message that they may be linked to Katiba al Tawhid wal Jihad, a group close to Al Qaeda. The suspects came to Indonesia in February via Turkey. The authorities found that they were spreading propaganda on the Internet and promoting terrorism. The four were placed in a detention center at the North Jakarta Immigration Center and would be deported.
The police representative said that before that they stole a knife from the warehouse and attacked the staff of the detention center while they were preparing to speak, and the fourth suspect refused to run away.
It was further reported that the suspects decided to flee after meeting with an official of the Uzbek consulate, because they did not want to be deported because they could face severe punishment in their homeland.
According to another information from the police representative, two of the suspects were trained in a militant camp in Syria.
Indonesia is the country with the largest population of Muslims. Authorities have been fighting radical Islamist militants since a 2002 terrorist attack on the popular tourist island of Bali killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. Despite this, groups have appeared targeting the security services and local “infidels”. They were instigated by the “Islamic State” terrorist organization.
According to The Diplomat publication, since March 2002 Katiba al Tawhid wal Jihad, which has been separated from the Jannat Oshiklari militant organization, has been included in the UN Security Council’s sanctions list for its links with Al-Qaeda. According to the information of the council, there are about 500 fighters in its ranks, and in 2016 they organized an attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek.
“Professional complainants” in Russia
Deutsche Welle reported on a “complaint epidemic” in Russia, with complaints against each other for spreading “fakes” about the military or violating other laws passed since the war.
The author sought an answer to the question of who the complainants are and what benefits they seek.
According to him, there are many people who applied mainly for the purpose of “discrediting the armed forces of Russia and spreading pro-Ukrainian propaganda.”
For example, in the city of Podolsk, one of the pensioners complained that a schoolgirl was wearing a blue-yellow dress similar to the flag of Ukraine. If he calms down once expressing his dissatisfaction, there are people who write letters to the police or Roskomnadzor.
Vitaly Borodin, the previously unknown head of the “Combating Corruption and Security Project” is named as particularly active in the article. He is the author of appeals asking to check whether the singer Alla Pugacheva helped the Ukrainian army, prosecute the actress Liya Akhedzhakova for treason, another singer Valery Meladze, and several other artists. Commenting on his biography and business, the author said that Borodin owns expensive property.
In addition, there are unpaid “professional complainants”. One of them has written 764 electronic complaints since the start of the war. It registers ordinary citizens who watch and comment on the broadcasts of “Dozhd”, “Nastoyashe Vremya”, “Svoboda” radio, and “Deutsche Welle”.
“Complaints against co-workers are also widespread,” continues the author of the article. With this, they mainly aim to resolve personal grievances and disagreements.
The article presents unofficial statistics from the end of last year. According to it, 180 cases were initiated in Russia on charges of “spreading false information” about the army.
And Roskomnadzor reported that it received 133,601 appeals related to “illegal information on the Internet”. Information about the war in Russia that differs from the official news is considered illegal.