Attack in Nairobi

The extremists are back in full force. The recent attack at a shopping mall in Nairobi is believed to come from an Al-Qaeda affiliated group named Al-Shabaab. What is most troubling to me is the way in which this attack was carried out. Al-Shabaab has recruited dozens of people from all over the world to communicate their messages, and they do so through social media sites like Twitter. The attack at the mall has left at least 59 people dead and over 175 injured. This number is expected to rise. The location of the mall was not arbitrary, it is believed it was chosen as the location due to the high volume of Westerners whom frequently shop there. As I mentioned, this group is using social media to get their message out. Before the attack occurred, Al-Shabaab tweeted that all of the Muslims should get out of the mall so they don't get killed.

I am curious as to how to US and international community will respond. We are still fighting the "War on Terror" but it seems to me that the number of terrorists is increasing exponentially with each passing day. The police force of the world (AKA the United States) will certainly have some reaction to this attack. Will it be the usage of more drones? More troops sent to "protect" the rest of the world? The leader of our soon to be empire, Barack Obama, will have a hard time not doing anything on this matter. It makes me curious if the timing of this attack was orchestrated to send the US a message. It has been less than a couple of weeks since the US threatened to attack Syria and the Assad regime. It is known to everyone that Assad has ties to terrorist organizations and has promised that he would use these connections if a US attack did occur. My claim that this attack was to send the US a message from Assad has no evidence to back it up, but I am saying that it would not surprise me if that was the case. Does Assad want US troops to be occupied somewhere else in case of something bigger triggers? Who knows, but it would not surprise me.

These terrorist groups live and die on media attention, and as of today, this story is on every news site all over the world. The more attention this attack gets, the more likely it is that Obama will demand some sort of attack. It is only a matter of time before Secretary of State, John Kerry, will feel the need to make his mark on history. His plans on Syria fell through, thanks to Putin, and now Kerry is looking for another event to which he can pull the trigger.

This is a story which I will closely be following over the next few days to see how everything unfolds. Will Al-Shabaab continue to use social media as a way to warn fellow Muslims of an attack? My guess would be that they will continue to do so. The more attention they get, the more likely it will be that their organization gains support and increases in membership.