Top Russian pundit speculates that Washington allowed ISIL to crash the passenger flight in Egypt

Dmitry Kiselyov, one of Russia's most prominent television pundits and the head of the news agency Rossiya Segodnya, used his news show on November 8 to suggest that the United States may have turned a blind eye to the terrorists who may be responsible for the crash of a Russian passenger flight in Egypt on October 31.

On his TV show, "Vesti Nedeli" (News of the Week), Kiselyov asked why terrorists would target Russia after just six weeks of airstrikes in Syria, while the US has been bombing ISIL for two years. "Could the Western Coalition really be that ineffective?" he asked. "Has it failed entirely to weaken the barbaric Caliphate?"

Kiselyov then argued that Washington has a long history of "buying off" or diverting terrorists, saying that the United States handled the Taliban this way during the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan. "Why wouldn't [the Americans] use this experience with ISIL?" Kiselyov asked.

On his show, Kiselyov also recalled US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's comments on October 9, when Carter said of Moscow's intervention in Syria, “This will have consequences for Russia itself, which is rightly fearful of attacks. In coming days, the Russians will begin to suffer from casualties.” According to Kiselyov, comments like this one are reason to suspect that the West reached some kind of deal with ISIL "not to touch the civilian aircraft of the Western Coalition." 

Dividing terrorists into good ones and bad ones is a standard practice for the West. If the terrorist is targeting Russia, he's a good terrorist and even a supporter of democracy.