Former US Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the time of Clendaniel’s sentencing that ‘those who seek to attack our country’s critical infrastructure will face the full force of the US Department of Justice.’

By David Swindle, The Algemeiner

US federal prosecutors in Maryland have convicted 29-year-old Brandon Russell, co-founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, for planning to strike the state’s power grid in hopes of sparking a racial war.

On Monday, after an hour of deliberation, a jury found Russell guilty of one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility, the Associated Press reported.

He had developed the plan to use a sniper rifle to shoot at electrical substations around Baltimore with his girlfriend Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 36, who a judge sentenced on Sept. 25, 2024 to 18 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release after her acceptance of a plea deal.

Russell faces as much as 20 years imprisonment; his defense attorney Ian Goldstein said they plan to file an appeal and that his client’s conviction was a result of “a setup from the very beginning.”

Prosecutors said that had Russell’s plot succeeded, the damage could have topped $75 million.

In 2017, Russell pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered destructive device and unlawful storage of explosive material. The following year, while incarcerated, he and fellow inmate Clendaniel began a correspondence which led to a romantic relationship following their releases.

Former US Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the time of Clendaniel’s sentencing that “those who seek to attack our country’s critical infrastructure will face the full force of the US Department of Justice.”

He added that Clendaniel “sought to ‘completely destroy’ the city of Baltimore by targeting five power substations as a means of furthering her violent white supremacist ideology.”

Russell and Clendaniel embraced the neo-Nazi “accelerationist” ideology, which advocates for violence in order to provoke societal collapse.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described the word as “a term white supremacists have assigned to their desire to hasten the collapse of society as we know it. The term is widely used by those on the fringes of the movement, who employ it openly and enthusiastically on mainstream platforms, as well as in the shadows of private, encrypted chat rooms. We have also recently seen tragic instances of its manifestation in the real world.”

The antisemitism watchdog group also explained that Atomwaffen Division is “one of several new neo-Nazi groups whose rise paralleled the post-2015 growth of the alt right segment of the white supremacist movement. Atomwaffen distinguishes itself by its extreme rhetoric, influenced by the writings of a neo-Nazi of an earlier generation, James Mason, who admired Charles Manson and supported the idea of lone wolf violence.”

The post Neo-Nazi leader found guilty for plotting attack on Maryland power grid appeared first on World Israel News.

Text messages detailed in the complaint reveal Philippi allegedly told an undercover FBI agent in July that targeting ‘high economic, high tax, political zones in every major metropolis’ would cause maximum damage.

By Jewish Breaking News

A white supremacist has been arrested for plotting to attack a local energy facility in Nashville.

Skyler Philippi, 24, was arrested Saturday in Nashville and charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted destruction of an energy facility, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

He is being held without bond pending a Wednesday court appearance. His attorney has declined to comment on the charges.

According to the federal criminal complaint, Philippi was driven by “accelerationist ideology,” which is a white-supremacist belief that society is beyond repair and must be destroyed through violent means.

“Fueled by the perception that the White race’s future is bleak, these White supremacists believe they must employ any means necessary to expedite the collapse of the current system,” the Anti-Defamation League says of accelerationism.

“Solutions to bring down the system range from the most extreme form, violence, to deliberate political engagement that supports destructive and divisive societal elements.”

Text messages detailed in the complaint reveal Philippi allegedly told an undercover FBI agent in July that targeting “high economic, high tax, political zones in every major metropolis” would cause maximum damage.

Philippi had studied previous attacks on power substations in North Carolina and California, concluding that firearms would be ineffective compared to his planned drone attack.

Security experts cite the Nashville power grid plot as part of an escalating pattern of extremist activity.

“Electric utilities have always taken substation security seriously,” Patrick C. Miller, CEO of Oregon-based utility security consulting firm Ampyx Cyber, tells CNN.

“Historically, perceived or real differences with the administration have [changed from ‘has’] a tendency to drive extremist activity, and I expect that to get more fuel.”

The post White supremacist’s master plan to attack Nashville power grid goes dark appeared first on World Israel News.

Explosion reported in power plant near Tehran; Iran downplays incident, blaming it on ‘negligence’ of facility’s workers.

By World Israel News Staff

An explosion was reported at a power plant in central Iran Sunday evening, according to Iranian media outlets.

A report by the semi-official Fars agency said that the incident occurred at the Parand power plant, located in Robat Karim County, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of Tehran.

According to Fars, one person was killed in the explosion and four more injured.

The blast is said to have occurred at a pipeline used to transfer fuel to the plant’s turbines.

Iranian officials downplayed the incident, with regional governor Omid Ahmadi claiming the explosion was the result of “staffers’ negligence,” with no mention of sabotage.

Ahmadi added that the explosion damaged only a small part of the gas line, claiming that the blast did not interrupt the power plant’s operation nor the supply of electricity.

Last Thursday, the Tehran region’s electrical grid was partially disabled for roughly two hours, apparently the result of a cyber attack.

A group of Israeli hackers, known as “WeRedEvils” claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a message issued to the group’s Telegram channel, the hackers threatened a “harder” strike against Iran’s power grid.

“We cut off their electricity, and we left tens of thousands of residents without a means of communication and electricity for two hours until this moment. This is a message from us to Iran: don’t play with fire. The next strike will be harder with many more harmed, and it will be different from the cyber attacks that you’re familiar with.”

Israel and Iran have long engaged in cyber warfare, including targeting each other’s infrastructure.

In addition, a string of explosions at Iranian power plants in the summer of 2020 – resulting in regional blackouts – were widely speculated to have been the work of Israeli saboteurs.

The post Mysterious explosion at Iranian power plant kills one, injures 4 appeared first on World Israel News.

The $9 billion Euro-Asia Interconnector will be the world’s longest and deepest underwater power cable, according to Israel’s Energy Ministry.

By JNS

Israel, Cyprus and Greece signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday regarding a project to link their power grids via the construction of the world’s longest and deepest undersea power cable.

The project, called the “Euro-Asia Interconnector,” will help Israel build on more options for renewable energy, contribute to energy security and reduce energy prices, said Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz at the signing ceremony in Nicosia.

Steinitz called the MoU “great news for the citizens of Israel,” according to a ministry statement.

“The Euro-Asia Interconnector underwater power cable will allow us to receive electricity backing from the power grids of the European continent in times of emergency, and more importantly will also support our ability to significantly increase reliance on solar power generation, and help us meet the government’s 2030 solar energy targets,” he said.

Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides said that the MoU marked “a decisive step towards ending the island’s energy isolation and, consequently, our dependence on heavy fuels.”

Once completed, the undersea power cable will be the longest and deepest in the world, according to the ministry. The cable, which will be laid at a maximum depth of 2,700 meters (nearly 9,000 feet), will have a capacity of 1,000 to 2,000 megawatts.

According to the ministry, the project is expected to cost a bit more than $9 billion, part of which is to be provided by the European Union, which has recognized the undertaking as a Project of Common Interest.

The post Israel, Cyprus, Greece to link power grids via undersea cable appeared first on World Israel News.