The suspects in the foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna earlier this month sought to kill “tens of thousands” of fans before the CIA discovered intelligence that disrupted the planning and led to arrests, the agency’s deputy director said.

The CIA notified Austrian authorities of the scheme, which allegedly included links to the Islamic State group. The intelligence and subsequent arrests ultimately led to the cancellation of three sold-out Eras Tour shows, devastating fans who had traveled across the globe to see Swift in concert.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️
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    Aimed to kill ‘tens of thousands’

    How, did they have a nuke?

    with knives or homemade explosives

    Ah. Somehow, I don’t think so.

    • foggy
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      No one recalls because of it’s utter failure, but allow me remind how you all how novice some terror plots are. This is from memory.

      In 2007 during the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, a few men rented a two cars, placed kegs of gasoline in the trunks next to boxes of nails. They were rigged with a cell phone as a detonator.

      Car 1 was parked so poorly it was towed to an underground lot. No service. No “kaboom” (really it’d be a brief fireball and some warm nails, destroyed car)

      Car 2, seeing how poorly car 1 went, decided they would kamikaze into The entrance(?) of Glasgow airport?

      Except they detonated way too soon. Basically just lit the car they were driving on fire near an airport.

      Iirc they were burned, and then arrested. Would have invited more terror by punching random babies.

      Edit: there were 3 cars. 2 cars parked poorly. 1 towed. The other, an ambulance noticed smoke coming out of it, so they notified authorities who discovered the bomb and subsequently diffused it. The smoke was presumably from faulty wiring with the detonator.

    • ikiddEnglish
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      It was some teenager with a half-assed plan and delusions of grandeur. This “tens of thousands” shit is kind of an embarassing thing to proport, like they need to pump up having foiled a “major” terrorist organization or something.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️
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        It seems the authorities are deliberately trumping up the “potential” casualty number in order to help throw the book at the alleged perpetrators.

        • whereisk
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          How else do you convince bureaucrats and purse string holders that you are vital and need a bigger budget for next year?

        • smokebuddy [he/him]
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          also possibly to amend the laws to allow the surveillance of own citizens’ text messages which is currently illegal for police to do there

    • treadfulEnglish
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      Investigators discovered chemical substances and technical devices during a raid of the suspect’s home.

      Could mean literally anything, though.

    • Jimmycakes
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      They were gonna pass the knife to a fan and say stab yourself or double it and pass it on so the final fan would have to stab everyone as there was no one left to pass it on

    • Ellia PlisskenEnglish
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      and like, they couldn’t attack more than one at a time, did they think authorities wouldn’t notice?

      • can
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        It’s almost as if the type of person to do such thing may not be working with a sound, reasonable mind.

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    The biggest surprise here is the CIA notifying anyone. They have a rich legacy of keeping their mouths shut and watching tragedies unfold, despite knowing they would happen.

    • credo
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      Everyone knows the CIA is filled with deep state swifties.

      • CosmicTurtle0English
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        I’m fairly sure “All Too Well” is about her breakup with the CIA.

        • Kalkaline
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          “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is actually about the CIA and Al Qaeda

        • darvocet
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          The CIA still has her red handkerchief and the Director still smells it to be reminded of their time together.

    • CoreidanEnglish
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      Let go of the idea that the CIA is here to protect you. They are not.

      They exist to ensure the current world order doesn’t change.

      They will take advantage of any tragic event as long as it benefits their mission and agenda.

    • LifeInMultipleChoice
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      They notified Israel on Oct 5 of a possible Hamas flare up and attack. Could have saved a lot of Isralies and a lot more Palestinians now.

      Fairly sure they have also notified Germany about attacks on the pipelines, Ukraine about impending Russian attack before they believed it.

      They have been guilty of bad acts in the past for sure, but in recent history it seems they have been pretty forward with passing information on to other countries when they have it

      • Burn_The_Right
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        Fair nuff. They’ve probably got a at least a few more years of good deeds before public perception of them shifts.

  • cygnus
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    the scheme, which allegedly included links to the Islamic State group

    What a surprise! I was expecting militant Buddhists to be responsible.

    • SludgehammerEnglish
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      Honestly, I was expecting Christian nationalist. Especially since over the past decade Taylor’s gone from the right-wings idealized “aryan goddess” to “Evil woke woman who must be degraded at every opportunity”.

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        Honestly, same. Ever since my own mother asked me if I knew that Swift was a witch (as in, pointy black hat, spells, and broomsticks kind of witch)(yes, I’m serious, she legit believes this, stop laughing) I knew the far right has had it out for her. Don’t know what she did to get their attention (and I don’t really care) but they’re coming with their pitchforks

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    Obviously this is a bad thing, but it’s humorous that this kid thought they could actually kill tens of thousands.

  • Media Bias Fact CheckerB
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  • SteveEnglish
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    Am I alone in thinking, a history that never happened isn’t actually news.

    • FireTower
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      The foiling is the history that happened.

      • SteveEnglish
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        And that’s old news. Not what This article is about.