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Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

wsj.com

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Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#31

Post by twoquestions »

michaelmcmillan wrote: post #18
coldcode wrote: post #14

People always freak out when this happens. As long as there have been people with enough hate (or often political motives) there has always been terrorist attacks. Even the Romans suffered as much. I don't think there is any solution which makes everyone perfectly safe. Politicians always want to guarantee perfect safety but it's not possible. Some things you can prevent, some things you can stop, but some horrible t…

You seem to attribute a lot to politics. I would argue that religion is the variable that plays the dominant role in this war of ideas.

You and many others seem to post that there is a mental cancer infecting 1.5 billion people on this planet, and at any time it could transform its host into a bloodthirsty murderer seemingly at random.

I don't buy it.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#32

Post by ascorbic »

odinduty wrote: post #8
rplnt wrote: post #2

The comments there are... as expected I guess.

I guess it's hard to feel in any other way when recent migration policies have translated into a sharp decline of our own security in our own developed countries.

The Paris attackers were French and Belgian, not immigrants. This has been the case with almost all attacks in Europe, where the perpetrators have almost always been local.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#33

Post by josteink »

themartorana wrote: post #15

This is a mess larger than I can comprehend, with scores of innocent dead. The spectrum of political issues this crosses is vast. We're talking nationalism, immigration, religion, extremism, surveillance, privacy, and war to name a few. The nuance required to understand and attack the big picture is almost nowhere to be found. I saw the French PM said something like "we're at war" - I'm not sure who they're at war wi…

> This is a mess larger than I can comprehend, with scores of innocent dead.

What's most sad about it, is that the current situation is the result of doing nothing, despite having crystal clear data on the situation, and in which (wrong) direction things has been changing.

It's been clear that something needs to be done for years, even decades, but actually doing something about the situation would mean publicly acknowledging these facts. And nobody has been willing to do just that.

In fact actually using these known indisputable facts has been systematically avoided for fear of being seen as "racist" or whatever.

Putting the specific issue of immigration aside, I think that it's a very bad sign for the future of enlightened democracy when actually running a fact-based policy is deemed as "risky" and even unacceptable from a public relations point of view.

If we let this attitude persist, we can do lots of wrongs in other areas as well: Think about environmental changes, etc etc.

We need to heighten the status of cold data, of facts as a matter of indisputability. But that's not a left/right issue and I don't think you will find any party fronting such a position.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#34

Post by tobltobs »

odinduty wrote: post #23
eveningcoffee wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe yes, maybe not, but you are a troll who created the account about 24 hours before the attacks.

Maybe I was behind the attacks. Or maybe your comment is a senseless ad-hominem.

What do you expect with such a fag nickname?

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#37

Post by vixen99 »

coldcode wrote: post #14

People always freak out when this happens. As long as there have been people with enough hate (or often political motives) there has always been terrorist attacks. Even the Romans suffered as much. I don't think there is any solution which makes everyone perfectly safe. Politicians always want to guarantee perfect safety but it's not possible. Some things you can prevent, some things you can stop, but some horrible t…

Your comment invites an extended response (from me, anyway) but we all know that HN is not the place for it. Out of interest, can anyone suggest an HN-style aggregator where cool argument, free speech and pertinent observations on topics of this kind can be put forward for discussion in a civilized manner? Reddit does not appeal but I haven't visited it for some time.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#38

Post by jonatanheyman »

wslh wrote: post #20
dmichulke wrote: post #7

As sad as it is, I think the responses will be: - we need more surveillance rights and money for the secret services - we need more police and higher spending - and possibly bomb some country (Syria is en vogue) What won't be said is: - How come this happens again without anyone having seen it coming? - What does it say about the success of the Western anti-terror foreign policy adopted ~2001?

I think investing in explosives detection is a better approach. It is an irony that there were explosions at the airport while they are screening you completely before boarding a flight.

According to BBC the explosion are believed to have been in the checkin area, i.e. outside of the security screening.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#40

Post by [deleted] »

themartorana wrote: post #15

This is a mess larger than I can comprehend, with scores of innocent dead. The spectrum of political issues this crosses is vast. We're talking nationalism, immigration, religion, extremism, surveillance, privacy, and war to name a few. The nuance required to understand and attack the big picture is almost nowhere to be found. I saw the French PM said something like "we're at war" - I'm not sure who they're at war wi…

[deleted]
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