Belgium hasn't had stable governments for many years, with many observers, especially in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, calling it a 'failed state'. I read an article about that a while ago, couldn't find it directly, but I found this one: http://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-failed-state-security...
Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
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Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Mohamed Abrini and Salah Abdeslam really do sound like francophone names! Come on, let's try not to have to discuss this...
Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#43Facebook has activated Safety Check. — https://www.facebook.com/safetycheck/brusselsexplosions-marc... I guess it’s official. Facebook Safety Check is for terrorist attacks in white, western countries only. Good to know. Edit: I was wrong and I take back what I said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Safety_Check#Other_de...
Looks like Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tunisia (my home country) and others are not Western enough for Facebook.
Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#44This 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…
In fact even the Paris attacks wasn't really ISIS. It was the work of French and Belgium nationals, attacking their own country. They may have received some support in Syria but the gvt is trying to make it look like foreign attacks because it avoids to put the focus on difficult questions (the radicalisation of their muslim minorities, and the growing anti-western sentiment in their 1st and 2nd generation immigration).
Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#45Facebook has activated Safety Check. — https://www.facebook.com/safetycheck/brusselsexplosions-marc... I guess it’s official. Facebook Safety Check is for terrorist attacks in white, western countries only. Good to know. Edit: I was wrong and I take back what I said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Safety_Check#Other_de...
Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#46This 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 ackn…
> that the current situation is the result of doing nothing
I think the current situation is the result of doing way too much the the past decade (or two). If the US and EU stayed out of the Middle East (Iraq, Libya, Syria), the EU+ME part of the world would be a much more peaceful place.
Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#47This 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…
I haven't read the entire Atlantic piece, but given the fact that we know there is an ISIS affiliated group operating Belgium, I don't see how you can possibly be so certain it wasn't ISIS.
I think it's far more likely that these attacks were triggered by the recent arrest of Salah Abdeslam and the killing of Mohamed Belkaid (in two different raids). There were multiple other suspects who were not captured/killed, and it seem plausible that they carried out these attacks now as they felt the police were closing in.
I'm not claiming that all terror attacks are always ISIS, and I'm not saying I'm sure this was ISIS, but given recent events in Belgium, the likelihood of ISIS involvement is a _lot_ higher than 0.001%.
Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#48Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#49This 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…
In fact even the Paris attacks wasn't really ISIS. It was the work of French and Belgium nationals, attacking their own country. They may have received some support in Syria but the gvt is trying to make it look like foreign attacks because it avoids to put the focus on difficult questions (the radicalisation of their muslim minorities, and the growing anti-western sentiment in their 1st and 2nd generation immigratio…
By "some support" you mean extensive training and material support, then sure... I guess...
I think it would be fair to call them French/Belgian ISIS members. There is no requirement that you must be Syrian to be a member of ISIS.
Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks
#50Facebook has activated Safety Check. — https://www.facebook.com/safetycheck/brusselsexplosions-marc... I guess it’s official. Facebook Safety Check is for terrorist attacks in white, western countries only. Good to know. Edit: I was wrong and I take back what I said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Safety_Check#Other_de...
Looks like Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tunisia (my home country) and others are not Western enough for Facebook.
Maybe Facebook thinks that the Safety Check wont work for countries waging civil wars.