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Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

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Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#51

Post by VLM »

noobie wrote: post #24
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…

Honest question that always crosses my mind. Why do we always assume a terrorist group is behind such attacks? Couldn't it be a couple of deranged persons acting on their own?

Look up the concept of "never let a crisis go to waste", and its a two parter, the stated first part is "ISIS musta dunnit" and the second unstated or quietly stated part is "and thats why we have to expel all muslims" or "thats why we need to give a campaign donor of mine a trillion dollars to increase security" or "there's a lot of countries we haven't made safe for democracy yet and I was thinking ..."

You should see the wind go out of politicans sails when they learn an event like this is a random nutcase. They look like their dog died.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#52

Post by swiley »

ascorbic wrote: post #25
michaelmcmillan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In these situations, religion is politics.

This isn't talked about enough. More people in both secular and religious contexts need to notice how bad this can get sometimes.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#53

Post by kbart »

twoquestions wrote: post #31
michaelmcmillan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

All religions are mental cancer, some just have more serious consequences than others.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#55

Post by eveningcoffee »

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.

Obvious troll is obvious.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#56

Post by tomp »

twoquestions wrote: post #31
michaelmcmillan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's not exactly true; e.g. in the UK, there was a lot of terrorism in the past by IRA - although Ireland and the UK have different religions, I don't think that was the main issue. The main issue was divisions between two groups of people and the resulting inter-group hate.

On the other hand, religion is probably the most important, yet arbitrary and completely illogical, divisive influence in the world. So, religion most definitely is to blame.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#57

Post by ekianjo »

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…

> I saw the French PM said something like "we're at war" - I'm not sure who they're at war with but onward with the endless war.

They have been saying that since the terrorists attacks of 2015 in France. Nothing new. And France is actually at war against ISIS, that's not a secret for anyone.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#58

Post by unfamiliar »

josteink wrote: post #33
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 ackn…

What exactly are these "facts" you keep alluding to?

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#59

Post by cm2187 »

JshWright wrote: post #49
cm2187 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

European communist terrorists in the 70s were getting trained in Palestinian terrorists camps. They would even get weapons there. They are still European movements.

Pretending that it was a foreign aggression is a lie.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#60

Post by ekianjo »

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?

> - we need more surveillance rights and money for the secret services

Looks like it's not working too well. Surveillance services have gained mass resources since 2015 in France and that did not stop the December attacks at all.

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