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Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

wsj.com

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Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#71

Post by creshal »

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…

> It's been clear that something needs to be done for years

And what? That "something" needs to be done was clear since the 80s, but so far constructive solutions have been rather sparse. Integration is too expensive to the austerity and privatization loving right wing, and expulsion doesn't work because our economies depend on cheap immigrant labour. So far I've not seen anyone seen pushing for a different solution.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#72

Post by golemotron »

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. 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.

The problem is very simple: cultural incompatibility.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#73

Post by creshal »

ekianjo wrote: post #60
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.

France has had the most extensive surveillance system in continental Europe for over a decade and it has helped roundabout nothing.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#74

Post by rogeryu »

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?

> - How come this happens again without anyone having seen it coming?

Knowing how Belgium handles their minorities in Brussels, it's not a big surprise.

The fact that this happens now is neither a surprise. Salah Abdeslam has been caught, and there were messages that he wanted to cooperate with the Belgium police. Whether it's true or not, if they were planning something, and he knew about it, waiting was not a real option.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#75

Post by artursapek »

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.

Religion is the way the leaders of these groups convince their followers to blow themselves up. Without religion it would be completely against their self interest to do so.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#76

Post by raverbashing »

ascorbic wrote: post #32
odinduty wrote: post #8

Earlier 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.

"Local", yes, keep telling yourself that

2nd generation immigrants

I'm not against immigration per se, but there's a lot of problems coming from people who fail (because it's mostly their responsibility) to integrate

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#77

Post by michaelmcmillan »

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.

How do you explain that a person without any social or political grievances decide to abandon their computer science degree to fight for an Islamic state? [1]

[1] Jihadi John: http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/02/27/the-horror-...

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#78

Post by jld89 »

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…

Yes I am also immensely interested about these 'facts' you continually allude to.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#79

Post by Kiro »

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 police

Why is this a bad thing? I feel safer with more police presence but maybe that's just me.

Re: Brussels Rocked by Terrorist Attacks

#80

Post by raverbashing »

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?

> How come this happens again without anyone having seen it coming?

A lot of people could see it coming, except for the naive PC people

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