If the message was something like “Don’t discriminate against young male Middle Eastern immigrants”, then my guess is that they’ve selected the wrong PR firm.
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Yes, and in Belgium, as in my country, we allocate resources based on the expressed priorities of the voting public.
Who are occasionally quite wrong, but in my experience no more so than are technocrats.
Unless they got hurt in the blast, they aren’t the victims. I never said they were the cause. The other poster suggested that the police/intelligence agencies might have failed in stopping something from happening.
I pointed out that wasn’t necessarily so, as even if they were aware of and rounding up one cell, there could be other cells they weren’t aware of. That is the nature of cell based terrorism. So no, I actually said it most likely wasn’t a failure of intelligence.
At the same time, I don’t think the other poster was victim blaming. This isn’t a black/white dichotomy. One can wish they had done more with out blaming them for the attack.
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The Belgian foreign minister, Didier Reynders, had warned on Sunday that Abdeslam “was ready to restart something in Brussels, and it may be the reality because we have found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons … and a new network around him in Brussels”.
The interior minister, Jan Jambon, repeated the warning on Monday, adding that the country was now on high alert for a revenge attack.
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The intention may well have been the opposite - groups like Daesh don’t want European Muslims and non-Muslims to trust each other and get along peacefully.
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If the intent isn’t to hurt international cooperation and to further foster the rise of various populist politicians and campaigns I’ll be amazed.
Who’s going to make the most political capital out of this?
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The plebes are prone to not seeing things that are common and overreacting to the rare ones.
Example of such thinking:
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And the politicians are usually pretty good at introducing the distractions that shouldn’t be as concerning and covering up/ignoring the issues that should be. E.g. Flint’s water vs. terrorism.
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Because it is way easier to trigger emotions of the plebes and scare them into submission than to understand corrosion issues.
We got the politicos the majority deserves.
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If the intent isn’t to hurt international cooperation and to further
foster the rise of various populist politicians and campaigns I’ll be
amazed.
Who’s going to make the most political capital out of this?
I think this is closest to why these acts of terrorism occur. Violent extremists and religious fanatics do not want peace, they want conflict to further their cause. Yes, they get a bit of a victory by killing people directly, but the response to these attacks helps them much more in their cause to recruit more jihadists and convince more Muslims that the west is at war with them.
Much like the benefit the right wing in the US gets by convincing people the government and Islam are at war with them. It leads to more power and control for them.
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Case in point, Ted Cruz’s statement:
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Jeebus fucken christo up a tree:
We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.
Please tell me how law enforcement isn’t empowered to patrol their patrol areas?
The days of the United States voluntarily surrendering to the enemy to show how progressive and enlightened we are (sic) at an end.
Jackass can’t even get his bluster right. This strikes me as the most ridiculous thing in the American Presidential race right now: All these right winger idiots going on about #neverTrump and how he’s so terrible and splitting the party and getting Paul Ryan to run instead blah blah blah, and yet both Cruz and Rubio are just as wacknut isolationist bomb-everyone-now and keep-everyone-else-out as Trump.
I suppose right wingers prefer their hate and intolerance couched in “Real Talk” (tm), as opposed to mealy-mouthed dogwhistling.
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Well, everyone knows they are “no go zones” in Muslim majority neighborhoods… just as Faux News!
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maybe it would be better to stick with “security theater”.
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With all the dancing, miming, posturing, masks, evocation of symbolics, nonunderstandability, and making even less sense than conventional theater? Kabuki it is. Definitely kabuki.
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Hm? What exactly are you on about?
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The Intelligence Services are not the victims (most likely they will be the political beneficiaries of this tragedy: increased surveillance / budget…). The victims had no say in how the war against terror is conducted–just like I don’t. Living bang in the middle of the biggest European Metropolis with my children who I love dearly, I think I am in a position to discuss how I am / am not protected by the agencies who are tasked with protecting us and whose wages I co-finance.
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Surely, the purpose of an anti-terror operation is to reduce terrorism not to escalate it. If you arrest key operators and the threat levels increase than, that looks like a strategy in need of improvement.
Thank you @shaddack for introducing a bit of rationality into the conversation.
Not sure, where I mentioned a preferred target. All I stated is, that I am fed up with the EU being a target for every- and anybody (left-right-centre, muslim-christian-jew…). There is a lot wrong with the EU, but considering that it somehow manages to keep a fairly civil conversation going between 27 nations who, over a millennia only encountered each other in war, I would prefer if people would get of the EUs case.
or in @daneel’s words [quote]
If the intent isn’t to hurt international cooperation and to further foster the rise of various populist politicians and campaigns I’ll be amazed.
[/quote]
I would like international cooperation not to be the target of anything! Various maverick dictators on the other hand…
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I can see two possibilities, and am blind to several more.
- “They’re getting close. Our next operation needs to be commenced before it’s uncovered.”
- “They’re getting close. If we launch this operation now, the security forces will have eggs on their faces.”
It’s not completely unreasonable to surmise that ISIS wants an apocalyptic war between muslims and non-muslims. If the attacks are designed to secure that objective, than “benefiting the intelligence services” can also be read as “moving steadily towards DEFCON 1.”
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Yes, exactly I am suggesting it is important to understand the course of events and whether / how the arrests last week are connected to the attack this week and whether there are possible ways to prevent such events.
Not really such a radical question, or?
Pray, say @lolipop_jones which paradise is your abode. Because, here in the UK there sure are a lot of resources allocated in un-evidenced stupid ways, against my any many other tax payer’s will. Intelligence, and the way minority communities are being treated, would be one of those things.
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Either way it would be good if the Intelligence Services would not inadvertently further the terrorist’s objective.
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I agree, but don’t want to walk past the hurt of people directly or indirectly involved. Thats real also. And yes I know the stats and I don’t panic nor can’t see it in perspective.
I agree, it’s scary. And again it shows that more security more research more inflicting in the privacy of people (or there computers), or indeed 'War on the Unusual". (Lovely expression btw) etc. Don’t need to rant here I expect, etc. Does not work.
But I stopped following the media somewhere in the afternoon (over here) because it is to depressing and frustrating.
But it is a hell of difficulties for people and politicians to deal with.
Thats terrible, I feel for you. I’m also a person with not many friends, lests drinking buddy’s. So if they are there its precious and missing if you loose them. I hope it is only for a while.
My slightly selfish problem is if I can get to France Friday. My garden and very old house is waiting, not a friend, but dearly beloved.
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