Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Are they victims because we don't love them enough?

A few days ago bomb attacks on the airport and on a metro train in Brussels killed 32 and injured over 300 people. Three more have died since. The police still have no clue about the identity of the third man at the airport, wearing a hat and a white jacket, whose bomb failed to explode. In November 130 were killed and over 700 injured in simultaneous attacks on a rock concert, a stadium and a cafe in Paris. The signs were there since 2014 but authorities in Europe did not take them seriously. Even Obama called ISIS a 'JV team', which means 'junior university team', in an interview in 2014, when ISIS had just taken over Fallujah. ISIS is making bombs with triacetone triperoxide, which can be made from acetone and hydrogen peroxide, found in nail polish remover and hair bleach. The bombers at Brussels could not fit a fourth suitcase into the taxi which took them to the airport, or else the carnage could have been much worse. Is all this the fault of European colonialism, when they drew lines dividing peoples into different nations according to their own spheres of influence, the divisions generated during the Cold War between Western countries and the Soviet bloc, or the most recent meddling when, in acts of utmost stupidity, both Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were removed? The problem that Europe has is that it is right next door to the Middle East and North Africa, where the terrorists are being trained, while the US is safe across 8,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean. Some think that we should be shedding tears for terror attacks in Baghdad and Istanbul as well as those in Europe. Should we? The President of Turkey, RT Erdogan is a thug who is bombing Kurds, fighting ISIS in Syria, which helps the ISIS, while at the same time allowing NATO aircraft to use Incirlik Air Base to bomb ISIS, which makes Turkey fair game for both ISIS and Kurds. The previous Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki was solely responsible for the resurgence of Al Qaeda in Iraq because of his hatred for Sunnis. It is like asking Indians to sympathise with Pakistanis, killed in terrorist attacks, when the Pakistani Army is training and arming terrorists to kill Indians. Their hatred is such that even after living for 40 years in the US a Pakistani compares Hindus to monkeys. Liberals in India and the West portray terrorists as victims, young people who have been radicalized because we do not love them enough and are not giving them high paying jobs. The danger is that there is going to be a severe backlash as ordinary people, who are normally peaceful, decide to fight back. After all, people still blame Neville Chamberlain for appeasing Hitler. Liberals are outraged if a woman is raped, as everyone should be, but if terrorists do the same they make excuses. Why? If they continue war will engulf the world. They will be responsible.

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