Because they have a shit ton of Middle Eastern & N. African immigrants and refugees that have been flocking there for quite some time. Lax and welcoming immigration laws. The road to hell is paved with good intentions sort of thing.
From the perspective of Wahabbi sunni jihadi terrorists, freedom, liberty and light are antithetical to their faith. Freedom, liberty and light are universal human ideals but it is naive to think that it would resolve this particular problem.
Economic and social disparity are not the root causes either. There are some really poor people in the world who donât kill people and there are some really rich countries that flaunt an executionerâs sword on their flag and conduct public beheadings for their leadersâ entertainment.
Let us wait to see what the underlying social, cultural, religious, economic context for this terrorist act are before jumping to conclusions.
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Of course The Donny has the solution. âWar. We have to have Congress declare war. I predicted this would continue⌠unless we get strong and really strong and very, very smart leadership.â
Oh! I canât believe no one has thought of this before. You guys, itâs so obvious. We need someone who is both strong AND really strong! And, of course, Trumpâs insisting we must be âstrongâ and âsmartâ is a devastating rebuke to all those politicians who insist we must be feeble-minded and weak."
Every time Hair Furor opens his overreacting piehole after one of these horrendous attack, ISIS, collectively, must laugh and just count its new recruits.
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This may be but one act. However, the Wahabbi sunni jihadi terrrorism that underlies it is a scourge. They have a barbaric and virulent ideology that is antithetical not just to Western values but also the values of Eastern world. We have to unite across our sectarian divisions to take on this scourge in the same determination, resolve and toughness that we took down nazism and communism.
We have to be smart and very intelligent about the process. We have to take down the spread of wahabbi sunni ideology and force total political change in the countries that adopt the ideology. There are countries where the wahabbi sunni jihadis and their sympathizers have already infiltrated the educational, social, political, cultural, military and legal institutions. We have to peacefully transform and educate the population to discard their toxic ideology for peace and tolerance. There is a lot of work to be done.
The moment the fact that most victims of terrorism are Muslim sinks into the pointy heads of Republican Righties:
(*I know. That realization probably wonât happen because it doesnât fit their political narrative and agenda. ~sigh!~)
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I was there for 6 weeks in 2003, also for a language program. This photo I took shows the Promenade des Anglais. Itâs the road and walkway that you see along that long curve of beach running in front of the buildings on the non-sea side. It extends the whole length of the coast you can see in the photo. The Nice airport is out near the point. Much, but clearly not all, of it is right on the beach with easy beach access. Every summer evening it teams with walkers late into the evening. There are vendors of all sorts, musicians, locals, and tourists. Itâs a âmust do.â
Were there tensions then? Yes. The home I stayed in was in a neighborhood where there had been an influx of Middle Eastern and North African people. The problem wasnât that they were from the Middle East or Africa specificaly, the problem was that they were very insular, making the neighbors feel unwelcome and sometimes unsafe in the neighborhood they had lived in for their entire lives. The newly arrived didnât make eye contact with the locals or make them welcome in their shops. The women didnât chat. Their children didnât share schools. Young men hung out in groups on the street and in parking lots eyeing passersby. This made women in particular uncomfortable. I had already noticed the insularity on the street, but didnât understand the larger problem until I read an old article I found in a local newspaper (âreadâ is a relative word - my French isnât all that hot). I clarified with my landlady and got the larger story.
How close is N. Africa? Close enough that when the Sirocco blows up, the dust blows all the way to the coast you see in the photo and coats the city.
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I was on Boulevard Gambetta about halfway between the beach and the train station. I have heard from many people that the experience for men and women in France is very different so Iâm aware my posititive experiences might be due to my gender. However, pretty much everyone opened up and talked to me when they learned I was American. I guess in 2005 I was helped by the fact that I hadnât supported Bush.
The moment the fact that most victims of terrorism are Muslim sinks into the pointy heads of Republican RightiesâŚ
What does that fact have to do with anything? Just because many victims of the Third Reich were other Germans doesnât make the ideology of Nazism any less blameworthy.
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Beautiful.
Secular Western Democracy is what it under attack by the extremists. What they want us to do is to fail - secular democracies demonstrate every day what is wrong with Wahhabism and they want us to turn around and betray our secular democratic ideals. So if we persecute Muslims we are doing what they want us to do - fail as secular democracies because this is what threatens them. This is what holds the line against theocracies and autocracies.
Nobody ever said democracy was going to be easy and is isnât especially in the face of this kind of threat but itâs the only thing that will save us - our ideals. If that means we are vulnerable, then weâre vulnerable but only to the extent that we are willing to be vulnerable in the pursuit of OUR ideals.
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I think that the dogma that most victims are Muslim is a fallacy and irrelevant. Most of the terrorists and terrorist organizations (al Qaeda, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Toiba, ISIS, al Shabbab, Boko Haram, the list goes on) are wahabbi sunni jihadi. Their main targets are Christians, Jews, Hindus and people of other faiths. They are also killing all kinds of people including shia muslims, political enemies and less religious muslims that they disagree with to create a path that will enable them to create new political infrastructure for their jihad-fueled slaughter.
That muslims are included among the targets does not make wahabbi sunni jihadi terrorism somehow better. It has nothing to do with narrative. It has to do with diffusing the responsibility for the terrorist acts.
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Why Amer. media jumping to all kind assumptions⌠They are as bad as the RW nedia. Its been reported as of this morning that this criminally mental man name Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel Tuisian- born was a criminal mental loner who became even further depressed when his wife left him. He also was known to police and at this time he have NO (I repeat) NO TIES TO ISIS OR ANY TERRORIST GROUP.
Itâs becoming unbearable to see France suffer from another day of carnage as people canât even go out and celebrate their national holidays without feeling terrified of getting killed in their moments of happiness.
Muslims account for nearly 8% of the French population. They have below-median incomes and tend to be younger than the national average. It is quite interesting that the target was Nice, a place that is older, more conservative and much richer than most French towns. Itâs like going after Beverly Hills.
France is the former colonial or mandate power in much of the Middle East and Maghreb.
The plastic pistol may have referred to the Glock 17 or whatever model he used. Their frames and many other parts are made of a high impact plastic. The plastic rifle may have referred to the AR-15 of one of its many clones. Much of those rifles are also made of plastic, particularly the stock and fore end.
Possible correction: a later news report I read said that the pistol was actually a toy and the grenade was a dud. No word on any rifles.
So itâs a grudge thing. Talk about carrying a grudge or having a chip on your shoulder.
This is Hatfield and McCoy territory.
What does that fact have to do with anything?
Um, how many victims of the Third Reich were other Nazis?
Thatâs the analogy you need to draw here, not that their victims included Germans.
Nobody is saying that it âmakes it betterâ. Jeebus. The clarification of who the victims are by and large is intended instead to defuse the knee-jerk âLETS BLAME ALL THE MUSLIMSâ response that a shocking number of normally level-headed TPM posters are engaging in. Holy crap, itâs a like motherfucking Trump rally in here the last couple days.
Exactly. This point was missing in the article; I was hoping the author would address it.
Oh, well.
And until then, are we limited to a military response? That seems the height of foolishness to me.
The vast majority of Muslim immigrants to France, Germany and other nations (including the US) were largely if not mainly motivated by economic needs and desires. Give them the opportunity to feel like they have a reasonable chance to get a decent job, feed their families and put a roof over their heads, and to fit into society, and the appeal of ISIS and similar groups will be very much reduced.