Why is Abdeslam fighting extradition to France?
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/20/world/belgium-paris-attack-suspect-abdesla...
Nov 13 - attacks in Paris (updated)
Sun, 2016-03-20 13:29
#202
Sun, 2016-03-20 14:58
#203
He can't possibly win that, at best a delay. The charges he faces in France are far more serious than those in Belgium, though he does face serious charges in both countries.
But this is weird:
Speaking in Brussels, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon told CNN that Abdeslam's dramatic capture Friday, following a four-month manhunt, was a major coup, but investigations were not over.
"I think it's a big blow, because he is one of the most wanted foreign fighters in Europe. But I'm very aware the network is not cleared, so we have to continue the actions and continue the investigation," he said.
Abdeslam isn't "foreign", unless they meant that he probably fought for Daesch in the Middle East. His parents are French citizens, and it seems he was born in Belgium. Unless that was one hell of a slip and he considers second-generation EU citizens of African descent "foreign". He might, but it is very odd that he's say so. Though it could also be a mistranslation from Dutch or French.
And Jan Jambon is a great name, eh? Sounds like a Tintin character.
Mon, 2016-03-21 12:48
#204
Maybe they captured him in the nick of time
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/21/europe/belgium-appeal-paris-suspect/index....
Tue, 2016-03-22 08:14
#205
2 explosions at Brussels Airport, 1 at subway
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/22/europe/brussels-explosions/index.html
Tue, 2016-03-22 08:45
#206
Yes, but of course Brussels isn't in Paris...
I've been looking at the Guardian (and sources in French, including the Belgian Le Soir). I really don't like CNN - remember the "No Go Zones"? I have friends who live in Forest/Vorst, one of the neighbourhoods the guy was holed up in. It isn't a ghetto.
Tue, 2016-03-22 09:00
#207
alan smithee
I think the Belgian people are at the end of their patience. I see a far right anti-Muslim revolution coming.
And at this point,I don't blame them.
We haven't seen this sort of thing in Canada so far,but Europe has a serious problem on its hands. Maybe France can reintroduce the guillotine (which was abolished in 1982) Not to say that will stop this sort of thing from happening. I'm afraid that if I were Belgian or French,I would become very anti-immigration and tolerant of vigilante skinheads.
I don't know what else to say. I don't know what alternative they have.
Tue, 2016-03-22 09:39
#208
Almost all the young men involved in these attacks (and one young woman who sheltered her terrorist cousin) were born in France or Belgium. Their parents or grandparents were immigrants.
I utterly loathe Daech, but I'm certainly no fonder of far-right skinheads and such. Those countries are swimming in the blood of victims of Fascist terror 70 years ago.
Some people in Belgium and France were very happy to capture Salah Abdelslam who had evidently chickened out of a suicide bombing. How can we convince young people of North African (and some of West African) descent that it is a really stupid idea?
Tue, 2016-03-22 10:25
#209
Some elements see these attacks as a form of resistance when there is nothing left to resist with, ie, international institutions of justice, avenues of redress for the daily war crimes being committed against civilians and combatants alike by the more well equipped side of the conflict. The weaponizing of religious ideology is nothing new or original to just one side.
Tue, 2016-03-22 12:25
#210
Russia Did It!
https://www.rt.com/politics/336643-halfwit-medvedev-blasts-ukrainians/
Brussels Airport and Metro Bombings: Live Updates
https://www.rt.com/news/336527-brussels-airport-terror-bombing/
Paris Attacker Arrest
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12199656/Paris-a...
"Paris attacker arrest: Captured Salah Abdel accomplice 'entered Europe as migrant.' 'Choukri' was arrested with Abdelslam after a shootout in the mainly immigrant Brussels suburb, Molenbeek on Friday. Both have been charged with terrorism offences and murder.
Abdelslam's lawyer, Sven Mary, said he was 'cooperating' with police and Interpol has called for heightened vigilance at European borders as accomplices may try to escape to Syria, where the French government believes the true masterminds of the Paris attacks are located..."
Tue, 2016-03-22 18:39
#211
Apparently Belgium has a law that police are not allowed to raid a residence between 9 PM and 5 AM.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/belgian-police-had-to-delay-raid-in-search-o...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/belgium-law-paris-terrorist-...
Tue, 2016-03-22 18:46
#212
Tue, 2016-03-22 18:54
#213
Any passports of the terrorists found lying around?
Tue, 2016-03-22 19:10
#214
Apparently, later on, a cab driver reported he, unknowing who they were, drove them to the airport and he said they were acting strange. Too bad he didn't report it right away.
Passports? It doesn't appear they were planning on checking in.
Tue, 2016-03-22 19:38
#215
Tue, 2016-03-22 19:43
#216
Passports? It doesn't appear they were planning on checking in.
It's just that in so many of these attacks the police find passports of the terrorists (in pristine shape) lying around at the scene
Tue, 2016-03-22 19:54
#217
Tue, 2016-03-22 20:08
#218
Just wondering about the wisdom of releasing info on the cab driver to the public.
Wed, 2016-03-23 16:07
#219
Wed, 2016-03-23 17:24
#220
Passports? It doesn't appear they were planning on checking in.
It's just that in so many of these attacks the police find passports of the terrorists (in pristine shape) lying around at the scene
I've seen that happen a few times. Body is unrecognizable but paperwork in their pocket survives.
Wed, 2016-03-23 17:59
#221
You were in the military, or a first responder?
On another subject, in general, francophones (and Belgians, whether Flemish or French-speaking) are aware of the murky history of Hergé, the creator of Tintin. The reason he is half-forgiven is that his later books showed far more understanding and empathy for different cultures and races. I've never seen Tintin used as a racist symbol nowadays - he is just a sort of half-comic Belgian symbol, like moules-frites.
So much of early 20th-century culture throughout the Western World at least (and probably beyond) is soaked in that stuff.
Far darker is the real history of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa, the larger one), which was the personal property of the king. It was the scene of some of the worst colonial massacres in history, serious crimes against humanity.
But much more recently, the murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1961- the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo - was another imperialist crime that involved both Belgium and the USA, in the coup and assassination staged by Mobutu.
As far as I know, Belgium was uninvolved in any colonial games in the Maghreb (North Africa); any European disputes there were between France and Spain, so the current terrorist crimes can't be described as "blowback" for Belgian actions. Belgium caused enough problems in the Congo and the Great Lakes region...
Wed, 2016-03-23 18:02
#222
Passports? It doesn't appear they were planning on checking in.
It's just that in so many of these attacks the police find passports of the terrorists (in pristine shape) lying around at the scene
Hey bekayne, I got your ironic reference, just in case no one else did.
Wed, 2016-03-23 18:13
#223
Conspiracy theories everywhere for every occasion it seems.
Wed, 2016-03-23 19:04
#224
Wed, 2016-03-23 19:15
#225
Interesting perspective.
http://www.reuters.com/article/greenberg-brussels-idUSL2N16V23W
Wed, 2016-03-23 19:58
#226
The military Lagatta. Lots of experience with suicide bombers in cars, on motorbikes, on foot and even a donky once (but it was already dead so maybe that's more of an IED).
Perfectly preserved passports seems too good to be true and I wouldn't put it past the powers that be to plant that sort of stuff (though you'd think they would be smarter and make it damaged a bit) but there's also legitimate examples of really strange things being well preserved.
Wed, 2016-03-23 20:27
#227
More Brussels-type Terror Attacks Could Catapult Even Trump to Power
Clinton's experience will win out in the short term, but fear and intolerance will triumph if violence persists, as any Israeli can tell you.
http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.710616
Wed, 2016-03-23 20:39
#228
This message brought to you by Daaesh for Trump.
"Donald Trump has the reflexive, reactive, ill-considered policy that we need, in order to convince our own angry, embittered and forgotten classes to support us! While he tries to convince the outcasts of America to support him, we shall use that support to convince the outcasts of the world to support us. Let the Holy war of the poor and lonely against the poor and lonely begin!!"
Wed, 2016-03-23 21:11
#229
- from the article linked to in Post 226
Over time, however - and on the unsubstantiated assumption that Trump doesn’t go completely bonkers - Clinton’s advantages are bound to dissipate. The fear that ISIS will come to America, coupled with the widespread anger at what is perceived as American impotence in eradicating terror, will eventually damage Clinton more than Trump. More terror attacks will create greater general dread and generate increasing distrust of, and hostility towards, American Muslims. It would enhance support for more aggressive policies abroad and for a more hermetically sealed America at home.
If ISIS carries out more successful attacks, rational reliance on Clinton’s cool-headed decision-making will be tossed aside by a fear-blinded stampede towards the kind of radical solutions offered by Trump, even if they are unrealistic. Experts claim that this is precisely the ISIS strategy: To radicalize European and white majorities in Europe and the U.S., causing more right-wing nationalist parties to seize power, thus changing policies and attitudes towards local Muslims, in particular, and Muslims at large, in general, thus deepening support for ISIS in the Muslim world and expanding its reservoir for potential volunteers and suicide bombers in Western countries.
Israelis are the last people who need to be told of the efficacy of such plans. For the past quarter century, Israel has served as a test case that shows how terror breeds fear that gravitates towards militancy and intolerance, which spark in turn resistance and which then gives birth to even more extremism. It is a vicious circle and an almost foolproof formula, with guaranteed success. If terror and the terrorists are not defanged and destroyed in reasonable time, the radical right will rise as surely as the sun itself.
Thu, 2016-03-24 22:53
#230
Fri, 2016-03-25 09:13
#231
Fri, 2016-03-25 12:55
#232
Fri, 2016-03-25 20:02
#233
Bec.De.Corbin
Passports? It doesn't appear they were planning on checking in.
It's just that in so many of these attacks the police find passports of the terrorists (in pristine shape) lying around at the scene
Hey bekayne, I got your ironic reference, just in case no one else did.
As did I but Paladin1 brings up a valid point.
Sat, 2016-03-26 02:31
#234
CrossTalk; Europe Terrorized
"This time it was Brussels. Europe has become a battlefield in which terrorists can roam free and undetected. NATO's conflicts of choice in the Middle East generate war refugees, migrants, but also terrorists of all kinds. It's time for action."
Sat, 2016-03-26 11:50
#235
Sat, 2016-03-26 12:09
#236
'Terrorist Flow to Europe is Turkish Policy' - Jordanian King,'s US Briefing Leaked
https://www.rt.com/news/337252-sas-libya-king-abdullah/
"Turkey wants radical Islamists to prevail in the Middle East and go to Europe..."
'We Warned You!': Turkey & Belgium Play Blame Game Over Terror Suspects Who Avoided Capture
"Turkey & Belgium play blame game over terror suspects who avoided capture."
Sat, 2016-03-26 18:04
#237
I recommend Glenn Greenwald's latest article about the western media's unequal coverage of murdered civilians, depending on where they lived when they were killed. His conclusion:
But whatever else is true, if we are constantly bombarded with images and stories and dramatic narratives highlighting our own side’s victims, while the victims of our side’s violence are rendered invisible, it’s only natural that large numbers of us will conclude that only They, but not We, are committing civilian-killing violence. That’s a really pleasing thing to believe, no matter how false it is. Having media outlets perpetrate self-pleasing and tribal-affirming — but utterly false — narratives is the very definition of propaganda. And that’s what largely drives Western media coverage of these terrorist attacks every time they occur in the West.
Sat, 2016-03-26 20:46
#238
Sun, 2016-03-27 01:08
#239
Foreign Policy Diary: Is Belgium a Terrorism Hotbed in Europe? (and vid)
https://southfront.org/foreign-policy-diary-is-belgium-a-terrorism-hotbe...
"Jihadi Brussels..."
Sun, 2016-03-27 03:40
#240
Scandal Mounting Over Failure By Belgium Police to Halt Brussels Attacks
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/03/26/belg-m26.html
"Friday saw a series of stunning new revelations of inexplicable lapses of Belgian and allied security forces that helped terrorists evade detection prior to the March 22, Brussels attacks.
After the constitution of an all-party parliamentary commission of inquiry Thursday night, a government crisis is ongoing in Belgium, which hosts the headquarters of both the European Union and the NATO military alliance.
The close integration of Islamist networks with security agencies of the NATO powers, including Belgium, underlies a whole spate of Islamist terror bombings.
Precisely because such operations play a central role in US and European politics, the emerging political crisis in Belgium over police responsibility for the attacks is provoking deep concern in imperialist circles internationally..."
Turkish Dictator and ISIS Terror Boss Erdogan is Prime Suspect in March 22 Brussels Bombing: Tarpley (podcast)
http://tarpley.net/turkish-dictator-and-isis-terror-boss-erdogan-is-prim...
"He has threatened Belgium with a terror-assault in a March 18 speech protesting pro-Kurdish demonstrations in the Belgium capital; 'The snakes you are sleeping with can bite you anytime,' raved Erdogan to Belgian government. Turkish strongman also implicated in Nov 13 Paris massacre...."
Sun, 2016-03-27 13:52
#241
Sun, 2016-03-27 14:01
#242
Why does anyone listen to people like Blair who are basically the cause of the problem?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/27/tony-blair-west-must-be-...
Mon, 2016-03-28 02:33
#243
Brussels Attack: The True Implications of ISIS Links - by Tony Cartalucci
http://journal-neo.org/2016/03/22/brussels-attack-the-true-implications-...
"...In other words, all of the suspects have been under the nose, on the radar, and in the prisons of Western security agencies on and off for years, yet were still able to carry out at least one high profile terrorist attack - possibly two, and with the vast majority of the suspects involved having traveled to Syria to fight alongside ISIS before inexplicably being allowed to re-enter Europe and rejoin society without consequence - as if inviting them to take their extremism to the next level..."
Mon, 2016-03-28 02:46
#244
North Report, many people have tuned out Toady Blair. I'm looking for info from the Awami Workers' Party of Pakistan, from Tariq Ali or any other progressive voices from Pakistan (or South Asia in general) about the atrocious attack in Lahore. I think it deserves its own thread, although we've been discussing the Brussels attacks in the Paris attacks thread; firstly because it is on a different continent and secondly because it seems to have different actors (Al Qaida rather than Daesh).
It is utterly horrible, but I don't want to just copy a news story with nothing intelligent to say about it.
Mon, 2016-03-28 14:58
#245
CrossTalk: Bullhorns Unlimited
"Why can't Europe protect itself from terrorist attacks? Does Brussels have misplaced priorities...?"
CrossTalking with Dmitry Babich, Patrick Henningsen and Xavier Moreau
Mon, 2016-03-28 15:35
#246
Why does anyone listen to people like Blair who are basically the cause of the problem?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/27/tony-blair-west-must-be-...
If you go by the comments, no readers of The Guardian listen to him
Mon, 2016-03-28 15:44
#247
... because it seems to have different actors (Al Qaida rather than Daesh).
I think you meant some faction of Taliban?
Mon, 2016-03-28 15:59
#248
You are right. That was a factual error in an article I read.
Tue, 2016-03-29 00:45
#249
Likud Minister Links Brussels Attacks To Europe's 'Foolish' Rebukes of Israel
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.710402
"Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis drew a connection on Tuesday between the deadly attacks in Brussels and Europe's frequent condemnations of Israeli policies..."
Former Israeli Intelligence Operatives Run Security at Brussels Airport
http://www.globalresearch.ca/former-israeli-intelligence-operatives-run-...
"The aviation and general security services firm ICTS handles security operation at Brussels airport, the scene of a bomb attack yesterday morning. ICTS was established in 1982 by former members of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency and El Al airline security agents and has a major presence around the world in airport security..."
Tue, 2016-03-29 13:25
#250
Exclusive: Identified, Brussels “Mastermind” Captured by Kurds
By Nahed Al-Husaini on March 28, 2016
DESI: MIT agent says Turkish intelligence is privy to militants terror activities
Nahed al Husaini VT DAMASCUS BUREAU EXCLUSIVE
European Department for security and information (DESI) Secretary General Haissam Bou Said has released a photograph of Turkish Intelligence agent Sawash Yeldiz, arrested by Popular Party of Kurdistan (PPK) inside Syria.
Yeldiz has confessed to planning the Brussels attacks on last week and his complicity in ISIS operations including recruiting terror cells and training suicide bombers to be used against other European targets in months to come.
Yeldiz told Kurdish authorities that he is a serving office in Turkish intelligence and was assigned to the Turkish intelligence center in Raqqah, Syria. There, according to Yeldiz, Turkish military officers, working side by side with their Qatari and Saudi counterparts, plan ISIS operations inside Syria.
Sat, 2016-04-09 16:33
#251