Article copy
I'll be travelling all day today, and will most likely be using the whole range of terrestrial transports, with the exception of horse riding and cattle cars - no matter what you can think of the FrenchWhile driving my way on the highway this morning, I briefly heard the kind of news that sometimes gets reported on French radio stations, although as quickly and quietly as possible (that is to say very early in the morning, and not hammered every 30 minutes, unlike any bad news related to killed US Marines or beheaded foreign workers in Iraq): a Koranic school was bombed in the Netherlands, apparently last night.
Being totally deprived of any connection to the great wide web, I have no option but to wait until I reach some more wifilized shores to get any details. So the following will be based mostly on assumptions, wild guess and experience contracted over several years living and observing the ways of this old European world.
In no case shall it be taken as informed commentaries and it is very likely that none of my assumptions will be verified in the future. Naah, 'course not.
So for the record, I'm writing this at 1400, GMT+1. I have had no access to both old and new media since I left the car 3 hours ago and I don't expect to get connected again before some time tonight.
1) That bombing of a
2) More seriously, it seems to me that we're slowly reaching a tipping point. Although, again, I'm eager to learn more on that issue, it seems rather safe to assume that this is the first significant answer to the recent murder of a certain "controversial" Dutch public figure.
3) Albeit significant, one has to admit that the said answer is not yet proportional to the act that possibly called for it. Unless I read or hear later today that the bombing killed somebody inside - and unless it appears that it was meant to kill anybody inside - we're just talking about material damages v.s. ghastly murder.
Not exactly an eye for an eye.
This means that if some Dutch folks reached the said tipping point (the one where they will actually take direct action, in reaction), they are still doing it with lots of restrain, comparing to their (I mean "our") enemies. In this sad affair, I lean on seeing this as a positive point.
And not only because that leaves us a big margin in terms of strategic options.
4) It's also another opportunity for the Dutch rulers to wake up and set things right: if they can ever be efficient on that issue, I expect them to make the right decisions before the real pogroms start, thank you. (hint: yes, it means hitting hard on the root causes - and knowing European administrations and rulers: no, the root causes are not the ones you think. Try again; think out of Old Europe's box.)
5) Talking about restrain (that was point 3. Please catch up.), I notice that the targeted facility was a
So before Old Europe's press and pundits start crying
Indeed, if you're targeting would-be Jihadis, and only them, then I guess a Koranic school comes naturally on top of the 'most likely' list.
Sure, it might be completely wrong, but then there is this rather damning Taliban Afghanistan precedent.
6) Before the same press and pundits start waving the self-lashing whip, and try to trigger the WWMG¹ again, let's not forget who drawn first blood in what could - almost ironically - be a sort of reverse Intifada.
It was a 26 years old Islafmofascist of Moroccan descent with a gun (and oh, as always, so much for gun regulation laws) and a knife, not some blond rednecked Dutch with a swastika armband yelling "Zig Heil!" in preposterous noisy neo-Nazi concerts. Not even a bunch of average although seriously upset Dutch citizens, abandoned - and for some, betrayed - by their political and cultural 'elite' and institutions who, on a cold November night, opted for (very) limited reprisals against the murderous thugs hosted in their homeland.
7) Theo Van Gogh argued against the Dutch multicultural society (And I guess it reads: the Dutch society as seen and enforced upon the Dutch people by the Dutch leftist 'elite') considering that it was attacking the values of Western society, defending an aggressive and reactionary Islam and threatening to change the Netherlands into Belfast, a few years from now.
Looks like he was wrong.
On the timing.
I'll probably be posting updates when I'll get more informed on that issue. For the moment, battery is running low, and there's still quite a long way to go.
1: Western White Male's Guilt.
Comments
Comments thread (4)
1669 - Mike H.
Mike H.
1670 - Mike H.
Mike H.
1671 - Nightfly
Nightfly
1672 - Mike H.
Mike H.