Obvious strategies for tackling terror
STEADILY and increasingly examinations of young thugs attacking harmless citizens in the West while shouting “Allahu Akbar” are revealing they have had years of mental problems. I have said it before, but would not it be more efficient to deem anyone who tries to kill another person in the name of any deity insane? Then they could be quickly sectioned and locked away in a mental unit for many years. Moreover there is no glory in being declared deranged, so not really anything admirable to copy.
But though this jihadist insanity may appear very weird to most of us, what is truly bewildering is the appeal it seems to have for the druggies, failures and slightly unbalanced who already inhabit our prisons in large numbers. For some time there have been reports that Islamist murderers, while repugnant to the vast majority, become objects of admiration once they are sentenced and go “inside”.
Once there, they have had free rein to hold indoctrination classes and convert others to their personal fanaticism. Now the authorities are at last going to do something that fits well into the “bleeding obvious” category. That is, separate the hardcore from the broad masses of the inmates and keep them segregated.
The point is that they no longer will have the opportunity to brainwash others who, being released earlier, will simply multiply the problem. This has long been so obvious you would think the measures would already be in place.
GOOD news comes from the core and birthplace of Islamic State, the zones of Iraq and Syria that they still control. These are shrinking as the anti-IS forces advance on all fronts. Leading the charge are the brave Kurds who have long lusted for a state of their own, divided as they are between provinces of Turkey, Iraq and Syria.
So how long will the world just stand by and watch as the horror inflicted on millions of Syrian civilians like that traumatised little boy goes on?
Both Syria and Iraq were post-imperial creations that defied history, ethnicity and logic. Will the world, under the UN banner, not eventually call a muscle-backed conference to stop the inhumanity and redraw those borders to create viable states?
It has been done before – the six warring provinces of former Yugoslavia are now all small but viable republics recovering from the horrors they went through 30 years ago. They are even becoming tourist magnets. It could be done if the Western and Muslim worlds together said: “Enough. Stop.” We did it in Yugoslavia.
THE Mafia has a reputation for ruthless revenge but compared to the American media the dons are a bunch of patsies. One particular Don (Trump) must have got them really riled. The US hound dogs are going for the background of his wife, the Slovenian ex-model Melania, and once they start there is no hiding place.