Attacks in Germany violence of the ‘forgotten’

ON SUNDAY, a failed asylum-seeker from Syria blew himself up and wounded 12 people after being turned away from an open-air music festival in southern Germany. It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in about 10 days. Earlier on Sunday, a Syrian asylum seeker killed a woman with a machete and injured two other people in Reutlingen; on Friday, an Iranian-German shot dead nine people in Munich before killing himself; and on July 18, a 17-year-old asylum-seeker attacked passengers on a train. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:

Germany seems to have reached a tipping point in regards to its immigration and refugee policies.

In the wake of the attacks, German politicians, especially Chancellor Angela Merkel, may be forced to seriously reflect upon the country’s security dilemma, and probably consider stricter controls on refugees.

And in all likelihood, the recent spate of violent attacks in France and Germany will make immigration and anti-terrorism overarching priorities of Europe, which is yet to fully recover from the 2008 sovereign debt crisis and the ongoing refugee crisis.

Many European nations, ranging from western to southern Europe, have struggled to help immigrants integrate into local society, and the Islamic State group has taken advantage of this to recruit a number of “forgotten ones”, be they new immigrants or marginalized underdogs.

Many IS fighters recruited in the West, the number of whom is estimated at about 6,600, are European citizens. Some have returned to Europe after receiving military training in the Middle East, to either disseminate extremist ideas or launch deadly attacks. And some homegrown “lone wolves” are difficult to detect.

The attacks show that improvements are urgently needed in Europe’s immigration, diplomatic and anti-terrorism policies.