The terrorists keep coming
IN the last couple of years, the world has found itself in danger of massive dislocation because of the seemingly unstoppable terror unleashed by angry people unafraid to die.
Countless people have become refugees caught in a no-man’s land, fleeing death and destruction in their own homelands.
Their pursuers have tanks and sophisticated arms. How are they able to get their hands on such advanced and massive firepower? Where do they get the wherewithal to carry out their predatory campaigns? How are they able to keep coming?
Bombs from the planes of Free World nations coming to the rescue of affected peoples -- in Syria, Iraq -- level homes, buildings, and infrastructure as collateral damage. The result: virtual war zones and ghost towns where before thrived bustling communities.
Prosperous cities in Europe are the favored destinations of the people displaced from their homes and communities, primarily in the Middle East. Syrians and people from neighboring countries flood into Greece, Turkey, and Italy on their way to wealthier nations like Sweden, Denmark, France, and Germany.
In the beginning, the humanitarian urges of the people in those rich nations allowed the influx of migrants. But soon the numbers became unmanageable. The receiving countries have realized they wouldn’t be able to accommodate everyone. After the initial opening, the gates have been closed, the borders sealed.
Today the governments of the sanctuary countries and their citizens are embroiled in an emotional debate over whether to let in the multiplying numbers of refugees.
Terrorist attacks have been taking place in frightening succession. In the United States acts of terrorism have been perpetrated in a number of US cities.
Terrorists have been able to penetrate key European cities like Paris, France, and Brussels, Belgium. Are countries like Germany and the United Kingdom next?
Bernard-Henri Levy, a contemporary French philosopher, said in an interview on British Broadcasting Corp. that, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Brussels last week, Europe is facing an existentialist dilemma – that the continent “might be dying.”
If the terrorists aren’t stopped and they’re able to continue to sow destruction, many countries around the world, particularly in Western Europe and the United States, may be facing a near future that is uncertain and characterized by widespread unease.
Governments and the people in the target countries will bravely resolve to live as normally as they’ve done in the past. But the fear and the unsettling environment of potential terrorist attacks will exist like clouds of danger hovering above them.
A new scourge has emerged to plague nations all over the world. I’ve written before that this new phenomenon could become a threat in all free societies of the world.
The world has had a history of unsettling occurrences. In our time, heretofore oases of calm and stability in a troubled world -- like Paris and Brussels in Europe and Boston in the United States -- have been attacked. Where will the terrorists attack next?
Those who sow terror do not rest. They don’t stop inflicting harm and destruction on their perceived enemies. The innocent become collateral damage.
People in many parts of the world now live in constant fear and danger. There’s no rest for them, either.