In less than a month Jihadists hit three continents, leaving hundreds dead.
Sharm el-Sheikh, Beirut, Paris and Bamako - in less than a month Jihadists hit three continents, leaving hundreds dead. Brussels, the administrative capital of the EU and host to the NATO headquarters, was for days paralyzed by the fear of similar attacks. The press in neighboring countries accused the Belgian authorities of allowing the development of what journalists called a real Jihadist neighborhood in Brussels. The murderous fanatics are already in the heart of Europe. Late last year, Kremlin adviser Andrei Ilarionov, since then fallen out of Putin's favor, warned of the risks of an 'Islamic Spring' in Western Europe, which he said was more vulnerable than ever. The EU does not have the capacity to mobilize and solve the crises it faces, as professor Vasile Puscas, former head negotiator with Brussels, said. In an interview with Radio Romania, he talked about the lack of a coordinated reaction to the refugee crisis and a lack of a common plan for combating terrorism:
"This is a formula that didn't work even in the international financial crisis; it is well known that decisions were late in coming and uninspired in the EU, and now, with the refugee crisis, we see the inability to apply the European legislation. There were measures taken as early as 2007 by European institutions for states to react to such a case. No one got prepared, no one applied decisions that keep changing as the crisis deepens. We are now in another crisis, that of international terrorism, and once again we are faced with the issue of a decision to cover not just one state or region, but the whole of the EU."
It is obvious that the Jihad has spread all over the continent. No matter how much they dislike this, the promoters of political correctness are starting to agree that the seeds are in the numerous Muslim communities on the continent. In 2010, there were 44 million Muslims, accounting for 6% of the population, and 19 million in EU member states alone, which is almost 4% of the total. If the pace of migration and natural population growth stay the same, in 2050 there will be 60 million, which means one in ten EU citizens will be of Islamic faith.
Spanish experts quoted by Radio Romania said that the Paris attack could be followed by others of similar size, and that the phenomenon of recruiting people who commit similar acts has undergone a transformation. If, until recently, this happened mainly through mosques, the on-line environment has become the main means of radicalization. 45% of people arrested in Spain suspected of terrorism have Spanish citizenship, and 40% are born there. The experts call this 'local terrorism'. The study emphasizes the age of the terrorists, who are younger and younger, between 15 and 29 years of age, and points out to the rising number of Islamic converts, who have become radicalized in a short time to legitimize their belonging to the group. Against the background of debates in Bucharest on quotas of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, which may allow Jihadists to slip through, President Klaus Iohannis underlined the fact that Romania, as a Central and East- European country, is not a favored destination for them.
As the president said, terrorism only works if it foments fear: "If we let fear penetrate the social fabric of our countries, then the terrorists have reached their true aim, and we cannot allow anything like this to happen. We cannot allow xenophobia, ultra nationalism and chauvinism to become relevant in our societies. Under no circumstances may we let this fear lead to stigmatizing an entire religious community, who is at no fault in this regard."
Out of respect for religious and ethnic minorities, Romania's Muslim population will not be target to special measures. The new minister of justice in Romania, Raluca Pruna, has stated that Romania will not hesitate to contribute to the efforts made in the rest of the EU to prosecute terrorism. Most Muslims in Romania are ethnic Turks and Tatars who reside mainly in Dobrogea, in the south east of Romania, a region that was for centuries a part of the Ottoman Empire before its demise. They are around 70,000 people, and are a model of integration and loyalty in the Romanian state. Both communities are represented by law in the lower chamber of the Romanian parliament.
In the early 2000s, when the Romanian army had contingents in Afghanistan and Iraq, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense was a very popular officer of Turkish descent. The head of the Muslim denomination in Romania is Mufti Murat Iusuf, who has firmly condemned the acts of cruelty committed in Paris, as well as the perpetrators of such attacks. It is a crime against humanity with no connection to the Muslim faith, said the Mufti, who recalled the verse in the Koran according to which if one kills one person, he kills a whole community.
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