Southern Flank

PJ Media ^ | 16 July 2016 | Richard Fernandez

[Rummyfan]

Attention was briefly focused on the latest terrorist mass attack on the French Riviera before it was displaced from the front pages by the ongoing coup in Turkey. The fact that France, which has been under a state of emergency since the Paris attacks, was unable to detect let alone prevent the onslaught raised the possibility that Western security simply cannot cope with the Islamist threat any more; that it is no longer a question of will not but cannot.

The Turkish crisis now makes the answer to that question critical. At this writing a struggle for power is raging in Turkey. The coup and counter-coup caught the Obama administration, according to news sources, completely by surprise. That assertion is supported by the fact that it caught John Kerry on the hop, as he returned with a secret agreement to coordinate Syrian military operations with Vladimir Putin. It turned his agreement with Putin, which was doubtless to be presented as a triumph, into a canceled check. It leaves him standing like a man with a fruit shirt, a travel brochure and missing wallet at what he now realizes is the wrong airport.

The shambles was underlined by President Obama's belated statement of support for the embattled Erdogan, who is secreted in parts unknown communicating to followers over FaceTime, even as the man suspected of masterminding the coup is residing in Pennsylvania. Obama is struggling once again with another "unexpected" event looking not a little like a deer caught in the headlights

[Rurudyne]

Import thousands of Muslims willy nilly, or worse: rely on Muslim Brotherhood affiliates to vet them, and guess what happens?

[bioqubit]

I believe France has the highest percentage of muslims of the western european nations. imho, they have been more tolerant of violence than other nations. no more.

[Pearls Before Swine]

They can cope, for now, but the longer they wait, the harder it will get.

I hope the “Marine” in “Marine Le Pen” means she will repel foreign maritime invaders.

[Steve_Seattle]

"it is no longer a question of will not but cannot"

I'm inclined to agree, which is why I think Trump shouldn't speak so confidently about eliminating terrorism.

If only 1% of Muslims are potential terrorists (and the figure is probably at least triple that), we have a world-wide terrorist pool of millions.

No matter how many we kill or capture, there are millions more to replace them. This is not like fighting a gang or militia group with a few dozen members. And I'm not saying we should just throw our hands up, but that we shouldn't expect to end the threat anytime soon.

[Rurudyne]

Yeah.

Also, from what I hear, polls say about half of young Muslim men view even suicide attacks favorably. That’s twice the rate in the US by similar polls. I’d say France is past the tipping point where the echo chamber effect takes over.

Not that you can’t get a healthy echo going with “just” 25%!

[Rurudyne]

... half in France ...

[PIF]

Someone on TV said all of this is simply because no one is looking ... evidently thee are more important matters to attend or else they were told not to look ... pick one ... your choice.