Main focus of Thursday, August 24, 2006

The terrorist threat in Europe

Recent weeks have seen a resurgence in the fear of terrorism on European soil, ever since British and German authorities revealed alleged terrorist plots against the two countries. A debate is underway over the scale of this threat and how Europe can best protect itself. 

Diario Sur - Spain

The daily reacts to the recently foiled terror attacks in Great Britain and the alleged plot discovered in Germany. They demonstrate that "the debate over the reasons for which one country finds itself caught up in the terror furore, while others are spared, is totally sterile. Nobody can feel entirely safe from fanatics or look in the other direction, because the threat is universal, the target being societies that are open, secular, Western and democratic. Those societies that benefit from, and embody, the values that the instigators of jihad detest and seek to eradicate. ... Hence the importance of better informing the public since, ultimately, information is one of the best weapons for heightening security in the face of terror and chasing away the spectre of fanaticism stalking Europe." (24/08/2006)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Europe

The Spectator - United Kingdom

Stephen Schwartz, a journalist and author who became Muslim in 1997 after reporting on the break-up of Yugoslavia, believes "the UK faces the most serious jihad danger of any country in Western Europe. Imported Muslim clerics are the basis of the threat. Islam in the UK is overwhelmingly influenced by imams and other religious officials born in Pakistan and trained in that country or in Saudi Arabia. Pakistani Sunni mosques in Britain are major centres for jihadist preaching, finance, incitement and recruitment. The Islamic picture in the UK is much darker than that in Germany, where most Muslims are Turkish and, when they turn to radicalism, follow either a Marxist or a nationalist inspiration — or even that in France, where social dislocation and violent outbursts by the discontented young have produced, perhaps surprisingly, efforts by leading clerics to calm the community." (24/08/2006)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » Germany, » France, » United Kingdom
All available articles from » Stephen Schwartz

Berliner Zeitung - Germany

Secret service specialist Andreas Förster comments on the German Interior Minister's calls for intensified monitoring of the Internet in the battle against terrorism. "For a long time now the Germans have not been alone in monitoring the Internet. Their Western partners have been using this strategy for years. ... But the current campaign to increase security in Germany is less about determining the potential of individual proposals, and more about convincing the public that increased surveillance means increased protection against terrorists and criminals. Once people are convinced, it will be easier to push new security laws through parliament. These laws will also serve to legitimise investigation methods that have been in practice illegally for years, and enable information gained using these methods to be used in court." (24/08/2006)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Germany
All available articles from » Andreas Förster

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