Word broke just as I was leaving work last night that Brussels had endured a terrorist attack which has killed at least 31 people and injured over 200. Europe’s worst fears are being realized and Islamic terrorists are intent on, using Islamic State’s own words, “causing dark days” in western Europe in response to the activity of western nations in the middle east. It appears that here in the early 21st century we are fighting our own “Hundred Years War” against an implacable enemy that cannot be moderated or negotiated with. Dark days indeed.
I saw our own Prime Minister on television this morning assuring the Australian public of the safety of our own airports and infrastructure and in effect telling us that we are better at this security caper than the Euros are. Hmmm, I wish I was as confident as he is.
Unfortunately we have enough of own malcontents who are intent on causing trouble and I noted the comments of an Australian expert whose name escapes me for the moment, who was a security adviser to no less an eminent figure as the President of the United States who, in his opinion, was convinced a terrorist attack on Australian soil was inevitable. Let us not drop our guard for an instant.
The causes and effects of this current wave of terrorism are many and it is beyond the scope of this blog and well and truly beyond my depth of knowledge or intelligence to discuss the reasons behind it on this forum. Needless to say we have not seen seen the last of it and there will be dark days ahead before the sunshine blooms again.
Life will go on relatively normally. Let’s not give succor to uncivilized thugs by changing our society too much. But I guess we must all be a little more vigilant. The world has changed. We are fighting our own Hundred Years War.
Have a nice day.
PS: David Kilcullen was the Australian expert referred to. An adviser in counterinsurgency to the US government he played a major role in designing the 2007 troop build up which enabled the US military to extricate itself from the occupation of Iraq.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 