Within 48 hours Europe saw three terrorist attacks in three different and geopolitically rival countries.

Mass terror attacks took place in Barcelona with 13 confirmed deaths so far, and over 100 injuries, in the popular tourist destination of Las Ramblas, famous for George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. In a simultaneous foiled attack, five terrorists were shot down by Spanish police after a woman died in a vehicle attack.

There was a mass stabbing in Turku, Finland, where the terrorist specifically attacked European women. Another terror attack happened in Russia. All of them were Islamist terror attacks. None of them had any political reason, or demands. All of them were perpetrated simply to kill and maim.

Spanish police are still haplessly searching for the missing terrorists, as 120 gas canisters were found in further preparation of other attacks. Spanish police were quoted to say that security operations were under way in Catalonia and on the French border as they try to find Moroccan-born Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, who they believe is the only one of 12 suspects still at large and is suspected to have fled through the open borders to France.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for all the attacks. The Eifel Tower was predictably dark. Lights were turned off. People marched with flowers and candles, and sang “Imagine.” An entire effete civilization displayed that the ruling elites have forgotten the primary task of how to defend their citizens. As Douglas Murray said, this is a problem imported by Europeans.

In Britain there are 23,000 suspected jihadists, in Belgium 18,884, in France between 15–17,000 and Germany around 24,400. Spain also has over a thousand. That’s not just random terrorism. That’s an insurgent army.

At this stage, there are two ways ahead for Europe. The European ruling elite has to go against their liberal instincts and harden up on security and take harsh measures and forget human rights while dealing with the security threats.

And ultra-liberal society is fundamentally incapable of dealing with people who are determined to take advantage of the freedom to corrode it from within. There was a reason why Nazis could use democracy to get the vote and gain power.

Like every other insurgency, it also shares the characteristics of both violent combatants as well as noncombatant frontal organizations and NGOs and apologists. But ultimately, the fundamental point remains, that liberalism cannot be a healthy alternative for traditional people who love their families.

The lack of ideology and alternatives is manifested in people looking to find a purpose in their lives by joining wars and waving flags of faraway entities because showing any such loyalty, whether to your family, tradition or borders, is prohibited by the liberal elites.

The second point remains that no other great power deals with the terrorist threat like Europe does. In a latest path breaking research, which immediately needs to be studied in all the great power capitals across the world, it is proved that human rights, and winning hearts and minds do not work when it comes to Islamic Jihadism.

Nor does good governance work in winning over security threats. The only thing that works to defeat jihadism and Islamist tendencies as well as insurgencies is brute force. The only times insurgencies were defeated in the last twenty years were in Grozny Chechnya and Jaffna Sri Lanka. None of them paid any attention to human rights.

The other option is that Euro elites will continue to fail to provide security. Until they reach a point that the citizens will take up arms themselves, and there will be societal chaos, civil war and complete anarchy. The reason why there is a surge in far right parties across Europe can be attributed primarily to the failure of the Western governments to perform the basic of governmental duties, that is security to citizens.

Until that is solved, Europe will continue to be an example to other powers as to what NOT to do while dealing with security threats, and how once proud civilizations and empires decline to oblivion.

Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm

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