14 November 2015

European Paradigm Shift: The Friday the 13th Attacks

The 13 November Paris attacks will prove a political boon for the European Right. If there are proven connections to Syrian refugees this will quickly escalate the immigration crisis. Further border controls, nationalism and a waxing police state will be the result and this will aggravate already existing economic stresses and tensions.

What will a closed Fortress Europe mean for the refugees trapped in Libya and Turkey? It will certainly mean further destabilization. For Libya the chaos and death will escalate. With regard to Turkey, one is reminded of what happened in Jordan in 1970.

While the 2004 attacks in Madrid killed more, that was in the context of the Iraq War hysteria and the dust was still settling from the whole 2001-2003 madness. Britain's 7/7 attacks in 2005 greatly affected that country and its internal debates about Iraq and the Special Relationship with America.

The Charlie Hebdo attacks were of course traumatic for the French. But this... this is something different. This is like a new 9/11 for France and perhaps the Continent as a whole. This may the event that proves to be a watershed for Europe. This was a 9/11 for a new period. It's a new phase. Will this galvanize and unify the EU, or serve as the ultimate catalyst in its breakup?