Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sergarr]

Seems like Germany is starting to take it a bit more seriously: German police have carried out nationwide dawn raids on more than 200 mosques, apartments and offices associated with an Islamist group.

[scriver]

I see no difference between getting squashed between the US, China, and Russia and being squashed beneath Germany.

[Loud Whispers]

Seems like Germany is starting to take it a bit more seriously: German police have carried out nationwide dawn raids on more than 200 mosques, apartments and offices associated with an Islamist group.

Nah, it's the same news as before

"By banning this organisation, a major source of radicalisation has been eradicated nationwide. Those who spread hate messages can't hide behind freedom of religion."

Stated message

No arrests were made during the raids, but German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said: "The translations of the Koran are being distributed along with messages of hatred and unconstitutional ideologies.

No arrests were made, so the same people will just rebuild their network

It's not even a new development, German police have been trying to suppress them without doing all that much since last year, the year before that and from the year before that I found this report on extremists, and how in spite of far right and far left, salfists have become the greatest internal security threat and the year before that the Germans were getting concerned about Salafists trying to hand out Korans to every household e.t.c.

Hans-Georg Maassen, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said that there are 9,200 Salafis in Germany, up from 8,900 in June and  about 5,500 three years ago. His remarks came a day after three young Syrian militants posing as refugees were arrested on suspicion of planning terror attacks.
“The unchecked growth in the number of Salafis is expanding the pool of recruits for jihadists,” Maassen said.
Almost all of the German nationals who have travelled to Syria to fight for Islamic State became radicalized by Salafis, who target low-income Muslim youths in German cities, experts say.
“Young Muslim men who are drifting are the main targets for Salafis,” said Thomas Muecke, co-founder of the nonprofit group Violence Prevention Network. “Those who preach hate are especially effective in attracting and holding on to these lost young men.” 
He also said that agents were facing challenges monitoring potential terrorists who are using various methods of communication such as WhatsApp, Facebook and other networks that sometimes make it harder for authorities to track.
Muecke said authorities believe terrorist groups are trying to attract new recruits from among the refugees who have arrived in Germany in the last year.
It is increasingly difficult for the German intelligence agency to differentiate between those who identify intellectually with Salafism and those who espouse using violence to realize a radical version of Islam.
The warning from Maassen, the country’s top domestic spy came just a day after the German government said three Syrians were arrested in a raid by 200 police officers north of Hamburg.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said they were Islamic State members who entered Germany along with some 1 million refugees in November, aided by the same network that brought militants into France to carry out deadly attacks last year.
Germany and governments across Europe are on high alert after a string of terrorist attacks in France, Belgium and Germany. Refugees carried out two attacks in Germany in July claimed by Islamic State.
Tuesday’s arrests in a collection of small towns just north of Hamburg, the city where Mohamed Atta lived as a student while quietly plotting the 9/11 attacks, was a shock for Germany. Many are worried that there are more dormant terrorists among the refugee population. Sixty-one percent of Germans believe the influx of refugees has increased the chance of terrorist attacks in the country, according to a poll conducted in July by the Pew Research Center. 
Maassen also said the German intelligence agency was increasingly worried about the growing number of “lone wolves” behind the most recent attacks.
“We’re concerned about this new breed of attackers who seem to be acting on their own,” he said. “It’s a real challenge for us to detect such small sleeper cells.”
Salafis have been in the news in Germany in the past when they’ve clashed with police at protests. In 2012, Salafis attacked police protecting a demonstration in front of a Saudi Arabian school in Bonn. Twenty-nine officers were wounded, two of them were stabbed, and more than 100 people were arrested.

So what is the German plan?

[PanH]

I see no difference between getting squashed between the US, China, and Russia and being squashed beneath Germany.

The military is exactly one of the points where the other nations of the EU can actually lead it and even be funded by it, seeing as Germany has a really weak military. Germany is certainly not the alpha and omega of the EU, and certainly not in this domain. If there was an european army, it'd be based on France and Poland.

Also, there are actually massive differences between the US, China, Russia and Germany, but I'm pretty sure that's just rhetoric, apart from the fact that you can have a say in it.

[Silverthrone]

It is at least something. There is need of a quite significant spring cleaning, long overdue, and it's a start. Of course, it'd be more efficient if those people were arrested, examined and put through trial, but baby steps.
I'm rather worried what will happen when the tumours of Mosul and Raqqa bursts, though. I suppose a lot of the Jihadists will have the decency to die, but imagine having a big, sudden wave of fighters, with fresh combat experience, slink back "home" again.

I see no difference between getting squashed between the US, China, and Russia and being squashed beneath Germany.

Well, it'd be a more cosy and beneficial squash. German mega-influence would probably, on the whole, be a lot less unpleasant than occupation or general bullying. Of course, all assuming this scenario could happen.

[Helgoland]

Precisely. We'd be much more polite and self-conscious.

[DJ]

As a Bosnian, I welcome our German overlords. We've never had better rulers than the Hapsburgs, and a lot of people here think that nobody in our history fucked us over more than Gavrilo Princip. I guess Germany is the next best thing since Austria abandoned it's imperial ambitions.

[scriver]

Yeah, Greece is probably super happy about being under das Boot too.

Precisely. We'd be much more polite and self-conscious.

Germans aren't known for being polite and self-conscious, Helgo. They are known for being fat, loud, and self-entitled.

[Silverthrone]

Like Stockholmers? (Well, subtracting the fat) Oh, dear, oh, dear, that is cause enough to reconsider. 

As a Bosnian, I welcome our German overlords. We've never had better rulers than the Hapsburgs, and a lot of people here think that nobody in our history fucked us over more than Gavrilo Princip. I guess Germany is the next best thing since Austria abandoned it's imperial ambitions.

Better them than Turkey, that's for certain. I rather like that photograph of Princip in prison. He has that "Oh, God, I have made a terrible boo-boo" look on his face. Could be malnutrition, but there is certainly a splash of puzzled regret in there.

[Helgoland]

Precisely. We'd be much more polite and self-conscious.

Germans aren't known for being polite and self-conscious, Helgo. They are known for being fat, loud, and self-entitled.

Oh, wanna start up an insult match with me and see who gets banned first? Personally I rather wouldn't, but if you were to throw down the gauntlet, I'd be forced to take it up of course.

[scriver]

That sounds dumb, I'll give you a friendly tip instead: Don't bring up what your band sound like if you can't handle negative reviews.

[Loud Whispers]

It is at least something. There is need of a quite significant spring cleaning, long overdue, and it's a start. Of course, it'd be more efficient if those people were arrested, examined and put through trial, but baby steps.
I'm rather worried what will happen when the tumours of Mosul and Raqqa bursts, though. I suppose a lot of the Jihadists will have the decency to die, but imagine having a big, sudden wave of fighters, with fresh combat experience, slink back "home" again.

That describes the situation they have now
It's like trying to go baby steps with climate change

Well, it'd be a more cosy and beneficial squash. German mega-influence would probably, on the whole, be a lot less unpleasant than occupation or general bullying. Of course, all assuming this scenario could happen.

In the UK Greeks were rather depressed, because everyone was talking about European solidarity whilst talking about imposing any number of measures on Greece to let them sink on their own. Turn Greece into a refugee centre, impose austerity measures upon Greece and sell anything to repay Germany, even kick them out of the Eurozone if needs be
They didn't feel much solidarity then

Oh, wanna start up an insult match with me and see who gets banned first? Personally I rather wouldn't, but if you were to throw down the gauntlet, I'd be forced to take it up of course.

At least it's considerably more tolerable than the stereotypes for French and Italians

[Pwnzerfaust]

I see no difference between getting squashed between the US, China, and Russia and being squashed beneath Germany.

The military is exactly one of the points where the other nations of the EU can actually lead it and even be funded by it, seeing as Germany has a really weak military. Germany is certainly not the alpha and omega of the EU, and certainly not in this domain. If there was an european army, it'd be based on France and Poland.

That needs to change. Germany needs to rebuild its military tradition and military strength.

[Kot]

That needs to change. Germany needs to rebuild its military tradition and military strength.

You know how this ends...

[Pwnzerfaust]

No need for a reducto ad hitlerum, friend-o. Germany doesn't behave the same way it did in 1939. Frankly, the complete neutering of German military power lasting to this day is kind of disgusting to me, including permanent limits on its military's size.