Endless Circle of Violence

Gun control in the USA is out of the question.  In the UK and Australia, their people pressured the governments to take action but that commitment is lacking in the US. Increasing background checks will not solve the problem. There are already over 300 million guns in circulation. The only answer lies in banning ownership of assault weapons and handguns and in the US the people are unwilling to accept that so gun related crimes are the price they are paying and will continue to pay. More crimes sell more guns, and more guns create more crimes, an endless circle of violence. The same will be true of radicalised Muslims in the US. For every crime committed by them, Americans will persecute and villify them and that, in turn, will radicalise more Muslims.

In addition, the San Bernadino massacre will almost certainly be followed by others committed by domestic extremist Muslims and impossible for security agencies to detect and monitor. They are too far beneath the radar. As I expected, hysteria has gripped  the American people and as these incidents increase it will become worse. It has already altered the tone of the political campaigns and could benefit greatly the hard line, neo-con Republican party that is anti-Russia, anti-China, pro-war. They could easily drag the world into another global conflict. 

But, America’s problems, whether of guns or wars, stem from its culture, its people, not the political parties.

France too is reacting to the consequences of open door immigration with National Front wins. The charismatic Marine le Pen and her aunt are personally poised for major victories in two regions, the North and the South and they may prevail in 6 of the 13 regions. I suspect, however, in a runoff for the presidency, Sarkozy and Hollande will join forces to deny the FN a victory.

The immigration issue is impacting on all countries in Europe and North America. There will be a backlash in Germany and I would not be surprised to see Merkel’s coalition to disintegrate if there is a “San Bernadino” event there. There are also serious disagreements  between the CDU and the CSU and between Merkel and the BND, the German CIA, regarding Saudi Arabia.

Syria, Bombings and the UK

The dispute about bombing Syria in the UK has caused a rift within the Labour party Although I am in favour of a strong defence, I see the decision to bomb ISIS in Syria as counterproductive. Furthermore, even if bombings destroy the ISIS Syrian infrastructure, they will not eliminate the home based threat to the UK and US. That we have seen in San Bernadino, an act developed and carried out without external assistance by ISIS, by two individuals, not socially marginalised, and with a comfortable family life. The bombings will simply fuel hatred and vengeance. The enemy is already within, not in Syria.

Baoluo