Europe under strain: political extremism aspects

[mirhond]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/suspect-...in-strasbourg/

PARIS - French police say they are looking for a man who attacked a soldier with a box cutter in the eastern city of Strasbourg.

Local government official Dominique Jane told Europe 1 radio the incident happened in Strasbourg's train station on Saturday evening. Jane said Sunday that the soldiers pushed back the aggressor, who managed to escape, as he was trying to attack one of them. One soldier was slightly injured on a cheek. The man's motives remained unclear. Jane said the attacker spoke in Arabic, but he doesn't know the content and translation of his words.

TWO (2) armed(?) soldiers vs ONE (1) assailant with a box cutter.
Gosh, my second thought was : "Phew, at least they did not surrender"

[davidbfpo]

A "broad brush" commentary by RUSI's Raffaello Pantucci; sub-titled 'Rightwing extremists are a grave danger in themselves, let alone when you factor in their influence on mainstream politics, and on terrorism':https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/28/brexit-europe-far-right-rightwing-extremists-politics-terrorism?

Those who have watched this will not be surprised by:

In the RUSI-led research, a particularly striking finding was that in about 40% of cases of far-right extremists, they were uncovered by chance – the individual managed to blow himself up or was discovered while authorities conducted another investigation. By contrast, around 80% of violent Islamist lone actors were discovered in intelligence-led operations – in other words, the authorities were looking for them.

In the UK the far right find a ready audience IMHO amongst, as the Home Secretary stated today:

There is still one in ten 18-24 year olds in the UK who are unemployed.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37561035

[davidbfpo]

A different way to explain this issue and taking the UK's once very active "far right" group, the English Defence League (EDL) and the author's first-hand research watching them:

...reveals that the participation of grassroots members was driven by the club goods of access to violent conflict, increased self-worth and group solidarity.

(Ends with) To understand the appeal of EDL activism, it is not enough to examine the group’s ideological appeal; the costs and benefits of activism must also be identified.

Link: http://www.radicalisationresearch.or...footsoldiers/?

[AdamG]

On November 13 last year, three teams of militants from the so-called "Islamic State" (IS), armed with Kalashnikovs, stormed the Stade de France stadium, the Bataclan concert hall and several pubs in Paris. The rampage left 130 people dead, 85 of them in Bataclan, where the band, the Eagles of Death Metal, was playing.
Meanwhile, investigations have revealed that all nine men involved in the attacks had traveled to Europe together with the stream of refugees that entered the continent in 2015. According to German weekly "Welt am Sonntag," the country's spy agency, the "Bundesnachrichtendienst," (BND) has warned that IS is specifically training terrorists to merge with asylum seekers looking for safer havens in Europe. The report's authors say that the BND suggests that terrorists train potential attackers on how to answer questions during border interrogations so they can prove their credibility as refugees.

http://www.dw.com/en/islamic-state-r...ers/a-36389389