cajal Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 The cities of Brussels and Paris to cancel New Year's Eve celebrations due to the threat of terrorist attacks.regardscajal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 It's a bit of a rock and a hard place situation. If the shows are stopped the terrorists have won. If they go ahead and give them a chance to strike then they have won again, BUT they will probably have killed a boat load of innocent people?The anti-terrorist forces should let the thugs know that the ammunition they are using is dipped in pork fat and they won't be going to their haven in the sky after all [:@] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 [quote user="Jonzjob"]... the ammunition they are using is dipped in pork fat and they won't be going to their haven in the sky after all [:@][/quote]Isn't that what kicked off 'The Indian Mutiny' and got the British thrown out?Yes I agree it's a no-win situation for the Governments. Dammed if they cancel things and double-dammed if it goes ahead and people are hurt. There are enough families in Paris and elsewhere who will not be celebrating with loved ones this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajal Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 If the shows are stopped the terrorists have won. If they go ahead and give them a chance to strike then they have won again, BUT they will probably have killed a boat load of innocent people?And therein lies the rub. Where will these kind of event cancellations stop because....see above statement.regardscajal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 [quote user="Pierre ZFP"][quote user="Jonzjob"]... the ammunition they are using is dipped in pork fat and they won't be going to their haven in the sky after all [:@][/quote]Isn't that what kicked off 'The Indian Mutiny' and got the British thrown out?[/quote]That was exactly the case Pierre, but kicking the French out of 'beloved Paris' might just be a different pot des vers ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Brussels was very tense over Xmas; my daughter refused to use public transport, for example, and it was quite depressing to shop in M and S under the guns of barely fit soldiers, definitely unfit police, as well as armoured cars.From my daughter's flat one could see Molenbeek a few kilometres away and one did wonder what was being prepared down there; the locals refused to give up the terrorists or their fellow plotters and indeed, hid them, because they said it would be disloyal to the community.The Belgians do not seem to have much faith in their security services, so I am not really surprised that the celebrations have been cancelled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Can you radicalise an atheist? As they already see through the slightly daft ramblings of religions are they less corruptible, so should atheism be taught in schools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Now there is a thought Teapot! [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 It's a given that life will never be the same again[:'(]Even if no more terrorist attacks are responsible for the deaths of innocents, the Age of Innocence is no more.Depressing but at least we lived through good and peaceful times and we more or less trusted one another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Zoff Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 If theism is taught at all, it should be as part of ancient history that has been discredited as we have learnt to understand things better.People should be taught common sense based on accumulated, fact-based knowledge. End of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindal1000 Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 [quote user="mint"]It's a given that life will never be the same again[:'(]Even if no more terrorist attacks are responsible for the deaths of innocents, the Age of Innocence is no more.Depressing but at least we lived through good and peaceful times and we more or less trusted one another.[/quote]For me I have never known a time when there weren't terrorist attacks. London in the 80s and early 90s felt a lot more dangerous than France does now, so for me life feels much the same as it always did.. pretty safe but always need to keep your eyes open. It did feel quite grim after 9/11 for a while. I was still living in London and the atmosphere was very strained..probably not unlike Brussels at the moment. A year or so later and things were pretty much back to normal. I don't think I've ever known an 'age of innocence '. Plenty of good times and there still are.. Three people were killed in the town that I used to live in in UK between Christmas and New year because they got drunk and then tried to drive home. Terrorism is the least of our problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 LOL, I rather think that extreme religious thinking is on the increase, and that many do not know better. Very very sad.I always have believed, because I do believe in some things....... that 'I' have had the more than good fortune to live most of my life in a period of human history in Europe, where life has been basically amazing and wonderful for the most part. When I left school, there were jobs, people could move from one to another easily. We were never hungry, were well clothed and shod and educated..........had decent, nay good housing and for all my parents served in the war, I never knew war, not personally. When has the ordinary person ever had it so good???? I rather think, never for the 'lower' classes.That the bad has re-emerged on our door step, is what it is. I rather think that our ancestors would recognise our feelings at the moment. I know I want to be brave and say 'so d it' to all these psychotic despicable maniacs, but, honestly they do leave me feeling frightened too... and maybe that it a healthy emotion, an emotion that means that I am aware when I about my daily business.I am glad I am not young any more and have a profound sadness for those younger than I am. However, we humans have got this far in spite of wars and servitude and plagues and famines ......... and I'm sure that those younger than me, will just get on with it, as their/our ancestors did. And history does tell us, that despots and maniacs, never win in the end, they never have and never will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I heard about the cancellation in Brussels earlier today when it was announced that there were several pointers to an attack planned for this evening. Several arrests took place in the hours around the announcement. I guess the authorities had no choice but to cancel celebrations.I heard that no fireworks or celebration were to be held tonight in Paris sometime back in November; a more thoughtful gathering was planned. A celebration would be just wrong when there are huge gaps in many families and many others are still recovering. As far as I know, the short, low-key gathering is still going to take place tonight along the Champs-Élysées.Looking back to world events in our recent past, I think of the 60s and the Bay of Pigs affair and also how frightening it was to grow up with talk of nuclear bombs bringing our world to an end. Later, we had great cause to be scared during the years of bombings by the IRA. The current frightening bombings and slaughter by terrorists who hold some sort of warped interpretations of the Muslim faith are the latest to come along. Terrible and frightening, but all we can do is get on with living.My very best wishes to everyone for a healthy, happy and peaceful 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I agree that there was always terrorism of one sort or another. However, I still believe that the widespread terrorism we face at the moment is unprecedented.We are perhaps so preoccupied with terrorism on our home ground that we might have taken our eye off the ball a bit.The whole of the Middle East could go up in smoke. Putin has already said that he could fit nuclear warheads to the missiles he is already using in Syria. And did you know that all surplus weapons of mass destruction in Iran have been turned over to Russia?As sure as eggs is eggs, should large scale warfare break out in the Middle East, we in Europe will not be immune from the fallout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Of course we in France will be immune from the fallout just like after the Chernobyl disaster, there is nothing to worry about, the fallout stops at the French border but best not eat or dring dairy products, meat or vegetables from any other country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I have some sympathy with the OP and protested when the fete de lumieres was cancelled in Lyon at the start of the month, because there was no specific threat.The situation now seems to have changed somewhat. Brussels has a specific threat and two people have been arrested. Are there more potential terrorists in Belgium tonight??I suspect that Paris and a number of other capital cities have been warned of specific threats to be (allegedly) perpetrated this evening. How reliable a specific threat may prove to be will always be difficult to judge, but to just ignore it would be a derogation of duty by the authorities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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