Security Measures

[Pickles]

[quote user="Quillan"]My guests inform me that there were six controls between Carcassonne and Quillan yesterday. All were Gendarmes but they did have Landrovers with tripod mounted machine guns on the bonnets, not much use if you need to chase anyone.[/quote]

I doubt whether they have any intention to chase ... even in more normal times the Gendarmes are quite willing to open fire on anyone who tries to force their way through a checkpoint - a machine gun is rather more firepower than they would normally have at a checkpoint.

[Quillan]

The thing is we all in Europe need to learn by others mistakes and look outward rather than inward. Look what happened in NI when the British government put troops on the street. I also believe that this is all part of a grand, if not misguided, plan by ISIS or whatever their name is now. They wanted to take on western ground forces in the Middle East which has not happened. I think they rather hope that by goading us Europeans (and the Americans) will result in accommodating them. They believe if we put troops on the ground they will annihilate them all thus showing just how powerful they are and we will all tremble before them, at the moment we have deprived them of this opportunity. We have to be careful and think very hard before we act as we could quite easily react they way they want us to. We have always thought in the past that these people are pretty thick, ignorant and easily manipulated but they are not, far from it. They have excellent intelligence, cells operating in just about every country and supply chains plus a very sophisticated propaganda machine using electronic media etc.

I did find it a little offensive yesterday when Obama tried to lecture us Europeans on integrating Muslims saying that America leads the world in this and we should use them as an example. Well seeing that only 1.2% of the North American population (thats the US and Canada) is Muslim its not quite the same and you can bet your last dollar if you're a Muslim trying to get into America the door is virtually slammed in your face.

[YCCMB]

Goodness me, Quillan, do you think the security forces haven't noticed that Muslim extremists are using electronic media? Or are you insinuating that this has come as recent news to us all?

It was mentioned on QI last night, just as an example, that more people in India have a smartphone than have an indoor toilet. Even as long as 10-15 years ago, I remember travelling through the Masai Mara and noticing the satellite dishes on the mud huts, and Masai tribesmen walking their herds of goatsalong the side of the road, with mobile phones threaded through the holes in their earlobes where once there would have been a piece of bone. I am not sure who this " we" is that you are referring to, but it has been abundantly clear for a long time that 21st century means of communication are available to anyone and everyone, and living halfway up a mountain in Afghanistan is no barrier to setting up your own Facebook page. Sure, there are many followers of IS or Al Qaeda who may lack what we would consider an "education" but that doesn't make them "pretty thick", nor do I believe that the security forces have either underestimated or indeed discounted their innate intelligence or their access to sophisticated technology.

This crosses with an earlier discussion regarding the somewhat blurred line (in the minds of some) between freedom of speech and freedom of information. Much as it may rankle with some people that the Government is not completely open and transparent with the general public, it would be both foolish and dangerous for any government to openly admit how much information it holds on the infrastructure of terrorist groups, or on the extent to which they have been able to infiltrate or intercept means of communication. If, as a result of such information being kept secret, terrorist cells are left with the feeling that "we" think "they" are "a bit thick", then one would hope that this might encourage them to become a bit more complacent and leave themselves more exposed to discovery. Personally, I don't even believe they're "thick" enough to fall for that one, either.

[Quillan]

I was refering to the fact that they use the same internet security system (Tor) as the US and UK military which is very difficult to crack and makes their origin (and target) difficult to find and also social media which is relatively new.