Terrorist attacks in Brussels: the degree of vulnerability of the EU countries

The media massively discuss Brussels terrorist attacks on March 22. The responsibility for them was taken by the Islamic State terrorist organization (IG, prohibited in the Russian Federation). Commentators are trying to analyze the situation and assess the degree of vulnerability of the EU countries and the scale of the spread of a terrorist network.

Wall Street Journal writes that terrorist attacks have become a strong shock, although the authorities have been warned for several months that Brussels could become a target for attack. The author conducts a direct connection between terrorist attacks and the arrest of Salah Abdesslam last Friday. Abdeslam is considered the main organizer of the attacks in Paris in November 2015. Perhaps new terrorist attacks became revenge for this arrest; More likely, this terrorist attack was planned for a long time, and now the plan was hastily carried out, until Abdeslam has testified that would allow the police to prevent this terrorist attack.

Message about the capture of Salah Abdeslama by the Belgian police www.voanews.com

There is a temptation to impose all responsibility for the current terrorist attack on the inefficiency of the Brussels police. Indeed, coordination left much to be desired. However, the Brussels terrorist attack, like the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, are, first of all, signals that the Western foreign policy regarding Syria has long been wrong. This is due to the fact that the West for a long time ignored the threat of Islamism emanating from the IG.

Financial Times writes that the main question is not who is to blame, but what measures Europe is ready to go to cope with the terrorist threat. Obviously, Brussels at the time of the attack did not have a rather reliable system that would allow you to control the situation. But since Brussels is the political center of the European Union, this problem inevitably becomes the problem of the entire block.

Passengers leave Brussels Airport after explosions on March 22: N.Devries/Voa

In total, over the past year and a half, a terrorist network, which one or another associated with the Islamists, arranged three large terrorist attacks in Europe. Places for terrorist attacks were predictable: airports, public transport. This means that you will have to decide how to increase public safety. In 2006, for example, according to the results of preventing a terrorist attack on board the aircraft, it was forbidden to carry on board the liquid, and this rule is still valid. Some measures will have to be taken now, even if it is to the detriment of convenience.

The main problem is that the terrorist attack occurred against the background of the ongoing migration crisis in Europe. It is possible that terrorists partially used some migration mechanisms for their own purposes. Naturally, security services will have to take this into account. But at the same time, it is necessary to make sure that these measures do not affect peaceful refugees and do not aggravate political instability on the basis of xenophobia.

Brussels remembers the victims of the attack on March 22: Miguel Discart

The Economist states that the Brussels attack indicates growing ambitions and capabilities of IG. The arrest of Abdeslam, of course, caused some celebration, but it was fleeting. The fact that the wanted list took several months has already been alarmed, and at the same time he was in Belgium all this time. This suggests that in the Belgian security system there are serious flaws.

An even greater alarm is that the IS network in Belgium and probably turned out to be so powerful throughout Europe. There is a weak hope that thanks to the arrest of Abdeslam, it will be possible to obtain information that will allow you to destroy this network. But in France, the investigation following the results of Parisian terrorist attacks has already discovered many details, but this did not lead to the prevention of a new terrorist attack. It is likely that the terrorist network has been formed for at least the last three years, and this means that it will be difficult to cope with it, and the data that can be obtained is only the tip of the iceberg.

Political imperative is now, the author concludes to increase the defense of Europe from mass terrorist attacks. You also need to continue the further attack on IG in Syria and Iraq in the calculation that this will lead to a weakening of the organization. So far, the situation looks so that Europe is becoming more vulnerable, and IS, on the contrary, is gaining strength.