Angela Merkel’s open-door migrant policy will come slamming shut and Germany will become a Big Brother state after the Berlin Christmas market terror attack, a leading political commentator has warned.
The Berlin truck attack follows a series of other “lone wolf” attacks that some experts try to diminish in importance; however, the “Berlin bloodbath” appears to be a tipping point. Josef Joffe, professor at two Ivy League universities and publisher-editor of a weekly German newspaper, predicts that:
border controls, which have only this year been reinstated after 1.1million migrants entered in 2015, will be tightened and domestic surveillance will be upped after Monday’s “Berlin bloodbath”.
In September, it was announced that German police and the military were teaming up for joint drills as a preventative measure against an Islamic State attack, prompting concern that Germany was descending into martial law. A constitutional court ruling four years ago “paved the way for the deployment of the Bundeswehr on German streets in the aftermath of an attack.” Prior to that, Germany’s constitution allowed for domestic military missions “only under special circumstances — such as natural disaster relief. The restrictive legal framework was instituted as a result of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s abuse of state powers.”
Joffe also stated that “German troops stayed out of Iraq” and that “Germany has worked hard not to become a target for retaliation.” This ignores what the Islamic State revealed in its jihadi periodical Dabiq: six reasons why they hate the West. In it, they wrote a clear message to Western countries:
“Even if you were to stop bombing us, imprisoning us, torturing us, vilifying us, and usurping our lands, we would continue to hate you because our primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam.”
Germany has been battered with a rash of migrant crime; Merkel has no one to blame but herself in facing political ruin due to her indiscriminate and reckless open door policies. Pundits are now declaring that it is over for her; and that is despite her political backpedaling a couple of weeks ago, when she called for a burqa ban and declared that the refugee crisis “must never be repeated.” Now after Berlin’s truck attack, protests have erupted outside Merkel’s office, with demonstrators hollering “Merkel has blood on her hands.” We can only hope that her political infamy will serve to give other Western politicians an example of what not to do.
“MERKEL FACING RUIN: Everything has changed for Germany after Berlin terror, says expert,” by Alix Culbertson, Express, December 22, 2016:
ANGELA Merkel’s open-door migrant policy will come slamming shut and Germany will become a Big Brother state after the Berlin Christmas market terror attack, a leading political commentator has warned.
Josef Joffe said Germany has only had to deal with no or low victim lone-wolf attacks, unlike many other Western countries, until this year but after a spate of seven in 2016 the government will be forced to change the way the country is run.
The publisher-editor of Die Zeit, a weekly German newspaper, and professor at two Ivy League universities, said border controls, which have only this year been reinstated after 1.1million migrants entered in 2015, will be tightened and domestic surveillance will be upped after Monday’s “Berlin bloodbath”.
A total of 12 people were killed and 48 injured, with 14 still in critical condition, after a large lorry was driven about 60 metres through a Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz, central Berlin.
Moments after the Berlin terror attack a 23-year-old Pakistani migrant was arrested but was yesterday released due to lack of evidence.
ISIS last night claimed responsibility for the attack as anti-terror squads desperately searched for the Berlin attacker.
Mr Joffe, writing in The Guardian, said: “In general, Germany has been lucky – and smart in ways that did not always please its allies.
“German troops stayed out of Iraq. Where fealty to an alliance left no other choice, as in Afghanistan, they picked areas where combat appeared unlikely.
“In the Middle East, the German air force flies reconnaissance only – no bombing. Germany has worked hard not to become a target for retaliation.
“But now the cocoon has burst for good.”
Mrs Merkel promised the culprits will be punished “as hard as our laws demand” as the nation reacted in shock.
Mr Joffe, added: “This was not supposed to happen in a country that has been able to foil more terror attacks than have actually occurred.
“And this, it must be said, with the help of the much-maligned NSA, plus the British GCHQ and the French DGSE.”
The Stanford and Harvard professor said Germans are “ever protective of our privacy laws” but will have to get used to increased surveillance by national intelligence services as well as by their allies.
Data gathering and cyber warfare capabilities have already been strengthened in Germany in response to threats from Russia.
He added: “Now, Germany will invest even more in security – and perhaps show a bit more gratitude to the NSA, GCHQ and DGSE.
“Pacifism, the nation’s traditional posture since the Second World War, is losing its lustre as Putinist expansionism encroaches on Nato’s eastern borders, while Donald Trump dismisses the alliance as “obsolete”….