“The French interior minister, Matthias Fekl, said the two…were radicalised French nationals aged 24 and 30. ‘These two radicalised men … intended to commit in the very short-term – by that I mean in the coming days – an attack on French soil.'”
The fact that neither Fekl nor the Guardian (or any other establishment media outlet) has the courage to explain exactly what these two men were “radicalized” into is an indication of why the West is losing the battle against the global jihad, and why there will be many, many more plots like this one, many of them successful.
Attentive tea-leaf readers will note that one of these men is named “Mahiedine,” a Muslim name out of Algeria, and that the term “radicalized” is usually only used of Muslims who wage jihad. But imagine if the Pearl Harbor attack had been reported this way: “Planes flown by radicalized men struck Pearl Harbor yesterday. President Roosevelt took to the airwaves to remind Americans that Japan is a peaceful nation, and that a tiny minority of radicalized extremists should not be used to create a climate of Japanophobia.”
You cannot win a war without knowing the enemy. And you can’t know the enemy if you’re afraid even to name him.
“French police seize bomb-making material after arrests before presidential vote,” by Jon Henley, Guardian, April 18, 2017:
Police in Marseille have seized guns and bomb-making materials after arresting two men suspected of planning an “imminent and violent attack” days before the first round of France’s presidential election.
The French interior minister, Matthias Fekl, said the two, who were detained at different addresses in the southern port city, were radicalised French nationals aged 24 and 30.
“These two radicalised men … intended to commit in the very short-term – by that I mean in the coming days – an attack on French soil,” Fekl told journalists. He said a definite attack had been foiled but gave no details of its target.
Photos of the men were given last week to the security teams of two of the election’s leading contenders, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen and independent centrist Emmanuel Macron, their campaigns said.
“The photos were passed to my security service from Thursday,” Le Pen, who is scheduled to hold the last big rally of her campaign in Marseille this week – told Agence France-Presse. A Macron aide also confirmed his team had seen the pictures.
A spokesman for the campaign of the scandal-hit rightwing candidate François Fillon, who is nipping at Le Pen and Macron’s heels in a contest that has become too close to call, said it had been told of a possible security risk on Friday.
Fekl said more than 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers would be deployed across the country for both days of the election, whose first round this Sunday will be followed by a runoff between the two top candidates on 7 May.
“Everything has been put in place to ensure the security of this big event for our democracy and our republic,” he said. “Security forces are mobilised everywhere across France to ensure the security of French people.”…
Le Pen told RTL radio on Tuesday she would expel foreign extremists and call up army reservists to close France’s borders if she won. “We cannot fight the terrorism that weighs on our country without controlling our borders,” she said.
Macron said the arrests were a reminder the terrorist threat remained very high, but added: “Terrorism … is a challenge that calls on us more than anything else to come together, because the terrorists wish nothing more than our division.”
Doubling down on a promise on Monday to suspend all immigration, Le Pen also told RTL she would impose a moratorium for several weeks “to assess the situation. The reality is that immigration is massive in our country.”…