Brussels Zaventem bombing

[sasguru]

It seems as though Belgium has been identified as some sort of easy European target. Is it that their security and intelligence forces are known to be comparatively poor or something?

Yup. Did you see the Belgian and French PMs congratulating themselves after catching that Paris potential bomber in Brussels? Fact is they should have been asking why it took this long and why he was at large for so many months.

Having said which it is quite easy to cause havoc in any democracy.

[sasguru]

Which is a bit like saying women who wear provocative clothes deserve to be raped

No it's not at all, you complete moron.

[DodgyAgent]

No it's not at all, you complete moron.

It is the same thing "the victims were asking for it"

[DodgyAgent]

Yup. Did you see the Belgian and French PMs congratulating themselves after catching that Paris potential bomber in Brussels? Fact is they should have been asking why it took this long and why he was at large for so many months.

Having said which it is quite easy to criticise from the comfort of your privileged position sitting in your armchair living in a democracy.

FTFY

[sasguru]

It is the same thing "the victims were asking for it"

So when the Germans bombed London, Churchill should have turned the other cheek?
Rather than as Britain did, burning millions of women and children?

[DimPrawn]

So when the Germans bombed London, Churchill should have turned the other cheek?

:nazi:

[darmstadt]

Well, yeah. I took a wrong turning and got lost in Molenbeek a couple of years ago. The atmosphere was somewhat hostile.

Such places shouldnt be allowed to spring up and fester like that. How you stop it happening, God knows but maybe a zero tolerance approach to these No go / shariah zones that are purported to exist in many cities both here and in. Europe.

I was there the day after the French attack and it was fine...

[jbond007]

So what's next?

Security before you enter the terminal building?

There will be yet more hoops to jump through in order to go through what most people already find a stressful experience.

I think this is a sensible move. It already happens at some other popular cities around the world. I believe Dubai Airport would be a comparable example, it handles passenger traffic more or less similar to Heathrow and scans all baggage on entrance and only passengers are allowed inside.

[DaveB]

Belgian police and intelligence services basically don't talk to each other. Much like it used to be in France until they started getting their act together,

Belgian Police ask the Met, who ask the Security Services, who ask the Belgian Intelligence Service and then it goes all the way back down the chain again.

Our guys have been banging the drum in Europe for more joined up policing and intelligence for a while now, but not with much effect it would seem.

[SpontaneousOrder]

The question seems to be, how can you check lots of people and their baggage without having lots of people and their baggage congregated in one place. Not sure about that one.

Perhaps luggage will have to be sent ahead by courier so it can be checked separately? That'd probably make the problem worse though - an invitation to post bombs to the airport

The reality is that, so far, we'd only need to check the baggage of Muslim travellers.

The question is, how many lives is it ok to sacrifice in order to avoid that taboo?