Charlie Hebdo - a perfect opportunity for governments?

                                                photo source: indianexpress.com    


In our first article about the events in France, we expressed our hope that the French Police would treat the case of the terrorists that opened fire in the center of Paris, which led to the deaths of 12 people, with care, caution and professionalism.

Now that all the events have unfolded, we can clearly say that it is unfortunate how the events turned out. The French Police worked professionally and did it's best to protect the civilians, while the French government did the same, by deploying more troops and more policemen to take part in the safekeeping mission.

Even so, with all these measures taken, civilians still died and the terrorists still got the chance to a final act of terror, taking hostages and killing other innocents, before they met their end, after a heavy fire exchange with the Police.

One has to wonder - what will the repercussions of these events be? How will they affect France? How will they affect the world?

You don't have to wait for long to see the results. In the USA, a well known TV station had an 'internationally recognized terrorist expert', who stated that in UK there are 'no-go zones' for non-Muslims. He also stated that these 'no-go zones' are a thing all around the EU - Germany, France, Sweden, Italy and so on. He did not only stop there, but also went on saying that Birmingham, UK's second largest city, is a place where non-Muslims don't go any more, since now it is a fully Muslim city. All this may come as a surprise for the inhabitants of Birmingham, as only 21% of the population is Muslim in that city. This 'expert' has also added that there is a religious Police in parts of London, parts that are closed even to the government. I have never been to London, but I have a feeling that I won't find a lot of religious Police when I will get there -  be that tomorrow or in the next  years.

On the other hand, Spain has raised its security level, in the wake of the attacks, and the Spanish Interior Minister mentioned  in a statement the fact that Spain is sharing information with France.

At a security summit following the attacks in Paris, which took place in Brussels, the European powers agreed upon establishing a European-wide passenger data system. Airlines will be obliged to retain passenger information for up to five years.

Many governments are currently trying to push for legislation that would allow them to access personal data, in order to maintain the security of their countries. This has been quite controversial in the past, but after these events, many would rather have a tighter control instead of being exposed to terrorist threats.

The world will be affected by all of these measures, but not only because governments will adopt them, but also because, this time, more people will see them necessary.