An Assassination on Europe: They Opened the Floodgates , Now Wonder Why All Hell has Broken Lose by Sabine O’Flynn

Being of dual nationality, as a child I spent most of time growing up between Ireland and Bavaria. At the age of twenty one, I moved to northern Italy to work for the EU and where I have lived ever since. I would be at a loss to describe myself as being anything other than purely European.

Since last year all that has changed! My fond concept of Europe in the face of new and atrocious realities has sullied my vision of this cultural and historic landscape most probably, forever. As everyone knows, Europe opened its border to floods of migrants in 2015. The sequence of horrific events which have since unfolded have left our nations reeling. The hypocrisy of the governments who now call for collective calm and unity in our war against terrorism is quite plainly shocking. The underlying sense of insecurity we all feel has soared and people are nervous about going out in any crowded public place. I can only feel relieved to not live in a city. The increased numbers of armed forces in the streets only add fuel to the fire when it comes to our current sense of unease. No doubt I would be the most anxious passenger on a metro and the one suspiciously glancing around trying to spot anyone with only one glove on. Most probably I would avoid sharing a carriage with anyone who looks like they might affiliate with the Islamic religion.

On a somewhat smaller scale, Europe is familiar with the tactics of terrorism, e.g., we had the IRA who viciously placed bombs in public areas throughout the 70’s in Northern Ireland and the UK and also the Basque terrorism group ETA since the late 1960’s but trying to deal with jihadists is quite a different matter. No matter how on the ball our security services are, it is almost impossible to detect and detain someone who is hell bent on causing destruction and who is even proud to sacrifice their own life in the process. Despite the fact, our economy is almost at a standstill, increased funding is being poured into research on internet hacking and surveillance in an almost desperate attempt to keep pace with the criminals plans.

The village where I live is a rural, notoriously peaceful and picturesque place near to the banks of lake Maggiore. We have also been forced to take in our “quota” of refugees. They can generally be seen in large groups meandering along the streets and are all young men between approximately the ages of 20 – 25. The local residents are up in arms about the recent settlements as the migrants are provided with free courses on various activities such as gardening, swimming and art. The Community which financially is already on its knees wildly protests the fact that the refugees appear to have been given every God given right under the sun whilst there is no work or hand outs for their own people.  Although I do not fully support this point of view, I can perfectly understand why they feel like this.

Although the attacks in Brussels did not have anywhere near the same impact as the attacks carried out last September in Paris, one thing I have noticed in their wake is that those I know who previously were pro-migration now seemed to have literally shut up and stopped sharing their views on the subject. However if you happen to be against the open borders policy, you are not allowed to mention it as it is perceived as being bigoted, racist and politically incorrect, at best!  I can only suppose the unspoken fear is contagious and spreading faster than we would have expected. 

On the day of the airport and metro attacks in Brussels, ripples of shock were sent around the world yet it felt as though everyone around me had become despairingly resigned to our new reality. On Sunday, while watching the 100 year commemoration in Dublin to the soldiers that died in the Easter rising made me realize what a completely different world we inhabit today. At least the soldiers who died in the Rising died for freedom, a cause we can all identify with.

It is however very difficult to empathize with the cause a suicide bomber might be willing to kill themselves for and the biggest problem was not knowing when or where IS would strike next. Unfortunately, we did not have to wait long. As flags were being lowered in Ireland, someone had thought it fit to target Christians celebrating Easter Sunday in Pakistan. Once again, they succeeded in causing further mayhem and death.