European Terrorism: The 'Batman Syndrome'

by Giulio Meotti • June 27, 2018 at 5:00 am

"It is the 'Batman syndrome': the hero refuses to kill, he systematically saves his enemy who escapes and kills new victims until the hero catches up with him, and so on". — Causeur magazine.
"These crimes will continue so long as the Republic leaves the enemy in peace". — Ivan Riofoul, Le Figaro.
In the end, there might be still a region called "Europe", but it may no longer enfold European culture.

A soldier stands guard in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. (Photo by Franck Prevel/Getty Images)

The European Union lost €180 billion (USD $210 billion) in GDP due to terrorism between 2004 and 2016. The United Kingdom (€43.7 billion) and France (€43 billion) suffered the highest losses, followed by Spain (€40.8 billion) and Germany (€19.2 billion), according to a Rand Corporation study.

"Beyond those who have been directly physically affected by terrorist attacks, the extensive coverage of terrorist attacks through multiple media and social media channels has substantially increased the amount of people and companies that could be psychologically affected. This subsequently affects their economic behaviour".

New statistics have also come from the Britain's anti-terrorism office. 441 people have been arrested in the UK for terrorism in the last year alone, and 4,182 since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The threat of terrorism is exhausting Europe.

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Years after Genocide, Yazidis Urgently Need Help

by Uzay Bulut • June 27, 2018 at 4:00 am

There are two types of aid urgently needed by Yazidis at Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in northern Iraq, according to Saad Babir, media director of Yazda: psychological support for the victims of genocide, and basic services such as healthcare, food, water, electricity, heat, new tents -- and even firetrucks and ambulances. Many Yazidis have died in IDP camps due to a lack of the latter two.
"When I was in the camps, I noticed that when UN officials came in to do an assessment, the Yazidi people were not able to tell them the truth about what was happening for fear of retaliation from the country's leaders." — Dawood Saleh, Yazidi author and activist.
"We wrote many reports to the UN, for it to consider Yazidis in the camps refugees, due to their dangerous situation, but our pleas were rejected. The UN has not reported on the situation accurately and sufficiently to enable Western countries to help Yazidis more." — Dawood Saleh.

Pictured: A Yazidi girl plays in a tent at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp for Yazidis in Sharya, Iraq on on November 12, 2016. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

On June 13, Mark Green, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), finally offered some good news for the persecuted Christians and Yazidis in Iraq. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal entitled: "Help Is on the Way for Middle Eastern Christians," he wrote:

"Every day of delay brings persecuted communities that much closer to extinction. In Iraq alone, nearly 90% of Christians have fled in the past 15 years, emptying entire villages that had stood for more than a thousand years. The Yazidi population has been similarly decimated. Without immediate additional support, these groups may be forced to continue their unprecedented exodus, perhaps never to return to their ancient homes.

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