This piece of news both makes sense and forces us to think and re-think. Not knowing whether the details are correct, they certainly point in the right direction. Today's terror is not carried out by shepherds riding camels in faraway deserts relying on voodoo wisdom. Today's self-styled attackers are, simply speaking, nothing more than a new brand of criminals, misled by hopes that they will enter paradise and that their poor families will receive a "pay-off" from the masterminds behind the attacks by the time they have blown themselves apart. They inflict harm upon us, upon the society -- the perhaps negligent society -- that fed them, raised them and provided them with access to education.While West Germany had its Red Army Faction (RAF), we in the United Kingdom witnessed the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Let me add another perspective to the debate on terror: Is it perhaps difficult for parents to spot whether and when their kids start to venture into dangerous, uncharted territory? One of the masterminds behind many of the German terror attacks, especially in 1977, was a young woman who was frequently seen enjoying cocktail parties at her parent's home before going underground. I always asked myself what makes an otherwise respected person become a terrorist, trying to destroy the very system that basically raised her? It is very difficult for me to comprehend.
Can we measure a society's terror potential by counting the number of underage kids who go to Internet cafés not to learn but to play violent computer games? Not necessarily. Do welfare states guarantee a terror-free environment? Of course not. The murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in February 1986 is proof enough for this. Shall we stop investing in countries where foreign interests (and people) are attacked, only to create more misery and poverty because their politicians have no clue about how to run their countries? Again, of course not.
We must hire experts not to comment on the dreadful effects of a terror attack, but to address the root causes. We must increase security everywhere without turning our free society into a parody of the Big Brother TV show. This leads to the question of whether there is a link between unemployment, resentment, radicalization and terror. I am not saying that there is, but we must talk openly about the subject. We need to think more about terror and how to stop it. We need more "think tanks," indeed.
Terror can only be combated if we face unpleasant topics, discuss them amongst ourselves and come up with answers. One center of excellence discussing these items is to be found at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
The Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV) is the oldest such establishment, set up in 1994. It is committed to rigorous, evidence-based scientific analysis that is policy relevant. It offers studies on the maritime dimension of international security, too. We simply cannot tolerate the fact that every now and then -- and every now and then seems to happen ever more frequently -- someone with a bomb or sophisticated weapons storms into a hotel aiming to blow it up after having killed as many innocent people as possible along the way.
The road will start with the untangling of the web of state-sponsored terror. Analysts claim that the RAF was sponsored by the East German communist regime of the time. By exposing the network of rich supporters, who all live in exile and hope to come to power after their suicide bombers have created havoc in their home countries, and by restraining the sensationalist media that gives all of them a perfect global platform, attracting the "hey mom, before I blow myself up you can see my proud face on TV" kind of person. Terror needs money. Terror needs intelligent masterminds. Our society better start by finding them.
Turkey has witnessed the exposure of previous acts of state terror in the ongoing Ergenekon case, as well as the continuous attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey's European partners must finally start to seriously help Turkey in combating both. Lip service will not do anymore. Allies must spread the message of "no to terror" eastward as fast as possible as we, for the time being, assume that this is where it stems from. This is no new version of neo-colonialism -- far from it. The free world has a right to defend itself! India is a key ally, too. Our condolences go to the victims of the Mumbai attacks. India has become a leading economic superpower. The terrorists -- besides waiting for their short-lived fame -- wanted to destroy the Indian dream, if nothing else.
