The news coming out of Belgium is appalling. A coordinated attack causing mass murder and injury where those in the firing line are both innocent and unaware. Everyone is at risk. Nobody is safe. Belgium is paying a high price for its success in capturing the Paris attackers and although it is the Headquarters of the EU and NATO, as one of Europe’s smaller nations, it is now hard pressed. For now one can do no more than support the Belgian people in their trauma, grieve for the dead and pray for the recovery of the injured, many of whom are in a critical state. Stricken families must have all the support they can be given.
But later on we have to ask questions about the strategic posture of the West and where it is leading us. The warning at the very start that the more you attack terrorists the more the violence grows is proving frighteningly true. There is no military solution with terrorism. In the end somebody will have to start talking.