When I first read about the shutdown of Brussels, I knew immediately whose website I wanted to see. Michael is a long-time blogger and a native of Belgium for whom Brussels is home. I first got to know him when Vlaams Belang was under attack by Charles Johnson. In other words, a nightmare ago. It was he who helped explain to me the reality of VB, the desire of Flanders to go its own way, and why Charles Johnson was so very wrong in his character assassinations.
So I checked, and sure enough, Mike notes the shutdown of Brussels:
Since 2 am Saturday morning, Brussels is in a heightened state of alert. State Security “has indications that an attack was planned with guns and explosives”. PM Charles Michel has stated that “the threat is grave and very close”. The Threat Level is at 4, the highest one. The Brussels metro does not function. Army and police patrol in the city.
For decades the Vlaams Belang has warned of the grave dangers imposed by unchecked immigration and especially from muslim countries.
The ongoing persecution of Vlaams Belang was brutal. Those people paid a heavy financial and emotional cost for daring to go up against the Brussels/EU machine. So did Paul Belien, formerly the editor of Brussels Journal, whose wife was also a member of Parliament.
Here is Diana West’s essay from 2008 about her meeting with Mr. Dewinter in Brussels [the emphasis below is in the original posting]:
…Having interviewed Dewinter on several separate occasions — a couple of times in Antwerp last summer, once in Washington last year — I only wish the US had candidates of his strength, purpose and calibre. I know of no American politician who understands the historic sweep of the jihad as Dewinter does, and who is so forthright, outspoken and active in his stand against it. As far as the completely spurious and thoroughly deranged charges against him of anti-Semitism and crypto-Nazism go, they are, well, spurious and thoroughly deranged. Last summer I asked him to explain his stand against Islamization. He replied:
“It’s a global struggle for our values, for our European way of life, for our civilization. That’s why I think it is also a European struggle; that is, It’s not only about a mosque two blocks away — no! It’s about our survival as a European nation and as a civilization. And I recognize those values, that civilization, also over there in Israel. It’s the only country in occupied territory, the vanguard of Europe in occupied territory, that is sharing those same values. And that’s why it’s so important to support Israel.”
Mike from Downeast continues with the long record of persecution Vlaams Belang has suffered under the leftist regime in Brussels:
Its only reward was a “cordon sanitaire”, a barrage of insults, anti-racism laws, lawsuits, intimidation campaigns, vandalization of property of its members and party infrastructure, the blocking of ads, exclusion of VB publications on the yearly Boekenbeurs (the national Book Fair), and severe restrictions on the appearance of VB politicians on state-controlled TV stations.
Today, the chickens have come home to roost.
Indeed they have. In those dark days after the first Brussels Counterjihad Conference we were painted as xenophobic haters and racists. But for the most part Americans ignored Europe’s growing problems with immigrants. It was over there and that wasn’t happening here to anyone they knew. A lot of blood has flowed under the bridge since then, much of it innocent.
Be sure to check out Mike’s other photos of Brussels from earlier today. For me, they are eerie. We lived with this prediction for so long that to see it embodied is in some ways more disturbing than to have it surprise us, as the Paris massacre did.
One can only ask when the next European city will shut down… and for how long?
What place will be the next Paris?
The loud threats from ISIS to American cities — will they also become a reality?
The repression of Vlaams Belang shows the totalitarian bent of the Left and how fearful they are of allowing dissenting voices in the public square. The Left so fervently covers for Islam because when the veil is pulled back and the real threat Islamization poses to the European way of life is realized by the public at-large it will shatter the socialists’ multicultural Utopian fantasy and utterly destroy their grip on power. The fact that the seat of the EU is in lockdown has to have the powers-that-be wetting themselves, not from fear of the terrorist threat, they’re well protected, but from the rise of nationalism that’s sure to come. That is what they truly fear and their actions prove this: they’re perfectly happy inviting in millions of Muslims while intently repressing indigenous European nationalism.
The sooner the EUSSR is in the ash heap of history, the sooner the free world will be free again.
In The Netherlands the Dutch police have shut down a Facebook page run by Ralf Stultiëns. He was contacted by authorities who demanded that he remove the page because of its anti-migrant stance. Once again authorities move to silence dissent against the refugee influx.
Source (in Dutch):http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Nederland/article/detail/4190390/2015/11/19/Politie-grijpt-in-bij-fikse-discussie-op-Facebook.dhtml
Freedom of expression in Europe, when it comes down to the wire, doesn’t exist. The so-called charter of human rights lists our rights but at the very end of the document it takes them all away again, because there are conditions to “free speech”. We are doomed.
“Of course, David Cameron does not say Islam is at war with us. But then, no-one believes what he says any more. The 7/7 bomber said it for everyone: “We are at war”.”
http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/news-libertygb/6716-we-are-at-war
“What place will be the next Paris?”
What places are “soft” and admired by at least some of the western world? (Admired intellectually or otherwise.) It may not be any European city.
“The loud threats from ISIS to American cities — will they also become a reality?”
They may not be threats. They may be knowledgeable predictions by individuals with a small but measurable amount of authority who feel they need to say something just to show they are a part of a big picture. It can also be to encourage activity. Something like “We will strike in your heartland” is general enough to suggest a lack of specific knowledge as to where converts may develop and take some action as well be an open declaration of intent.
If they were threats, that would mean there is a large, well organized outright organization — you would be able to follow a definable chain of command to and from many scattered points. There are several organizational names tossed around “out there.” And, there may even be others not yet identified.
My wife was born in Brugge , lived in Belgium until she immigrated to the USA.
When she goes home, they speak Flemish. I got quite an earful when I mentioned this article on Vlaams Belang. But she will tell you about when Arabs first started to coming to Belgium and how the guys at the local bars used to have pitched battles with them over how they tried to treat women. I wish I could get her to write some of this but its all too painful for her. She is an artist and she says that they ran all the artists, free thinkers and outlaws out of Belgium back in the 70’s.
Sorry, one question? Who is Charles Johnson? Sounds English. One other thing I learned visiting Flanders is if you mention England, they spit on the ground and curse in Flemish.
Charles Johnson was (and is) the proprietor of a blog called Little Green Footballs. Back in 2004 and 2005, Mr. Johnson was one of the most prominent conservative bloggers in the “new media”. He was a supporter of George W. Bush and a strong proponent of using military force against the Jihad.
Between October 2007 and the spring of 2008 he did a U-turn. I don’t know what happened, whether he suffered some sort of brain seizure or what, but he became a zealous lefty, with all the nastiness, vitriol, and dishonesty that we’ve come to expect from our esteemed colleagues on the Left. Nowadays he focuses his ire on conservatives, and especially Christians. Ben Carson is a current favorite target. For a long time he was obsessed with Sarah Palin.
His 180-degree turn began after our Brussels conference in October 2007. We were attacked with brutality and dishonesty (“we” being all those who organized, attended, or supported the conference). Mr. Johnson was so highly thought of in those days that many of us became pariahs, untouchables, and were delinked by most respectable sites. Eventually, however, he turned on everyone on the right. No one was spared. We didn’t get many apologies from those who had signed on to LGF’s judgments against us. Just a couple, here and there. People who were dismayed and horrified by what Charles Johnson did to them did not then turn around and say, “You know, Gates of Vienna was right and I was wrong back in 2007.”
But that was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. It’s no longer significant. If you want to read some of the details, see “Suggested Corrections for Charles Johnson”.
Mr. Johnson now has a nice comfortable lefty sinecure with plenty of payola and lots of Christians to hate in politics and the media. May the Force be with him!
Some prominent people here in the U.S., and not only on the left, are still saying that we should calm down because we do much better at “integrating” Muslim immigrants — as though the problematic behavior were rooted in social marginalization and economic hardship, not in anything specifically Islamic. Never mind that the Fort Hood shooter was a doctor in the U.S. Army; or that the Tsarnaev brothers seemed to have adapted well to American life before going jihadi (and I could add more examples). Never mind that British “radical” imams are materially comfortable and have no difficulty getting their message out.
The enemy are inside the gates. I hope the European elites are happy with their cities being locked down now. Maybe they won’t be able to go to their favorite restaurant tonight. sarc/
I think those of us who stand againts the jihad face similar misunderstandings all over the West. Just yesterday I was told by our minister that I am considered to be like Ian Pasley in regard to Muslims (this although I undertake evangelism among Muslims). When I suggested that the people who were saying this should come to one of my talks on Islam I was told that they had already done so. Good grief!
Yes I have to do some self examination, but I have repeatedly said that the problem is Islam, not Muslims. I frankly don’t know how I could make it any clearer, yet I am still regarded as a hater? How is this even possible when the basis of our Christian faith is forgiveness. I know myself to be utterly undeserving of God’s forgiveness and I want Muslims to know the same forgiveness. Therefore how can I hate them?
People today find it almost impossible to make the simple differentiation between hating really really bad ideas and hating those who follow those ideas. Yet people change their beliefs all the time. If they abandon the belief that mass murder of civilians is pleasing to god then – amazingly! – I will have much less of a problem with their belief system.
Certainly I hate the teaching and life of their vile prophet and their vile books that have caused such suffering over 1400 years – the same way I hate Communist or Nazi books and thoughts. If I were an atheist saying this about the Bible I wouldn’t even be considered avant garde, I would be boringly mainstream! Yet no one treats such atheists as if they hate the people involved – they are attacking the ideas. This is entirely fair and does not involve hating people (although they may think Christians particularly stupid).
There is nothing in the water in any Western country that is going to somehow magically stop the surge of those who wish to return to the way of the prophet. The theology crosses all cultural and racial boundaries. The day when adults again begin thinking like adults may come one day too late.
when I suggested that the people who were saying this should come to one of my talks on Islam I was told that they had already done so. Good grief!
Grief indeed, Liam. One of my favorite adages is from Peter Drucker: “communication is the act of the recipient”.
It’s almost like a koan when you first wrap your head around that one – for some reason we’re resistant to the idea. Maybe because it changes the locus of control? It’s a lesson new teachers learn: the first exam papers are turned in and they realize how little even the smart students managed to grasp…(Successful) attorneys making their summations to a jury also trim their sails before heading into the wind of 12 unpredictable minds.
Here’s the full monty: an essay by Drucker in Harvard Biz Review from 1992 – and still pertinent.
https://hbr.org/1992/09/the-new-society-of-organizations/ar/1
Drucker was really something. I felt a little diminished when I learned of his death in 2005.
Your minister must be in a really interesting head space. Numerous serving British Army personnel commented to me in the ’70s and ’80s that the easiest route to a solution to The Troubles would be someone from the BA shooting Paisley. And these were blokes who had served there, often multiple tours, from the immediate aftermath of the initial Orange Lodge/UDF outrages in the Catholic areas through Bloody Sunday (one was there, and could give the name of the bloke who gave the order to shoot, but was never asked, by anybody) right through into the early ’80s.
It was Paisley winding up the Orange Lodges and the UDF that was the root cause of the problem, and it was never addressed.