678 Bomb Attacks in Six Months: Netherlands Faces Alarming Trend

Sweden’s problems with integrating immigrants have, years ago, already led to the transformation of the former “people’s home” into a society plagued by bombings and sexual crimes committed by criminal gangs. Now, however, it seems that Sweden may have found itself a “competitor” in this regard.

This is because, according to a recent news report, the Netherlands recorded no fewer than 678 bomb attacks in the first half of this year, while the corresponding figure for Sweden was “only” 104. In the country’s second-largest city, Rotterdam, alone, there were 150 bomb attacks.

According to Dutch police spokesperson Jasmijn de Vries, “the current trend is extremely worrying, especially considering the negative impact it has on citizens’ everyday lives.” This concern is, of course, well-founded, but it should also be noted that the situations in Sweden and the Netherlands differ significantly.

In Sweden, the violence is often linked to gang violence and drug trafficking, whereas in the Netherlands it is a broader security phenomenon in which the use of homemade explosives has been “normalized” as part of criminal activity. The motives vary, and often the incidents are acts of harassment or intimidation, rather than the kind of organized gang warfare seen in Sweden. What the two countries do have in common, however, is the use of children and young boys to carry out the attacks.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Getting Populists to Govern Responsibly: What the Netherlands and Finland Can Teach Us 
Should the Dutch Do Something About the Fact That Immigrants Don't Tolerate Visiting Jews?
A woman's logic, Putin's test, and the Netherlands' change

Finnish Ex-Military Chief: U.S. Likely Halted Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program

Former Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces Jarmo Lindberg has commented on last night’s U.S. strikes on Iran. According to him, Trump likely achieved his objective: halting Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Lindberg stated that Iran does have a nuclear weapons program, even though some have doubted its existence. This is because, “nuclear enrichment facilities are not needed for normal nuclear power plant operations. The type of nuclear material used in energy-producing power plants, like those in Finland, cannot be used to make bombs. Separate enrichment plants are required to produce material suitable for nuclear warheads.”

Regarding the U.S. Air Force strike itself, Lindberg said that “a very limited strike was carried out against three specific targets—bunkers located deep inside Iran. In addition, only a small number of precision weapons were used, such as B-2 stealth bombers, MOP bombs, and cruise missiles.”

Lindberg also noted that Iran had no real chance to defend itself from the strike because Israel had crippled its air defenses by destroying radar systems and surface-to-air missile batteries. Thus, “Iran essentially had no eyes to see it coming. And even if it had seen it, it wouldn’t have had the means to intercept it.”

As for Iran’s ability to respond to the U.S. strike, Lindberg sees it as limited. Furthermore, the U.S. has prepared for possible retaliation by moving its ships away from ports near Iran, meaning “there are currently few viable targets for the ayatollahs’ military or missiles.”

Iran could also “declare the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and threaten to attack maritime traffic passing through it. Since a significant portion of the world's oil supply flows through that strait, such a move would immediately spike oil prices, which the markets would then react to.”

However, it is also certain that closing the Strait of Hormuz would lead to retaliatory actions by the United States and likely also by the United Kingdom and France—actions against which Iran has virtually no effective weapon other than fanatical religious fervor. While that could result in some kind of suicide attacks, possibly against civilian populations, “from a military standpoint, their significance is negligible.”

For this reason, Lindberg believes the greatest focus now shifts to the future of Iran’s clerical regime. In other words, “what will their reactions and fate be in a situation where the United States has entered the war.”

For my part, I hope their reaction would be a flight to Moscow and leaving power to the Iranian opposition. Or alternatively, a revolution by the opposition, followed by proper punishment of the ayatollahs for the sins of past decades.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Iran Exposes the Finnish Green-Left as Intellectually Dishonest or Lacking Values
Will Power Change Hands in Iran?
A Quick Israeli Success in Iran Would Be Crucial for Ukraine

EU Commission Should Take Migration and Related Crime Seriously

A Finnish district court has sentenced Kerime Örcel, 30, and Johan Araf Josef Otterdahl, 22, to long prison terms in a criminal case involving the manufacture of a thermos bomb and aggravated drug offenses. In a press conference, the police stated they suspect the planned bombing attack was commissioned by a Swedish criminal organization.

Otterdahl had agreed to detonate the thermos bomb at the entrance of an apartment building in an immigrant-dominated suburb in the Helsinki region and had received the assignment from a Swedish criminal group, which had promised him a reward for carrying out the act. The bomb had a lethal blast radius of approximately three meters and could have caused shrapnel injuries within an 11-meter range.

Örcel was apprehended at the end of September when she transported 157 kilograms of amphetamines and 20,000 ecstasy tablets across the border into Finland. This is the largest single amphetamine seizure in Finnish criminal history. Otterdahl, on the other hand, was arrested later in the autumn.

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The above case is just one example of how the problems of Swedish society are also spreading to Finland as immigrant-background criminals expand their territory across the Baltic Sea. So far, the Finnish police have succeeded quite well in preventing larger problems, but time will tell how long this can continue.

That is why it is important that Swedes also take their problems seriously and prevent them from spreading across the Baltic. Toward Denmark, however, it is already too late, as Swedish criminals now move rather freely across the Danish straits to commit crimes (example).

All of this also demonstrates that the migration-related problems faced by European countries are by no means local, and therefore cannot be resolved solely through local measures. That is why the EU Commission and politicians should take migration into Europe and the related crime seriously—unlike what has happened in recent years.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Getting Populists to Govern Responsibly: What the Netherlands and Finland Can Teach Us
Police to Finnish Graduates: Leave Fireworks, Blades, and Booze at Home
Why Integration Policy Must Confront Cultural Conflicts