| Nouriel Roubini: "Positive Impacts of Paris Attacks Modest Unless More Attacks Follow" Posted: 17 Nov 2015 11:07 PM PST Economic stupidity permeates from every mainstream media corner in a myriad of ways. I typically expect economic stupidly, and stupidity certainly has provided endless things for me to write about. Nonetheless, I am somewhat surprised that renown economist Noutiel Rounbini would actually say Paris Attacks Could Boost the Eurozone Economy. Economist Nouriel Roubini said Tuesday the Paris attacks could end up boosting the eurozone economy if the European Central Bank decides to increase its program of monetary stimulus by a larger margin than it would have otherwise. In an interview with CNBC, the founder of Roubini Global Economics said the [positive] impact of the attacks would otherwise be 'modest', unless more follow. Thoroughly Discredited IdeaIn context, the word "positive" is implied. The notion disasters cause positive economic activity was thoroughly discredited over two centuries ago. Ironically, the best debunking ever came from France. French political economist, Frederic Bastiat's 1850 essay, " That Which is Seen, and That Which is Unseen" provides the debunking. Bastiat tells the story of a shopkeeper who has to hire a glazier to repair a broken window, providing work and income for the glazier in the process. That's what is seen. What is unseen is what the shopkeeper would have done if he didn't have to pay the glazier. He might have bought shoes for his children, providing income for the shoemaker, who in turn could buy leather to produce more shoes. Economic RealityThere is never any benefit to the destruction of productive assets. Money used on repairs could otherwise have been put to much more productive use. If Roubini truly believes there is any economic benefit to disasters he is a Nobel-prize winning Keynesian-economist fool. If he believes the government response could artificially add to French GDP now, while subtracting even more from future GDP, then I sympathize somewhat. But that is not how MarketWatch quoted him. Moreover, his analysis that benefits would be " modest" unless " more" attacks follow fails to take into account the inevitable decline in business and consumer spending that would undoubtedly occur in the wake of more attacks. In short, Roubini blew it from multiple angles. Mike "Mish" Shedlock |
| Putin Our Ally in Syria: Pat Buchanan Gets It Right, Clueless Candidates Get It Wrong; Jeb vs. Hillary Posted: 17 Nov 2015 04:59 PM PST Three Questions- Of what real threat to US security was Saddam Hussein? The answer is none. Ever.
- Of what real threat to the US is Syrian president Bashar Assad? The answer is none.
- Is ISIS a threat? Obviously yes, but not to the degree imagined.
Formation of ISISUS policy on Syria is centered on the removal of Assad in Syria even though Assad is no threat, but ISIS is. And it was the bungled removal of Hussein that destabilized Iraq and directly led to the creation of ISIS. In October, I noted former UK prime minister Tony Blair (who joined president Bush on the inane takeout of Saddam Hussein), Issued an Apology for Creation of ISIS. Our allies ought to be those who want to fight ISIS, not alleged "moderate" Al Qaeda forces seeking to destabilize Syria, creating a refugee mess in the process. Is Putin Our Ally in Syria?Pat Buchanan asks (and correctly answers) the question Is Putin Our Ally in Syria? The President's strategy is to contain, degrade and defeat ISIS. While no one has provided the troops to defeat ISIS, the U.S. is using Kurdish and Yazidi forces, backed by U.S. air power, to degrade it.
The Kurds have run ISIS out of Kobani, captured much of the Turkish-Syrian border, and moved to within 30 miles of Raqqa, the ISIS capital. Yazidis and Kurds last week recaptured Sinjar in Iraq and cut the highway between Mosul and Raqqa.
The terrorist attacks in Paris, the downing of the Russian airliner in Sinai, the ISIS bomb that exploded in the Shiite sector of Beirut, are ISIS's payback. But they could also be signs that the ISIS caliphate, imperiled in its base, is growing desperate and lashing out.
Yet consider the Republican strategies being advanced.
In Sunday's Washington Post, Mitt Romney writes:
"We must wage the war to defeat the enemy. … [Obama] must call in the best military minds from the United States and NATO … and finally construct a comprehensive strategy that integrates our effort with the Kurds, Turks, Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians."
The Kurds excepted, Gov. Romney ignored all the forces that are actually fighting ISIS: Russians, Hezbollah, Iran, Bashar Assad, the Syrian army.
Mitt urges instead an alliance of countries that have done next to nothing to defeat ISIS.
Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham want U.S. ground troops sent into Syria and Iraq. But as Turkey has an army of 500,000 next door and Assad's army would happily help wipe out ISIS, why not let Arab and Turkish boys do the fighting this time?
"America must lead," is Jeb Bush's mantra, and he wants U.S. boots on the ground and a no-fly zone over Syria.
"We should declare war," says Bush.
Why then does Bush not call up Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and dictate the war resolution he wants passed?
And whom does Jeb propose to fight? Why declare a no-fly zone when ISIS has no air force? Does Bush plan to shoot down Syrian planes flying over Syria and Russian planes flying in support of Assad?
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ready to rumble.
"Well, the first thing you do is you set up a no-fly zone in Syria, and you call Putin, and you say to him, 'Listen, we're enforcing a no-fly zone, and that means we're enforcing it against everyone, and that includes you. So, don't test me.'"
And if Russia violated his no-fly zone? "Then you take him down," said Christie, meaning we shoot down Russian jets.
But what vital interest of ours has ever been so engaged in Syria as to justify a major war in the Middle East and a military clash with a Russia with a nuclear arsenal as large as our own?
In any war it is usually wise to enlarge the roster of one's allies and reduce the roster of enemies. If ISIS is the implacable enemy and must be annihilated, we should welcome all volunteers.
If Putin wants to enlist in the war against ISIS, sign him up. Clueless Candidates Get It Wrong- Jeb Bush - Republican Candidate: "Enforce that no-fly zone, and we'll stop the regime's bombing raids that kill helpless citizens.
- Ben Carson - Republican Candidate: "I would establish a no-fly zone along the border with Turkey. In no way would I back off."
- Chris Christie - Republican Candidate: "My first phone call would be to Vladimir, and I'd say to him, 'Listen, we're enforcing this no-fly zone'"
- Hillary Clinton - Democratic Candidate: "I personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air."
- Carly Fiorina - Republican Candidate: "This is a tricky maneuver, it's a dangerous maneuver, but it's a maneuver that we must undertake."
- Lindsey Graham - Republican Candidate: "I don't know if there's anybody left to train, but a no-fly zone would be a great relief to the Syrian people."
- John Kasich - Republican Candidate: "Now is the time for the United States to provide the moral leadership that it has so far failed to provide."
- Marco Rubio - Republican Candidate: "The United States should work with our allies, both Arab and European, to impose a no-fly zone over parts of Syria."
Unfit for PresidentEvery one of the above is unfit for president, for multiple reasons, but foreign policy is the standout here. Let me ask again: Who is the threat? Jeb vs. HillaryNote the similarity between the positions of Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. Bush is concerned about " killing helpless citizens" while Hillary wants " humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air." The irony in those statements is Syrian civilians are dying directly as a result of US policy of arming Al Qaeda rebels, US policy that created ISIS, and US policy of weapons handouts that fell into the wrong hands. Immigration Fact CheckPlease consider this amusing Fact Check on Immigration. Pouncing on controversial comments about Mexican immigrants by Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday that the ideological space between Trump and Jeb Bush on the issue of immigration was small.
Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for president, said while she would like to see immigrants have a path to citizenship, Bush, "doesn't believe in a path to citizenship."
But the former Florida governor -- seen by many as one of the most pro-immigration reform Republican candidates -- has repudiated Trump's comments. And Tuesday, his campaign rebuffed Clinton, saying Bush supports a path to "earned legal status."
Bush this year has also backed a pathway to citizenship for children eligible under the DREAM Act who were brought to the United States by their parents.
Bush's attempt to navigate the nuanced waters between "earned legal status" and a path to "citizenship" is what makes Clinton technically correct in her assertion to CNN that he does not support a path to "citizenship."
Bush's campaign is also right that Clinton did tell CNN a year ago, in the wake of a flood of unaccompanied children crossing the southern border, that they "should be sent back." It's a comment that her now-Democratic rival, Martin O'Malley, has also seized upon. Bush-Clinton 2016 TicketBoth Bush and Clinton are talking out of both sides of their mouths, with one side saying essentially the same thing as their counterpart, the other side blasting their counterpart for inconsistency. There is no real difference between the two on immigration. They may also argue about health care, but neither will do a damn thing to fix it. Clinton and Bush hate each other, but perhaps they should be on the same ticket if only they can resolve wide differences on abortion and guns. Presidential Roundup With the Bush-Clinton diversion out of the way, let's check out the New York Times article Presidential Candidates on Syrian No-Fly Zone.    Rand Paul says " Setting up a no-fly zone is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for confrontation," while predicting it could lead to World War III by causing a confrontation between the United States and Russia. Trump says " I want to sit back and I want to see what happens." Mr. Trump said he likes the idea of a "safe zone" being established in Syria. But he has questioned the idea of supporting rebels who oppose President Assad, and he has welcomed the idea of Russia attacking the Islamic State. Welcoming help from Russia is certainly the right idea, as is questioning the backing of alleged moderates seeing to overthrow Assad. His statements are also more consistent with those who oppose a no-fly zone. Trump appears to be mainly correct, while Chris Christie's and Jeb Bush's war ideas are extreme lunacy. Undoubtedly, Hillary supports war as well, whether or not she says otherwise. Mike "Mish" Shedlock |
| Terrorist Arrests in Germany, Belgium; Nine Warning Signs Ignored; Could Attacks Have Been Prevented? Posted: 17 Nov 2015 11:56 AM PST In the wake of the terrorist activity in Paris that killed close to 150 people in eight separate attacks, the Investigation Widens to Germany and Belgium. Three Key Developments● Belgium charges two men in connection with the Paris attacks ● Germany arrests five people in a town close to the Belgian border ● France has authorized the distribution of an antidote for nerve gas The investigation into last week's deadly attacks in Paris widened on Tuesday, as Belgium charged two men with terror offenses and Germany arrested five people over the Isis plot.
The arrests in Germany and reports the Belgian police is investigating whether the men charged in Belgium provided the bombs used in the suicide attacks indicate that the conspiracy may have been wider than previously thought — and that more than one attacker may still be on the loose.
It also emerged that France has authorized the distribution of an antidote for nerve gas — a further sign of a sign of concern about the risk of more Isis attacks.
Meanwhile, evidence has grown that accomplices aided Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year-old French national at the heart of an international manhunt following the killings, to flee France after the attacks.
Prosecutors in Belgium on Tuesday charged two Belgian men — Hamza Attou and Mohammed Amri — with participation in a terrorist enterprise in connection with the Paris attacks. Belgian media reported that both men, who were arrested in a raid in the rundown Brussels district of Molenbeek on Saturday, are suspected of helping to assemble explosives for suicide vests used in the attacks.
French authorities said Mr Abdeslam had booked rooms in a hotel in the Alfortville suburb of Paris to serve as a safe house for the group ahead of the attacks, together with a flat in the Bobigny area.
When Isis claimed responsibility for the assaults, it mentioned a team of eight jihadis. But there are indications the actual number may be higher.
German police said they had detained five suspects in Alsdorf, a small town near the border with Belgium and the Netherlands, in an operation the DPA news agency said was linked to the Paris attack.
At least nine people are currently being held by French authorities, which has also stepped up air strikes against Isis in Syria. Could the Attacks Have Been Prevented?The Financial Times asks Could Attacks Have Been Prevented?While not every terrorist plot can be thwarted, authorities missed a huge number of warning signs. Coupled with inane acceptance of Syrian refugees, the EU virtually invited terrorist activity. Nine Warning Signs, Security Issues Missed or Ignored - Mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud: French authorities have named Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, as the potential "mastermind" behind the attacks. Mr Abaaoud, 27, fought with Isis in 2013 in Syria, where he took part in atrocities before returning to Belgium in 2014. He had been in contact with Mehdi Nemmouche, a Franco-Algerian jihadi who shot four people dead at the Brussels Jewish museum in May that year.
- High Risk Profiles: Five of the eight Paris suspects had fought for Isis in Syria. Questions will be asked about why they were not monitored closely given the known risks that such a profile entails. (Current academic research suggests at least one in five returnees will attempt an act of political violence.) Most of the plotters had long been known to intelligence agencies as figures in European Islamist circles.
- Associations: Suicide bomber Omar Ismael Mostefai, 29, had a French police "S file" indicating his status as a potentially dangerous radical since 2010. The sheer number of such peripheral figures that European counterterror officials must track is daunting, but the Paris plot required eight of them to be in regular communication and to have trained together. Even if their profiles did not trigger intensive surveillance individually, their regular association should have done. Many will ask about the gaps in the system that prevented that.
- Rapid Radicalization: Often the speed of the shift in an individual's religious beliefs is an indication of its danger. At least two of those involved in the Paris plot changed their behaviour and lifestyle significantly in the months that preceded the attack. The Abdeslam brothers, Ibrahim and Salah, were drinkers and gamblers until a year ago, when they both suddenly stopped. Bilal Hadfi, the "baby-faced jihadi", also turned to hardline political Islam in the last year. In July, he wrote on his public Facebook account, which is littered with pictures of automatic weapons: "Hit the pigs in their communities so they no longer feel safe even in their dreams." He had already traveled and returned from Syria. His social media output alone should have flagged him to Belgian authorities.
- Molenbeek Warning Signs: The Brussels district has become notorious as a hub of jihadism in the heart of Europe. It has been linked to four terror attacks that were not picked up by intelligence agencies in the past 18 months alone. Nemmouche, who took part in the Brussels shootings of May 2014, and Amedy Coulibaly, the third attacker in the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, acquired their weapons in Molenbeek. Ayoub el-Khazzani, 26, the Moroccan-born Spaniard who came within a whisker of committing mass murder aboard a train in August this year, was a regular worshipper at an unofficial, radical mosque in the district.
- Turkish Connection: According to Turkish government officials, Ankara warned France three times about the risks posed by the Bataclan bomber Mostefai, who was known to French authorities as a radical. In October 2014, the Turks said he was a "terror suspect" after linking him to Isis attack planning cells in Syria. In December last year they sent another warning about him to the French. In June this year they reiterated it. The French did not request additional details from the Turks until after the attack.
- Passport Issues: The identity of the third Stade de France suicide bomber remains a mystery. A Syrian passport in the name of Ahmad al Mohammad that was found near his remains is almost certainly a fake. Most likely he was known to authorities as a foreign fighter with Isis in Syria and had used the false documentation to sneak back into France. Sami Amimour, the gunman at the Bataclan, was a wanted suspect in France. He had been under judicial supervision since 2012 after he tried to travel to Yemen to fight with al-Qaeda. An international arrest warrant was issued in 2013 after he absconded and went to fight for Isis in Syria. Somehow, however, Amimour returned to Paris — according to friends several weeks ago — without raising concerns among security officials.
- German Arms Cache: On November 5, a week before the attack, a 51-year-old Montenegrin man was stopped in his car in a routine check by police in Bavaria. His vehicle was laden with grenades, automatic weapons, dynamite and ammunition. His GPS was set for an address in Paris. German and French authorities are investigating a potential link to the Paris cell, but regardless of what they can establish, the discovery of such a large consignment and information about the likely destination should have been a cause for heightened concern.
- Sourcing Explosives: Making large quantities of explosives is not an easy task. It is yet to be determined exactly what the attackers used to manufacture the suicide belts they used at the Bataclan and Stade de France. However, it is likely that they contained TATP, a highly unstable peroxide-based explosive used in the second, abortive London Tube bombing attempt in 2005, or a nitrogen-based compound. In some countries there are safeguards in place that stop sufficient quantities of key chemicals being sold at any one time, or that require shops to report purchases to security authorities. Where the attackers sourced their chemicals and why the sales were not flagged up will be a key question for authorities to answer.
Mish Questions Regarding Nine Failures- Mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud: Why wasn't Abaaoud arrested in 2014 when he returned to Belgium? Why isn't going to Syria and taking part in ISIS atrocities a war crime in and of itself?
- High Risk Profiles: Why wasn't a group of known radicals monitored more closely?
- Associations: Same question as above: Why wasn't a group of known radicals monitored more closely?
- Rapid Radicalization: Why isn't inciting terrorism a crime in and of itself? Is it OK to post pictures of automatic weapons on Facebook with the message "Hit the pigs in their communities so they no longer feel safe even in their dreams"?
- Molenbeek Warning Signs: What the hell are intelligence agencies doing if they miss four terrorist attacks all hatched in the same district?
- Turkish Connection: What possible excuse can there be to not heed direct warnings regarding a known terrorist? This person should not have been allowed in the EU at all.
- Passport Issues: Why cannot the EU detect fake passports? Why is the EU letting in economic refugees in the first place? ZeroHedge commented on the "the idiocy of anyone actually believing a suicide bomber would have brought their actual passport to what they knew would be their last act on earth". For details, please see ISIS Claims "Only Beginning of Storm"; Poland Backs Out of Refugee Agreement. I suggest ZH blew it and the fake passport was left on purpose, precisely to show terrorists entered the EU on such passports. Indeed, Fingerprints Confirm this Terrorist Entered via Greece in October, likely on a fake passport. The pictures match.
- German Arms Cache: A vehicle bound for France, from Germany, laden with grenades, automatic weapons, dynamite and ammunition, was not properly followed up on. Why?
- Sourcing Explosives: The munitions have not been traced back to the source so it is not yet known if there is a failure to report. But why aren't safeguards the same throughout the EU?
This was an all-around pathetic effort in the face of actual ISIS threats to carry out such attacks. Mike "Mish" Shedlock |
| Industrial Production Unexpectedly Declines Again: Don't Worry, It's the Weather and Mining Posted: 17 Nov 2015 09:58 AM PST Econoday labels the unexpected 0.2% decline in Industrial Production deceptive. The consensus estimate was for a 0.1% gain. But subtract out the decline utilities blamed on weather that was "too good" and mining which no one cares about and there is reason to cheer. In a deceptive headline, industrial production fell 0.2 percent in October but weakness is in utilities and mining. Boosted by construction supplies, manufacturing, which is the core component in this report, rose a very solid and higher-than-expected 0.4 percent to end two prior months of decline.
Construction supplies jumped 1.7 percent in the month in a reminder of how strong construction spending is right now. Motor vehicle production, a center of strength all year for the manufacturing sector, jumped 0.7 percent with the year-on-year rate in the double-digits at plus 10.9 percent. High-tech industries, where production has been flat all year, also rose 0.7 percent in the month. Spending this year on capital goods, held down by weak foreign demand, has also been flat, though production of business equipment did rise a respectable 0.2 percent in the month. Production of consumer goods slipped 0.1 percent though the year-on-year rate is a respectable plus 3.5 percent.
Utility output, reflecting the nation's unseasonably warm weather, was really down October, falling 2.5 percent. Year-on-year output is down 1.5 percent. Mining output, the report's third main component after manufacturing and utilities, fell 1.5 percent. This component, down a year-on-year 6.9 percent, has been getting hit by weak commodity prices.
Turning to capacity readings, total utilization came in at 77.5 percent which is unchanged from September's initial reading but down 2 tenths from September's revised reading. Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector rose 2 tenths to 76.4 percent.
It's not been easy to find good news out of the manufacturing sector which makes this report a standout of sorts. Gains in production, however, would have to extend through year-end to turnaround what has been a weak, export-hit year for the manufacturing sector.
Recent History Of This Indicator
Industrial production has been on a two-month decline but is expected to edge 0.1 percent higher in October. The manufacturing component, which has contracted in four of the last five reports, is expected to rise 0.3 percent in line with a gain in manufacturing hours. Vehicle production has been showing the most strength in this report, offsetting weakness in business equipment and underscoring that demand right now is domestically based. An Otherwise Excellent Report If you throw out consumer spending, utilities, mining, total utilization, downward revisions to total utilization, and pray consumer auto buying holds up, this was an excellent report. Mike "Mish" Shedlock |
| Putin: Hottest Ticket in Town at G20; Road to Peace Runs Through Moscow Posted: 17 Nov 2015 12:49 AM PST Hottest Ticket in Town Low and behold, the much despised Vladimir Putin is suddenly the hottest ticket in town at the G20 summit.  Please consider Putin Transformed from Outcast to Problem Solver at G20. Vladimir Putin left last year's G20 meeting in Brisbane early in a huff, tired of being chided by world leaders over Ukraine. Twelve months on, an audience with the Russian president was one of the hottest tickets in town, as western leaders were forced to recognise the road to peace in Syria inevitably runs through Moscow.
Few at the annual summit of world leaders have seen such a transformation in their fortunes, or appeared to enjoy it as much, as Mr Putin moved from a scolded diplomatic outcast to a self-styled problem-solver the west cannot ignore.
Whether it was shifting air strikes to target Isis rather than Syrian rebels, or backing a political settlement in Ukraine and offering a debt restructuring deal, Mr Putin felt he held all the cards as the west came to him for answers.
While progress this weekend in the Vienna peace talks on Syria has exceeded expectations, it will now enters a fraught period involving shepherding and bringing order to the ranks of more "moderate" rebels in Syria, who would partake in a transition process and unity government.
Until there is official consensus on that, Mr Putin can continue doing what he has been doing: bombing the rebels and at the same time trying to engage and pressure them into talks with Mr Assad. Washington and Moscow may agree on the strategy, said Yuri Ushakov, Mr Putin's foreign policy aide, but on "tactics" they are still far apart.
The depth of mistrust still to overcome with the US was captured by Mr Putin himself. "It is difficult to criticise us when they tell us: 'You are not hitting [Isis]', and we say: Tell us where, name targets', but they don't," the Russian leader said.
He added: "Curiously enough, there are reasons and principles for that. And one of them is ... that they fear to give us territories which they don't want us to hit, as they fear that we will then strike just there." France Rethinks PutinThe Financial Times reports France's François Hollande Urged to Rethink Syria Strategy. François Hollande vowed to "crush" Isis, the terrorist organisation that launched suicide attacks in Paris. But the war rhetoric has come under fire from critics at home, who question the French president's strategy in Syria.
On Monday, Mr Hollande said he would deploy France's aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, to the eastern Mediterranean later this week, trebling France's military capabilities in the region.
He called for a single coalition to fight Isis, which has won a swath of territories in Syria and Iraq. He hinted at a possible alliance with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who is providing military support to Bashar al Assad, the Syrian leader France has vowed to topple.
"The goal is not contain Daesh [Isis]," Mr Hollande said in an address to the lower and upper houses of parliament, in joint session at the Palace of Versailles. "It is to destroy it."
Yet, opposition leaders, intelligence and military experts are questioning the choices that guide France's intervention in Syria.
"Let's draw the lessons of past experiences: things have only worsened in 10 years, things are worse in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq," said Dominique de Villepin, former foreign minister, who opposed the US war in Iraq in 2003.
Opposition leaders are instead pushing Mr Hollande to revisit his tough stance towards Mr Assad, whom many in France believe is key to winning Russia's support in the fight against Isis.
Straight after a meeting with Mr Hollande on Sunday, former president Nicolas Sarkozy requested an "inflection" in France's foreign policy.
"We need everyone to help fight the Islamic State, notably the Russians," he said.
But other experts are sceptical.
"Assad is part of the problem, not the solution, and as the last few months have shown, he is barely capable of controlling his own territory," said Jonathan Eyal, international director at the military think-tank RUSI.
But three days after the worst terror attack on French soil, Mr Hollande hinted at a change of tack. The ultimate outcome of a political transition in Syria cannot be Assad, he said, but "our enemy in Syria is Daesh". The world appears to be slowly coming around to my point of view on Russia and Assad. It's too bad it took a brutal terrorist attack to cause that rethink. But it's not a done deal yet. Politicians have a knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory at the last moment. Mike "Mish" Shedlock |
| One Terrorist's Fingerprints Match Refugee Who Entered Greece in October Posted: 17 Nov 2015 12:19 AM PST German chancellor Angela Merkel and EU president Jean-Claude Juncker are two holdouts in the EU's open door policy. Merkel said she did not want to jump to conclusions in the wake of the Paris attacks. Tonight we can confirm there's no need to jump to conclusions. Fingerprints on one of the terrorists are from an alleged "refugee" entering Greece in October. These attacks fuel new questions about Europe's border-free travel. Friday night's attacks are now raising the possibility that the ease of movement that Schengen guarantees may have been used by the terrorists to wreak havoc.
French authorities working to identify the suicide bombers who blew themselves up outside the Stade de France have matched a fingerprint of one of the attackers to a man who entered the EU on the Greek island of Leros in October.
A passport found near his body bore the name of Ahmad Al Mohammad, and said he was a 25-year-old Syrian from the north-west town of Idlib, an area outside the control of Islamic State extremists near the Turkish border.
The suggestion that someone who entered the EU along with thousands of other refugees washing ashore on Greece's easternmost islands was able to move unhindered across national boundaries before assaulting the French capital has intensified the debate over whether Schengen can survive in its present form.
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who has been the bloc's leading elected critic of its handling of the migration influx, said European leaders had ignored the threat of terrorism and that violent extremists were using the refugee influx to "blend in" with migrants arriving on the continent.
"European and American security experts, spy chiefs and law enforcement officials repeatedly warned Europe of the increased risk of terrorism. Every politician and every European leader had knowledge of these risks," he told Hungarian legislators on Monday. "It's alarming to consider how many terrorists have crossed through our lands. It's time to put an end to this." OK Chancellor, what's your next half-baked solution? Mike "Mish" Shedlock |
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