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A Tragedy in Reutlingen

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A 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a woman with a machete and injured two other people on Sunday before being arrested in the southern German city of Reutlingen, a police spokesman said. The asylum-seeking man had been involved in previous incidents causing injuries to other people, he said.

Obviously, only a very disturbed person would run around with a machete. Immigration is traumatic for absolutely everybody, and people who come from a war zone or a troubled society are doubly traumatized. They need serious psychological rehabilitation. 

28 responses to “A Tragedy in Reutlingen”

  1. Anon Avatar
    Anon

    This is not the only recent knife attack. In France a man knifed down a mother and her young daughters for the crime of dressing in a manner he found indecent. http://www.euronews.com/2016/07/19/family-of-four-seriously-injured-in-french-alps-knife-attack

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  2. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    This is especially the case for refugees.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Absolutely. 😔

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  3. xykademiqz Avatar
    xykademiqz

    What is the right course of action?

    When tragedy strikes, I understand the impetus of people to just put the newcomers in a ghetto and close their eyes shut and pretend the problems will go away. Obviously, that’s not a solution; segregation just makes the immigrants feel disenfranchised and more likely to cling to the most extreme version of what is familiar to them.

    As an immigrant myself, I am personally a proponent of assimilation, but that’s an unpopular stance among the liberals in the US because everyone shouts “multiculturalism,” which in practice means that everyone is okay with immigrants not getting opportunities because they don’t know the language or cultural norms and keeps to the ghetto. It reeks of imperialism.

    People need to feel accepted, at home, they need to have friends. For young people, assimilation (insisting they learn the language, go to school/vocational training) is both relatively easy and is a very good way to get them integrated.

    There are at least two great problems: making policy that treats immigrants as people who have brains, needs, and wants just like all other people; finding money that funds language and vocational training.

    In the meantime, what is the course of action to minimize these brutalities that just makes more and more people view refugees as animals?

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  4. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    I know you have a soft spot for the word “immigrant” but it’s a dead idea. It’s a nation state idea.

    Immigration is about joining a new (for the immigrant) society. Very, very, very few people do that now. It’s very non-fluid.

    My best guess is that the majority of Merkeljugend (who are not fleeing war) see themselves as settlers (establishing satellite communties and/or colonies of their own society) to the extent that they have conscience knowledge of what they’re doing. that will be the end result for sure. New little Damascuses, Kabuls and Rawalpindis scattered throughout the German cityscape – increasing crime rates and lowering property values as they grow.

    I’m pretty sure that this guy’s allegiances are to his family , religion and ethnic group/clan in roughly that order.

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  5. el Avatar
    el

    Tonight Germany, like Israel so many times before, had a suicide bombing (its first?). Him being mentally unstable does not contradict being an “Islamist” suicide bomber, as Bavarian Interior Minister thinks. It’s not like Israeli suicide bombers have always been 100% mentally stable and motivated solely by Palestinian patriotism.

    \ A Syrian man has killed himself and injured 12 others (three seriously) after setting off an explosive device outside a music festival in the German town of Ansbach.

    Authorities said the 27-year-old had been denied asylum a year ago and had a history of making attempts on his own life.

    It is believed a device he was carrying exploded although it is not clear whether it was a suicide bombing or whether the man intended to plant it and harm others. \

    Live updates:
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jul/25/ansbach-explosion-german-town-deliberate-blast-latest

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      This is all happening just a few days after the NY times published a long and preachy article about how there are no such acts of terror in Germany because Germans treat migrants right and don’t deserve being killed unlike the evil French.

      Of course, no retraction will be published.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ a long and preachy article about how there are no such acts of terror in Germany because Germans … don’t deserve being killed unlike the evil French

        A usual type of comment on Israeli sites under articles RE terror in Europe is:

        “Do they still think we deserve it? Will they understand us now, or do they still think we could do something magical, like agree to France’s latest offers RE peace process, and make terror disappear?”

        Btw, in the past, when there were attemps at peace process, the terror levels rose since terrorists tried thusly to prevent the deal they disagreed with.

        Trump is funny here:

        \ Trump was asked in an interview airing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to expand on his proposal to suspend immigration from what he calls countries “compromised by terrorism” until vetting mechanisms are in place.
        …
        “People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. Oh, you can’t use the word Muslim. Remember this. And I’m okay with that because I’m talking territory instead of Muslim,” he said.
        http://www.thelocal.de/20160724/french-could-face-more-screening-in-us-trump

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          The idea that we / you / they somehow provoked the terror attacks is a way to gain control over a scary reality. No, this magical thinking is never going away.

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  6. el Avatar
    el

    SB, if you’re reading, I want to ask – why is there such a rape epidemic in India? Have just read:

    Israeli woman allegedly gang-raped in Indian tourist town of Manali
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/25/israeli-woman-allegedly-gang-raped-in-indian-tourist-town-of-manali

    Is the society very patriarchal and reacts with rape to women “not staying in their place”? Has it always been like this, or increased when women gained more independence?

    As for the suicide bomber, the latest news is that 15 were injured (4 seriously). Germany seems to go in the Israeli direction with “bag checks were introduced for Sunday night’s festival” where the terrorist tried to go. In Israel, bag checks always are for every mall and festival.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Too many men, too little women, very conservative attitudes to sex.

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  7. el Avatar
    el

    \doubly traumatized. They need serious psychological rehabilitation.

    Who will pay for it and why? Germans planned to deport the bomber to another country, why would they want to invest resources into him?

    And immediately after writing the above, I ckecked updates and saw something I can’t understand:

    \De Maizière says the Ansbach attacker had been given refugee status in Bulgaria which is why his application in Germany was refused. A deportation order was suspended because of the suspect mental health problems.

    OK, if he has mental problems, isn’t it the best reason to deport asap? Why would somebody want to invest resources in somebody you will deport immediately afterwards?

    And why would somebody want have more unstable people around when :

    \ Rainer Wendt, of the main police trade union, said: “We’re experiencing these days that mental instability, terrorism and criminality are intermingled. It’s all the more important that we don’t just give shelter and care to people but ensure we know exactly who is coming into our country, and take a closer look whether they pose a possible threat.”

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Apparently, those who will keep dying in these attacks will pay for it. Women will pay, as usual. The law abiding immigrants.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ Apparently, those who will keep dying in these attacks will pay for it. Women will pay, as usual. The law abiding immigrants.

        I read this interesting post RE “Arab World Fails in Mental Health Care, Germany Chooses to Pay the Price” with figures and statistics, and in the comments there was a link to a post in German.

        I followed links and found a new argument why immigrant rapists should not be deported (Google translated it) – it’s because of the need to protect women from them … women from their countries of origin.

        Both this argument and your mention of “laws and regulations in Germany that protect the mental patients” made me wonder whether in the new world the difference between citizens and not citizens is being destroyed faster than I expected. A nation-state is not supposed to provide any (mental health) care to everybody who enters. If Bulgaria accepted him, couldn’t Germany inform it of the mental care needs of this person and send him anyway? If I entered Germany and began (pretending to) have mental problems, I am 100% sure of being sent to Israel in a flash. This man could be sent to Bulgaria in a similar fashion then.

        http://www.germanjoys.eu/2016/07/arab-world-is-inadequate-the-arab-world-is-taken-to-mean-the-22-members-of-the-arab-league-accounting-for-280-million-peo.html

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Or one could dismantle the welfare state, renounce democracy, maybe even start a civil war to become unattractive to immigrants. 🙂

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  8. el Avatar
    el

    Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, gave this detail about the Ansbach attacker’s asylum status (I notice the insanity of the German authorities who should’ve understood that an unstable man faced with deportation will become more unstable and dangerous to everybody. He should not have been permitted to walk freely after he knew of German final decision to deport him. Also, I wonder whether the supposed “lesson” Liberal Germans will learn is that not only should Germans be more welcoming, but that they must not think of deporting anybody, especially not potentially unstable people) :

    STATEMENT OF Thomas de Maizière –

    “The Ansbach perpetrator was a 27-year-old refugee from Syria who arrived in Germany two years ago. In August 2014 he requested asylum.

    “As part of the asylum procedure there were indications he had already been registered as a refugee in other European countries. An application had been registered in Bulgaria and Austria. We contacted the Bulgarian authorities who informed us that the perpetrator had been afforded refugee status. As a result, on 2 December 2014, the asylum application of the perpetrator was refused, and deportation to Bulgaria ordered. The court in Ansbach reaffirmed this decision.

    “Following that court ruling, medical certificates were submitted proving that the person in question suffered from psychological instability. As result the deportation order was suspended. On 13 July this year the deportation was again started, and deportation to Bulgaria was threatened and duly served.

    “The perpetrator is said to have twice attempted to commit suicide which is why he spent sometime in a psychiatric hospital.”

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Germans can’t just go ahead and deport a mentally ill fellow without bringing back the memory of the Nazi mistreatment of the mentally ill. There are laws and regulations in place in Germany that protect the mental patients. They can’t just go and suspend these laws out of the blue.

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  9. el Avatar
    el

    Two interesting news:

    FIRST ( His reasoning is kind of weird, or is it me? Btw, I am sure, given a few years, some attackers will be from last autumn’s refugees. )

    One of the most interesting points to take from interior minister Thomas de Maizière’s press conference was his defence of Angela Merkel’s refugee policy.

    He was asked whether the attacks were proof that Merkel’s refugee policy was wrong or showed her slogan “we can manage it” was too optimistic. He pointed out that none of the attackers so far named – Würzburg, Munich, Reutlingen or Ansbach – were among the refugees who arrived last autumn after Merkel’s declaration that Germany’s doors were open to those in need.

    Therefore her policy could not be held responsible, De Maizière said.

    SECOND ( Is the revenge for German decision to deport him? Seems like that. )

    Bavaria’s top security official says a video has been found on the Ansbach bomber’s phone showing him pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group.

    Joachim Herrmann says that according to an initial translation of the Arabic-language video the 27-year-old man announced a “revenge” attack against Germany.

    Herrmann told reporters Monday that the video strongly suggests the bombing was a “terrorist attack”.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Typical politician. He can’t attack Merkel, so he has to say these things.

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  10. el Avatar
    el

    Meanwhile, everybody in EU ignores Turkey:

    Thousands of Turkey coup prisoners ‘raped, starved and hogtied’

    Amnesty International says it has ‘credible evidence’ Turkish police are holding detainees, denying them food, water and medical treatment and in the worst cases some have been subjected to severe beatings and torture
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/thousands-turkey-coup-prisoners-raped-8485304

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Ukrainians are writing about it a lot, in FB, Twitter and blogs. At least, somebody cares.

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  11. el Avatar
    el

    Israeli news report:

    \ Police confirm a priest killed after two men armed with knives took several hostage in a church in France’s northern Normandy region; Police kill both assailants.
    …
    a source in the police who spoke to Reuters said that the attackers yelled “for ISIS” as they slit the priest’s throat.\

    I checked Reuters, but identities of the attackers are still unknown and they don’t mention ‘for ISIS’ cries, only saying “motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear”.

    \Another of the five hostages was seriously wounded, the spokesman for the interior ministry said

    \ France’s anti-terrorist prosecution unit said on Tuesday it had taken over the investigation

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      One doesn’t want to think this will now be a daily occurrence. 😞

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  12. el Avatar
    el

    A country can do much more to fight terror and remain democratic:

    The murdered priest had worked in the parish for 10 years. He should have retired at 75 but wanted to continue serving the church and community, local residents said.
    …
    Hollande described the incident as “an ignoble terrorist attack” by two supporters of Isis. The group, which claimed responsibility for the attack via its affiliated Amaq news agency, “has declared war on us”, Hollande said, adding that it was a war France would have to fight by remaining united.

    According to the French channel BFMTV, one of the two killers, as yet unnamed, lived in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray and had tried to travel to fight in Syria in 2015 but had been sent back by Turkish border authorities and jailed in France. He was released in March this year despite the protests of prosecutors, had an electronic tag that allowed authorities to monitor his movements, and was only allowed out of his house between 8.30am and 12.30pm.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/26/men-hostages-french-church-police-normandy-saint-etienne-du-rouvray

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  13. el Avatar
    el

    Munich gunman was far-right racist: media reports
    …
    David Sonboly, who was born to Iranian parents in Munich, was allegedly proud to be German and Iranian, which he considered to make him “Aryan,” people who knew him told investigators.

    According to Nazi ideology, Iran is the homeland of the Aryan “race.”

    Sonboly hated Turkish people and Arabs and nurtured a feeling of superiority towards them, the FAZ reports.
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160727/munich-gunman-was-far-right-racist-media-reports

    A suitcase, likely packed with aerosol cans, has blown up near a migrant centre on the outskirts of Nuremberg, causing no injuries, police confirm.
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160727/explosion-close-to-migrant-centre-in-nurmeberg

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  14. el Avatar
    el

    About women’s rights, justice system and Muslim Interpreters in Germany:
    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8391/germany-muslim-interpreters

    Funny:

    Prickly Bavarian calls out cops on hedgehogs’ noisy sex
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160729/hedgehogs-making-suspicious-sounds-stopped-by-police

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  15. el Avatar
    el

    France’s prime minister has said he would consider a temporary ban on the foreign financing of mosques, urging a “new model” for relations with Islam after a spate of jihadi attacks.
    …
    In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Valls said he was “open to the idea that – for a period yet to be determined – there should be no financing from abroad for the construction of mosques”.

    The prime minister also called for imams to be “trained in France, not elsewhere”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/29/french-pm-manuel-valls-considers-ban-on-foreign-funded-mosques

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      This is called grasping at straws.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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