Religion strikes again

It's not officially determined who was responsible for the apparent suicide bombings at Zaventem airport and the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels today, but there's not really any serious question about it.  This was the work of Islamists acting on a deep belief -- and remember, we're always told that we must "respect" religious beliefs no matter how insane -- that God would welcome them into Heaven if they slaughtered a bunch of random people to express outrage or take revenge about something or other that those random people had nothing to do with.  It has happened before and will happen again, an ongoing plague afflicting civilization.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

First, in Iraq and Syria, events like this -- or other forms of religious violence similar in motive if not in execution -- happen often enough that they barely make the news in the West.  In fact, an organized gang of murderous thugs very similar in mentality to those who attacked Brussels (and previously Paris, Beirut, the Russian airliner over Sinai, etc., etc., etc.) is trying to take over both of those countries and has seized control of large parts of them.  Is it any wonder that millions of people are fleeing those countries?  What would you do if you were in their position?

Second, we must be prepared for some even bigger and nastier attack, specifically targeting Americans, as our November election approaches.  A Trump (or other Republican) Presidency would be the greatest recruiting tool the jihadists could dream of, and they are perfectly capable of plotting to panic and stampede American voters into bringing it into existence.  Within hours we will hear Trump and other wingnuts calling, not for the kind of targeted retaliation against jihadist leaders and resources that we and our local allies have already been carrying out for months, but for "bombing the hell out of" vaguely-defined things, less intelligent strategy than emotional catharsis.  In other words, kill another bunch of random people who have nothing to do with the terrorist threat, presumably once again with God's blessing.  Americans like to think that we shape events in the Middle East, but in this case it's the jihadists who are attempting to manipulate Western thinking and behavior toward the result they want -- the full adoption here of the idiotic "clash of civilizations" world-view that they themselves already embrace.

[Image at top:  Blown-up metro train, Maelbeck station]