Explosions at Brussels Airport and Metro

Felice and sympathies to the people of Brussels. It is so terrible having these attacks in the midst of heavily populated cities and any death or injury to innocent civilians in the name of idealism is IMO immoral.

I lived through the worst of the Troubles in N Ireland. Belfast was hit by bomb attacks day after day in 1971/2 and I experienced the fear and disorientation first hand so have some idea of what you are going through.

I understand Brussels is under highest alert, so why didn't security notice the two men with only a black glove on each of their left hand, which was supposedly to conceal detonators, and get picked up on camera, am wondering what highest alert actually means.

Reporters are suggesting that the Belgian security services haven't got their act properly together

The general public is always being warned to be vigilant so maybe if it had been common knowledge that wearing one glove signifies something dodgy is going on they would have been spotted and reported.

I wouldn't take any notice of one man wearing one glove. I'd think maybe he was covering up an injury but two men walking side by side?

I doubt anyone will be allowed to wear gloves in an airport now.

When I saw the CCTV footage of the three men I thought they looked dodgy especially the man in the white jacket and wearing a hat. The man on the extreme right looked over-padded in the chest region as if he had several layers of clothes on. It is known that bombers often wear several layers of clothing to protect their body so that they arrive in paradise intact for the waiting virgins.

this sums up the sadness So cruel.

Yes jbf, it does, but many manneken pis pictures I've seen today are showing more anger and irreverence for the bombers, using strong language. Yes, sadness still abounds, but I think things have moved into a new phase 24 hours on.

harrigan it seems to me that a belief system that talks about women as commodities like that is suspect to say the least

The trouble is that I can believe this was all going on under the noses of the security forces and that the one who was caught and wounded the other day was free to wander around past the police without anyone noticing. There should be no mosques built in European countries. They are just trouble.

Oh no. That's not right. It's a world religion. And it's not an evil one.

Body scanners at airport entrances, and even the entrance to underground stations and public places, would go some way to preventing these people getting into areas where they could reek havoc. Ok, it would cost millions and people would resent the delays it would cause, but we are talking people's lives here. Like jud I experienced something of this in Northern Ireland in 1972. It is terrifying to hear a bomb going off, even if you aren't, thank God, in close proximity to it. Five went off one after the other about quarter of a mile from where we were standing one evening and I still haven't forgotten the terrific noise of it and how utterly shocked we were. I can't imagine how awful it was for those directly affected by those explosions. And if these bombers are stupid enough to believe that several layers of clothing will prevent them from being blown into too many bits to be recoverable, it's beyond comprehension.

And the golden dome of a mosque set against a blue English sky, is a sight to behold. They do know how to build a church. (Which is more than you can say about some modern day Christian churches)

Well the mosgue they are building in our town is being re-fashioned out of an old warehouse. The renovation is being carried out on a basis of 'when they have time' and it is looking shoddy to say the least, a real eyesore. The mosque will have no parking facilities but that doesn't matter because it is next to Aldi and they have a nice car park.

It's the same with mosques as with people IMO . They may look pretty on the outside but the separating women as inferior ,the Sharia laws ,all that rubbish we've cleared out years ago is being brought back. I want to scream every time someone trots out it's a lovely religion or they're lovely people. Did you not hear the people on the streets of Paris in the Muslim strongholds shrugging and saying that they didn't blame them (the Charlie Hebdo murderers)really after all they insulted the Prophet..... I noticed they avoided asking the same sort of questions after the Bataclan episode.

I'm angry that we put up with this rubbish.

I shall pass your comments on to the family of my DDs' friend who was killed yesterday morning.
I am sure they will be happy to know that you feel the expessions of sympathy coming from around the world, make you angry and are,,,rubbish.

Synogogues are also segregated are you going to close them down too?

And how do you think turning against all Muslims in this country will help? I think that's a lot of the trouble with Brussels. They have allowed too many people, especially the Muslims, to become marginalised. When that happens the decent people turn against the 'host'.

A lot of our security intelligence in this country, comes from members of the Muslim community.

Extremists are never typical of the people they claim to represent. Many branches of religions segregate and separate women, not just Muslims. Many condemn and discriminate against people who are not of their faith. Religion as always has a lot to answer for.

Stansgran do you judge Christians/Christianity by the actions of say the Ku Klux Klan, Ian Paisley, or paedophile priests?

And what about the goings-on in some of the Pentecostal churches in London which seem to specialise in corrupt pastors, sham marriages, and voodoo. Not to mention the Christian Militias in Lebanon during the 1980s who were involved in many a massacre in that country's civil war.

Jings, Molenbeek is not a good example for Brussels, most of the city is very integrated, DGS class is about 25% Muslim, it is a Catholic school and the parents are very happy with that.

Like a lot of places Molenbeek has got out of control, there are places in the UK which have similar problems, where race relations are strained and there can be a lot of poverty.
The recent sex abuse scandals in England are just one example.
When a lot of people from a different culture congregrate in a particular area is is common to have problems.

It is a world wide problem, and the extremists are playing on the xenophobic nature of many people, and using religion as an excuse for their violence. I will not say mindless as these people are educated and articulate, why do you think so many of the spokesmen are Europeans.
They use the fear factor of hearing your own language to raise suspicion and fuel unrest.
For instance, the family next door, can they be trusted now.
The fear of refugees, how do we know who they really are, we do not, there are many here in Belguim. What do we do, punish little children just because there may be a bad apple in the barrel.

I can remember when the Irish were treated with the same suspicion.

I have no idea what the solution is, perhaps it is time for world leaders to put aside petty sqabbles and try to get it sorted out.

Yes. I appreciate not all of Brussels is like Molenbeek. But there are bridges to be built. Maybe some of the answer is local, as well as worldwide. I think, on the whole, we do try to get it right in this country.

Felice I do apologise. I was not referring to the cartoon as rubbish at all. I have pm'd an apology to you. I was referring back to my previous post that I think the Sharia laws etc are rubbish.
Riverwalk the people you list are not Christians are they?They are using Christianity as a cover for their nasty habits.

Every country tries to get it right,,, unfortunately most do not. I may not live in the UK but have family and friends who do and it certainly is not perfect.

There is racial, sexual and disabled discrimination everywhere. Even fattist discrimination if that is a word.

My DBFs' partner is black, not an insult, and they get homophobic and racial discrimination on a regular almost daily basis, they live in the UK.

It is peoples mindset which needs to change, and with the likes of Trump around that is not going to happen I think.

The temptation to demonise the Muslim faith and its followers should, I feel, be avoided. This is exactly what these terrorists want - to cause a backlash against Muslims in general and make them feel even more disliked by, and apart from, the rest of the population.

In my opinion, punishing whole communities in the belief that each member of that community is in some way responsible for all the violence and economic and social ills of a country will only make the situation worse - as has been proved throughout history.