@Walter Hinteler,
Walter Hinteler wrote:
In February of this year, Janne Kristiansen, the head of Norway's state police intelligence unit PST (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste), warned that neo-nazism and right wing extremism were on the rise in Norway, and that these people were ready to be violent.
And not that long ago here in the US Sec. Napolitano warned that soliders returning from Iraq and Afghanistan were ready to be violent.
Whatever the state of the ultra-right in Norway may be, from what I've seen and heard, "those people" didn't commit these heinous crimes, one lunatic, with ties to them, did.
Just as Timothy McVeigh didn't signal the arrival of an organized and ongoing terrorist threat from right-wing extremists, it's more than possible that the same can be said of this Norwegian madmen. We'll see of course.
As desperate as so many are to equate the threat of ultra right-wing terrorism with that of Islamist terrorism, it just doesn't wash.
On the basis of frequency alone, there is no comparison.
On the basis of geographic scope there is no comparison. Islamist attacks are happening throughout the world, while extreme right-wing attacks are occurring only in the nations in which their lunatic perpetrators live.
I've seen no evidence of any ultra-right terrorist attack being supported by a organized group ( this one could of course be the exception), and there is zero evidence that any of these attacks have been supported by like minded individuals or groups in other countries.
Not so with Islamist terrorist attacks.
These were horrendous acts of violence by an evil man,and should unequivocally be condemned, but it is wishful thinking of ideologues that they signal that the world has as much to fear from ultra-right madmen as it does from a highly organized terrorist network predicated upon a corruption of one of the world's great religions.
Anyone who believes the crimes of Islamist terrorists condemn all Muslims is a bigoted fool, just as anyone who believes the crimes of ultra-right terrorists condemn everyone on the right.
And yet, it seems to me that while we can all probably agree that the folks who equate Islamist terrorism with the orthodox practices
of Islam are ignorant fools, I'm pretty sure I will get quite a lot of push back when I assert the same can be said of those who link ultra-right terrorism to orthodox right wing beliefs.
