08-17-2017, 10:30 PM
*** 18-Aug-17 World View -- Barcelona attackers apparently had multiple coordinated attacks planned
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Barcelona attackers apparently had multiple coordinated attacks planned
****
![[Image: g170817b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g170817b.jpg)
People walk down a main street on Thursday in Barcelona, where a van mounted the sidewalk and ploughed into people. (AP)
Thirteen people died and over 100 were injured in a terror attack on
Thursday at 5:30 pm, when a van ploughed into crowds strolling down
the street in Barcelona's famous Las Ramblas area, a top tourist
destination.
The driver fled on foot after the attack and has not been found. Two
passengers in the van have been arrested, one who was born in Morocco,
and one who was born in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in north
Africa.
Authorities believe that the Barcelona attack is linked to an
explosion hours earlier in Alcanar, about 125 miles south of
Barcelona. The house was apparently a bomb-making factory, filled
with bottles of propane and butane. The explosion completely
destroyed the house, killing one person and leaving seven more with
injuries.
Another terror attack, in Cambrils, a coastal town south of Barcelona,
was thwarted by police early Friday, when four alleged attackers were
killed and another was seriously injured. The fact that all in all
there were three attack sites indicates that this was bigger than a
lone wolf attack, and was considerably more complex.
Motor vehicles are being increasingly used as weapons of terror,
because they're easy to use, require no training, and are impossible
to detect in advance by authorities. The most recent motor vehicle
attack occurred on Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, by neo-Nazi
James Alex Fields Jr., who drove his car into a crowd of protesters,
killing one an injuring 19 others.
In the last three years, deadly car-ramming jihadist attacks have
occurred in several European cities, including Paris, London,
Stockholm, Berlin, Nice France, and Nantes France. It's feared that
the number of these attacks is going to increase. AP and BBC and CBS News
Related: Nice France terror attack provokes desperate search for solutions (16-Jul-2016)
****
**** ISIS takes credit for the Barcelona attack
****
The so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) immediately
took credit for the Barcelona attack through its Amaq public relations
agency:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"The perpetrators of the Barcelona attack are soldiers
> of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to
> calls for targeting coalition states."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
ISIS has a policy of simply taking credit for any terrorist act, even
when it had nothing to do with it, and there's no reason to believe
that ISIS did anything to support or direct the Barcelona attack.
However, ISIS has been using its online sites to encourage lone wolf
attacks by individuals against the own home countries, especially the
"coalition states" mentioned in the Amaq message. These are countries
in the US-led coalition attacking ISIS in Syria.
ISIS is under attack in both Iraq and Syria, and has been almost
completely expelled from Mosul in Iraq, and will soon be expelled from
Raqqa in Syria. As they've been losing ground, they've changed their
online strategy. They used to post videos encouraging young jihadists
from around the world to come to Syria and join ISIS, but that message
is no longer viable. Now their online videos are almost exclusively
targeted at encouraging young jihadists to attack their home
countries, with a car attack advocated as one of the best terror
techniques, because it's easy to do, requires no training, and is
almost impossible to detect in advance by authorities. Business Insider and BBC and AP
Related: Iraqi forces are just 'tens of meters' away from retaking Mosul from ISIS (09-Jul-2017)
Related: Final push to expel ISIS from Raqqa, Syria, to begin in June (16-May-2017)
****
**** White House officials appear to differ on North Korea military option
****
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, it's been clear for
some time that North Korea is not going to stop nuclear and ballistic
missile development until they have a nuclear ballistic missile
capable of reaching the United States mainland. North Korea's child
dictator Kim Jong-un has repeatedly ignored sanctions and aid
proposals by the West, hoping to stop the development. But Kim is
thought to believe that once that point has been reached, his regime
will be safe from attack, since no one would want to risk nuclear
retaliation.
Many people have suggested that the US should launch a cruise missile
attack on North Korea to take out their nuclear and ballistic missile
development sites. Once again, from the point of view of Generational
Dynamics in this generational Crisis era, it's clear that Kim is
determined to forestall this option, and has done so with hundreds of
artillery batteries on the boundary with South Korea, within targeting
range of the South Korean capital city Seoul.
Full disclosure: As I've described in the past,
I've worked with Steve Bannon off and on for several
years in the past, both on his movie "Generation Zero" and when I was
cross-posting articles on the Breitbart National Security site, and I
know personally that he is an expert on military history and world
history, and also has an expert understanding of Generational Dynamics
and generational theory.
So it's significant that Bannon appears to agree with the Generational
Dynamics analysis of the situation. In an interview with American
Prospect magazine, Bannon said:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"There’s no military solution [to North Korea’s
> nuclear threats], forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the
> equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die
> in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know
> what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they
> got us."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
In a recent analysis on White House policy in Korea,
I quoted South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham,
who said that war with North Korea is "inevitable," and:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"If there’s going to be a war to stop him [Kim], it
> will be over there. If thousands die, they’re going to die over
> there. They’re not going to die here. And he [Trump] has told me
> that to my face."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
However, both Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson said Thursday that the U.S. still has the option of using
military force. According to Mattis:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"I can just assure that in close collaboration with
> our allies there are strong military consequences if [North Korea]
> initiates hostilities."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
And Tillerson said:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"Obviously, any diplomatic effort in any situation
> where you have this level of threat that we're confronted with, a
> threat of proportions that none of us like to contemplate, has to
> be backed by a strong military consequence if North Korea chooses
> wrongly."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
The statements by Mattis and Tillerson are presented by the media as
contradicting Bannon's position, but that's clearly not true. Mattis
and Tillerson are saying that if North Korea initiates hostilities,
then they will get a strong military response. Bannon is saying that
if North Korea does NOT initiate hostilities, but instead continues
development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, then it's
inevitable that they will develop a nuclear ballistic missile, and
then we will be more or less at their mercy. Those statements are not
contradictory.
And Graham's is not contradictory either. It says that, one way or
another, war with North Korea is "inevitable," and that an effort will
be made to confine the war to the Korean peninsula. That's a
worthwhile objective, but it's totally delusional to believe that it
could succeed in a generational Crisis era. American Prospect and Washington Examiner
Related: Rex Tillerson warns China is risking 'open conflict' with the United States (03-Aug-2017)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Barcelona, Spain, Alcanar, Melilla, Morocco,
Cambrils, Charlottesville, James Alex Fields Jr.,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh
Amaq, Mosul, Iraq, Raqqa, Syria,
North Korea, Steve Bannon, Lindsey Graham,
Jim Mattis, Rex Tillerson
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Barcelona attackers apparently had multiple coordinated attacks planned
- ISIS takes credit for the Barcelona attack
- White House officials appear to differ on North Korea military option
****
**** Barcelona attackers apparently had multiple coordinated attacks planned
****
People walk down a main street on Thursday in Barcelona, where a van mounted the sidewalk and ploughed into people. (AP)
Thirteen people died and over 100 were injured in a terror attack on
Thursday at 5:30 pm, when a van ploughed into crowds strolling down
the street in Barcelona's famous Las Ramblas area, a top tourist
destination.
The driver fled on foot after the attack and has not been found. Two
passengers in the van have been arrested, one who was born in Morocco,
and one who was born in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in north
Africa.
Authorities believe that the Barcelona attack is linked to an
explosion hours earlier in Alcanar, about 125 miles south of
Barcelona. The house was apparently a bomb-making factory, filled
with bottles of propane and butane. The explosion completely
destroyed the house, killing one person and leaving seven more with
injuries.
Another terror attack, in Cambrils, a coastal town south of Barcelona,
was thwarted by police early Friday, when four alleged attackers were
killed and another was seriously injured. The fact that all in all
there were three attack sites indicates that this was bigger than a
lone wolf attack, and was considerably more complex.
Motor vehicles are being increasingly used as weapons of terror,
because they're easy to use, require no training, and are impossible
to detect in advance by authorities. The most recent motor vehicle
attack occurred on Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, by neo-Nazi
James Alex Fields Jr., who drove his car into a crowd of protesters,
killing one an injuring 19 others.
In the last three years, deadly car-ramming jihadist attacks have
occurred in several European cities, including Paris, London,
Stockholm, Berlin, Nice France, and Nantes France. It's feared that
the number of these attacks is going to increase. AP and BBC and CBS News
Related: Nice France terror attack provokes desperate search for solutions (16-Jul-2016)
****
**** ISIS takes credit for the Barcelona attack
****
The so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) immediately
took credit for the Barcelona attack through its Amaq public relations
agency:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"The perpetrators of the Barcelona attack are soldiers
> of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to
> calls for targeting coalition states."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
ISIS has a policy of simply taking credit for any terrorist act, even
when it had nothing to do with it, and there's no reason to believe
that ISIS did anything to support or direct the Barcelona attack.
However, ISIS has been using its online sites to encourage lone wolf
attacks by individuals against the own home countries, especially the
"coalition states" mentioned in the Amaq message. These are countries
in the US-led coalition attacking ISIS in Syria.
ISIS is under attack in both Iraq and Syria, and has been almost
completely expelled from Mosul in Iraq, and will soon be expelled from
Raqqa in Syria. As they've been losing ground, they've changed their
online strategy. They used to post videos encouraging young jihadists
from around the world to come to Syria and join ISIS, but that message
is no longer viable. Now their online videos are almost exclusively
targeted at encouraging young jihadists to attack their home
countries, with a car attack advocated as one of the best terror
techniques, because it's easy to do, requires no training, and is
almost impossible to detect in advance by authorities. Business Insider and BBC and AP
Related: Iraqi forces are just 'tens of meters' away from retaking Mosul from ISIS (09-Jul-2017)
Related: Final push to expel ISIS from Raqqa, Syria, to begin in June (16-May-2017)
****
**** White House officials appear to differ on North Korea military option
****
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, it's been clear for
some time that North Korea is not going to stop nuclear and ballistic
missile development until they have a nuclear ballistic missile
capable of reaching the United States mainland. North Korea's child
dictator Kim Jong-un has repeatedly ignored sanctions and aid
proposals by the West, hoping to stop the development. But Kim is
thought to believe that once that point has been reached, his regime
will be safe from attack, since no one would want to risk nuclear
retaliation.
Many people have suggested that the US should launch a cruise missile
attack on North Korea to take out their nuclear and ballistic missile
development sites. Once again, from the point of view of Generational
Dynamics in this generational Crisis era, it's clear that Kim is
determined to forestall this option, and has done so with hundreds of
artillery batteries on the boundary with South Korea, within targeting
range of the South Korean capital city Seoul.
Full disclosure: As I've described in the past,
I've worked with Steve Bannon off and on for several
years in the past, both on his movie "Generation Zero" and when I was
cross-posting articles on the Breitbart National Security site, and I
know personally that he is an expert on military history and world
history, and also has an expert understanding of Generational Dynamics
and generational theory.
So it's significant that Bannon appears to agree with the Generational
Dynamics analysis of the situation. In an interview with American
Prospect magazine, Bannon said:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"There’s no military solution [to North Korea’s
> nuclear threats], forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the
> equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die
> in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know
> what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they
> got us."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
In a recent analysis on White House policy in Korea,
I quoted South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham,
who said that war with North Korea is "inevitable," and:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"If there’s going to be a war to stop him [Kim], it
> will be over there. If thousands die, they’re going to die over
> there. They’re not going to die here. And he [Trump] has told me
> that to my face."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
However, both Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson said Thursday that the U.S. still has the option of using
military force. According to Mattis:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"I can just assure that in close collaboration with
> our allies there are strong military consequences if [North Korea]
> initiates hostilities."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
And Tillerson said:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"Obviously, any diplomatic effort in any situation
> where you have this level of threat that we're confronted with, a
> threat of proportions that none of us like to contemplate, has to
> be backed by a strong military consequence if North Korea chooses
> wrongly."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
The statements by Mattis and Tillerson are presented by the media as
contradicting Bannon's position, but that's clearly not true. Mattis
and Tillerson are saying that if North Korea initiates hostilities,
then they will get a strong military response. Bannon is saying that
if North Korea does NOT initiate hostilities, but instead continues
development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, then it's
inevitable that they will develop a nuclear ballistic missile, and
then we will be more or less at their mercy. Those statements are not
contradictory.
And Graham's is not contradictory either. It says that, one way or
another, war with North Korea is "inevitable," and that an effort will
be made to confine the war to the Korean peninsula. That's a
worthwhile objective, but it's totally delusional to believe that it
could succeed in a generational Crisis era. American Prospect and Washington Examiner
Related: Rex Tillerson warns China is risking 'open conflict' with the United States (03-Aug-2017)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Barcelona, Spain, Alcanar, Melilla, Morocco,
Cambrils, Charlottesville, James Alex Fields Jr.,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh
Amaq, Mosul, Iraq, Raqqa, Syria,
North Korea, Steve Bannon, Lindsey Graham,
Jim Mattis, Rex Tillerson
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
