Sporting superstars now in crosshairs of Islamic extremists
Football games and/or teams becoming targets of Islamic terror is nothing new.
One recalls the 2015 Paris bomb attack around the stadium where a France-Germany game was being played. Now, those who perpetrated the attack against the Borussia Dortmund football team’s bus are so far only suspected of being “ISIS sympathisers”, but the telltale signs are all there, including an alleged letter threatening this very type of attack against footballers (and indeed other celebrities) who live in “Crusader” countries, such as Germany.
Flashbacks: Stockholm truck attack, London Westminster attack, Paris attacks, Brussels airport attack. The list now reads like a map of modern Europe, which is probably the way the masterminds of this assault on Western civilisation and values want it. They want to instil fear and panic in the peace-loving nations of the world, and the human cost means nothing to those who worship death as part of their twisted faith. Preferably not their own, of course, although suicide attacks are also not unheard of.
While special care must be taken to avoid unfair labelling, the West must respond forcefully to this barbarism, and must do so not a moment too soon. Thailand’s territory (outside the restive South at least) has so far been spared this scourge of our time, with the notable exception of the Erawan Shrine outrage. Let us hope that this country will continue to be peaceful.
Andy Leitner
Roi-Et
