Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

BERLIN, June 18 (Reuters) - Battle-hardened jihadists returning from Syria's civil war are no longer an 'abstract threat' but a 'deadly danger' to Europe, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday. An estimated 2,000 Europeans, including some 320 German citizens, have travelled to Syria to fight alongside Islamist rebels, he said while presenting the German domestic intelligence service's (BfV) annual report. European governments are struggling to stop their nationals, some just teenagers, travelling to Syria where the conflict that began as a peaceful uprising to President Bashar al-Assad has become an armed rebellion is entering its fourth year. More than 160,000 people have been killed. The trip to Syria is often as simple as a low-cost flight to Turkey then passage over the border with a trafficker. "We had feared that those returning from the Syrian conflict might plan attacks here. We now know those fears were well founded. An abstract danger.... has turned into a concrete, deadly danger in Europe," de Maiziere said. British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday that British and other European Islamists fighting in the Middle East posed the biggest threat to Britain's security. ID:nEA6h00K7U BfV chief Hans-Georg Maassen said authorities had narrowly averted an Islamist attack in Bonn just before Christmas which would have harmed many people, and Germany remained a target. The French citizen suspected of killing four people at a shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last month spent time fighting in Syria and passed through Frankfurt airport, he said. Germany has introduced anti-radicalisation programmes and hotlines for families worried their children might be planning to leave for Syria, but young people are still radicalising fast and often beyond the radar of intelligence services, he said. The BfV report estimates there are some 43,000 Islamists in Germany, with the numbers of the ultra-conservative Salafi movement growing. Maassen said the Internet played an important role in this recruitment process, evolving from a forum where extremists distributed information to a place where young jihadists were giving regular updates of their experiences via social media. "Euphoric young people are sharing on the Internet what they are experiencing hour by hour," added the German security chief. "They are posting gruesome pictures of executions, of severed heads... it is staggering to see the numbers of 'likes' and links, and it shows there is a group in Germany which is ready to be radicalised and to travel to Syria," he said.

Did those UK individuals who went to Spanish Civil War in 1936 to fight for Franco, or the Republicans, cause much of a problem when they returned to the UK?

Is condemning or preventing individuals going to Syria Iraq etc. more likely to stimulate some to cause problems, if or when they return to the UK.

It would seem the present UK government doesn't know what to do about Syria, Iraq or the M/E in general and is strutting around or sitting on its hands and spouting gibberish.

totally different world now fred

Yes,

But what I think I am seeing is a constant attempts to increase the "anxiety" or "fear" levels of the general populations.

This appears to be deliberately alienating one group against another. The groups not actually being able to define the other groups, but "know" that it is "them"!

It is the manipulation of fear to cause fragmentation of society in an attempt to control it.

I am not dismissing that there are problems and preparation for problems have to be considered and prepared for.

When Bush made the speech about "TERRORISM" I can remember thinking it was a madness, which was immediately seized upon by Blair, who in my mind of detached from reality in order to justify his narcissism.

It played into the hands of some fundamentalist or fanatics.

Cameron is playing the same cards.

I think it is a weak man trying to look strong and it is dangerous and encouraging actions of stupidity by some.

Good post Fred, couldn't agree more... Cameron and other EU leaders for that matter are driving the wedge between their own countrymen. Next week Cameron will be talking about multi-cultural Britain and the need to weed out the fascists he's bred this week... Anything to keep himself in the spot light and make himself look busy..

Divide and conquer.. The "Con" Party/Governments have and are famous for those cynical tactics over the decades.

This gov could make a start by staying well away from the middle east and it's problems.

As for the "british" so called fighters, lets them leave, but make sure they don't come back.

the threat of terrorism is very real as is the growth of fundamentalism across the world, never mind just uk

would you rather just a shrug of the shoulders and "hey ho! let's worry about the mess as and when something actually happens"?

shall we just keep our borders wide open and allow any old bunch in?

perhaps you think we should abandon security checks at airports too

i'm frightfully sorry if increased preventative measures upset your bleeding heart and political ideals, but frankly, i'm delighted if security at the airport or wherever takes that much longer

=============

in a nutshell, i'm appalled that you (and Stan and Shortie) see fit to try to make political capital from such an issue

Manuel,

They let your lot in!

That was a real mistake!

Read my post again and try thinking!

I know it will hurt you and then stop copying your hero Captain Marvel!

i did read your post, thought it disgraceful in content and innuendo and commented accordingly and am happy to stand by it

by the way, "my lot" pre/post/during the last war had to have financial guarantees before entry was allowed ...... assuredly no soft, open-armed asylum refuge then

The spread of ISIS is partly due a lack of action by the West in Syria. The UK and US did too much navel gazing and did nothing as the rebels became more extreme. One of the biggest culprits was Ed Miliband for stopping the attack on chemical weapons. That was a key turning point in the conflict. We could have destroyed a lot of Assad's military infrastructure and save thousands of lives. That Aline is enough to rule Miliband out of leadership.

It was a mistake letting "types" like you in!

That must have been when the rot started!

I would have blocked you when you returned from Munich.

This country is too good for you!

Did they expel you from there!

I know what you are!

Signed,

Wavy Davy and Nigel.

that's crap as well hays

try shi'ite minority treating sunnis like so much garbage .... bit like the Israeli gov't and the palestinian arabs

42644 - is that meant to be an ironic contribution? ..... even if it is, it just very stupid

Manuel,

I was trying to get down to your level!

oh how enormously droll you are
your family must roll around with sides splitting at your clever wit, let alone being in awe of your wisdom

Newsnight is an absolute 'must' tonight.

Jeremy Paxman is to leave Newsnight tonight after 25 years in the show

Here's some famous bits (8 of them actually) that made 'Paxo's' blood boil:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10801273/8-things-guaranteed-to-make-Paxman-furious.html

Eat your fruit and vegetable peelings. You know it makes sense. Apparently.....????

Don't bin your banana skins. Turn them into a tasty pudding. Here are a few recipes

Now come on come on come on come on lads, lets keep the personal swipes down today dont forget in just 8 hours the destiny of our great country is on the line against Uruguay at the World Cup.

Unite unite and rejoice rejoice as Maggie one said.............................................puke.

And you cynic............shut up.