Islamic terrorism could Greece be next?

By Tassos Symeonides
Academic Advisor 
RIEAS

In October 2016, the Greek National Police circulated a “pocket guide,” addressed to “front line professionals,” on how to address radicalization and extremism. The 17-page booklet is similar to publications already in circulation in other European countries.
Its ostensible purpose is to offer guidance to the so-called “front line professionals,” a portmanteau category that describes every conceivable person who, by the nature of his job, may be in a position to observe behavioral signs of radicalization and violent tendencies displayed by suspect subjects.

For reasons that are too complex to analyze here Greece has always nurtured the impression she is relatively safe from international terrorism. This sense of (false) security has continued into the era of Islamic terrorism after 9/11 despite growing signs we have entered “a bright new world” in which trans-border “militants” travel easily and carry out attacks everywhere with relative ease. 

In the wake of the Twin Towers, Greek media was awash in “analyses” pointing to the purported reasons Greece would avoid the worst.[i] The mass illegal Moslem crossings from Turkey in the summer/fall of 2015, however, shattered many illusions, especially when it became obvious that the illegal wave was a conduit for jihadists to reach Europe. The incumbent Greek government, despite its own ideological straight jacketing, was thus forced to reluctantly recognize that an Islamic threat against domestic peace and security exists and that measures should be applied to face the possibility of a mass casualty attack.

While it would be difficult to pinpoint what exactly present Greek “anti-terrorist” policy proposes as defense against jihadist mayhem, it is generally recognized (but not publicly stated) that the influx of illegal Moslem immigrants, dating as far back as the late 1990s, poses a primary and growing threat against Greek security. An early sign of how expanding Moslem presence in Athens, for example, could lead to dangerous escalation has been the persistent demands for building a mosque in the Greek capital--and implied threats of terrorism if the Greek government would not deliver promptly. An outside recognition of the Greece’s jihadist conundrum came as late as this past summer when Europol announced it was deploying 200 counterterrorism officers to the Greek islands hoping to stem Islamic terrorist infiltration.

Against this background, publishing the “pocket guide” for “front line professionals” may not be as uninteresting a detail as many would no doubt think. Greek security routines rarely include anything that might be construed by leftist “humanists,” “progressives,” and “activists” as a “threatening” gesture toward “victim” communities, among which illegal Moslem immigrants form a major part. In this spirit, the “pocket guide” could become yet another flashpoint of political friction between the authorities and the “activists,” who must be already seeing this booklet’s clear “hostile” intention toward the “vulnerable” and the “unprotected.”

Greece possesses a vocal constituency of such radical “humanitarians” who go to extremes to protect illegal immigrants and other “threatened” foreign “visitors.” This community exerts a powerful political deterrent upon any initiative to make law enforcement more results-oriented by implementing prevention and response tactics. Against this backdrop, the publication and distribution of this guide could be an opportunity for yet another righteous backlash from the “humanists,” who would no doubt accuse the authorities of “McCarthyism” and of inviting unsubstantiated accusations against innocent individuals perceived unjustly as would-be radicals.

In the event, Greek media gave publicity to the circulation of the “little blue book” to some 2,000 police and other “front line professionals.” These news stories focused on the content of the guide. There was little reflection on the objectives of the gesture or its timing.

It would be too optimistic to associate this publication with a sea change in Greek antiterrorist and security policy. Harsh realities and disastrous events have failed to cause such a sea change in the past and the “little blue book” is too little to be the precursor of fundamental change. But even those notoriously reluctant to recognize Islamic terrorism as a “priority threat” to Greece should have second, if private, thoughts about realities “on the ground:”

1.      Tragic events of the past several years elsewhere in Europe have established beyond doubt the relationship between resident Moslem communities and developing the milieu for Islamic terrorists.

2.      Countries like the UK, France, and Germany have discovered/discover that many of “their” Moslems are anything but theirs and harboring plenty of hostile-killing attitudes toward the infidel and his bankrupt and sinful society in which they grew up and live and now want to change toward the caliphate.

3.      “Anti-radicalization” and “de-radicalization” methods appear so far to have limited impact on the jihadist crisis, yet they persist for lack of a better proposition and/or political will to move away from “soft” and “community friendly” responses to adopt active preventive measures which won’t be deflected by accusations of “demonizing” whole communities in search of culprits.[ii]

           

Greece is strategically destroyed by the debt crisis and the creditors onslaught. Athens has been reduced to a beggar’s incessant to-and-fro to secure the trickle of cash that keeps Greece’s head just above water. Imminent economic death is a powerful incentive to overlook many critical areas of government business, the rhythm and content of which are dictated by Greece’s “partners” who demand complete and unquestionable compliance by the victims at the snap of a finger.

Counterterrorism, never a strong Greek suit anyway, but now an issue of the utmost severity, will suffer under these circumstances. The presence inside Greece of a solid body of Moslem uninvited “guests,” hovering as they are on the limits of despair, is the perfect invitation for “radicalized” trouble. And one further serious complicating factor, which will keenly affect anything that Greece attempts to do to defend against Islamic barbarity, is the continuing European adherence to political correctness despite the Islamic outrages dealt upon several “central” European powers. As one recent analysis put it:

Being able to say “Islamic extremism” or “radical Islam” or “jihad” without fear of backlash is what it will take to get America [and the West] on the same page. Being on the same page means recognizing that Islam birthed this “radical” interpretation of faith more than 1,400 years ago, and stands today as the ultimate threat to a free world—greater than any threat posed by a fleeting moment in time that gave rise to Adolf Hitler. We didn’t hesitate to call a thing by its name 70 years ago, and we cannot hesitate now. As a society, this is going to require a hard psychological reset that wipes out political correctness. A crippling PC culture devastates a civilization’s ability to move forward. If we’re going to move forward in this war on terror, then we also need to fall into ranks and recognize we’re dealing with more than just terror [emphases added].

History, geography, and regional security combine to bring Greece to an untenable position at this current dangerous stage. It will take a lot more than a pocket guide to prepare for any dreaded eventuality and, also, for what it will become imperative after an “event” takes place.

Would Greece come to her senses and react as she should? Or would she choose, again, the incomprehensible path of “humanism,” “international solidarity,” and open borders? In the former case, the situation might be barely salvaged. In the latter, Greece’s future as an open ground dangerously resembling the “paradigm” of neighboring Proche-Orient basket case countries is almost guaranteed.

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[i]Prominent among them was the myth of bulletproof “Greek-Arab friendship” as the definitive shield against Islamic terrorism. The myth persists to this day, although somewhat modified to separate “mainstream peaceful” Islam from “radical” Islam.
[ii]Anti-radicalization schemes are rich in theorizing and often short on aggressive “actionable” measures “on the ground” that can prevent incidents; see, for example, this. Years of struggling to discover “human-rights compliant” strategies against terrorism in general have not had any significant impact supported by results--but they have been notably successful in populating the universe with shiploads of studies and reports like this.

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[1]See, for example, “Preventing Radicalisation to Terrorism and Violent Extremism:
Strengthening the EU's Response.” See also the CoPPRa initiative co-funded by the EU and the Belgian Federal Police.
[2]Prominent among them was the myth of bulletproof “Greek-Arab friendship” as the definitive shield against Islamic terrorism. The myth persists to this day, although somewhat modified to separate “mainstream peaceful” Islam from “radical” Islam. 

[3]Anti-radicalization schemes are rich in theorizing and often short on aggressive “actionable” measures “on the ground” that can prevent incidents; see, for example, this. Years of struggling to discover “human-rights compliant” strategies against terrorism in general have not had any significant impact supported by results--but they have been notably successful in populating the universe with shiploads of studies and reports like this.

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