German Government Covering Up Islamist Attack?

by Robert Williams • January 5, 2025 at 5:00 am

"He [Christmas market attacker Taleb al-Abdulmohsen] himself claimed to be a Wahhabi. He had open contacts with Hamas people, as well as with supporters of IS. He threatened ex-Muslim and secular associations, as well as women who had fled from Saudi Arabia and renounced Islam. The association and the women legally defended themselves against him. He attacked the Central Council of Ex-Muslims as well as me as a member. All the major critics of Islam blocked Taleb because everyone received confused messages and threats. He never directly criticized Islam or its associations. While we protested in front of mosques, he fought us. He also repeatedly defended Saudi Arabia." — Ali Utlu, German ex-Muslim, X, December 21, 2024.
The German government, it appears, is covering up an Islamist terror attack at a Christmas market as "Islamophobic." Perhaps the ruling coalition of Social Democrat and Green parties is seeking new votes in next month's elections; perhaps it is seeking to pretend away its own massive failure at stopping a terrorist about whom the authorities were warned so many times.
Evidently, the German government does not consider disinformation a problem, so long as it is the German government that is doing it.

The German government, it appears, is covering up Saudi Arabian Taleb al-Abdulmohsen's Islamist terror attack at a crowded Magdeburg Christmas market as "Islamophobic." Abdulmohsen drove 200 meters into the market on December 20, murdering a nine-year-old boy and four women, while wounding more than 200 people, 40 critically.. Pictured: Ambulance crews evacuate people who were wounded in the attack. (Photo by Craig Stennett/Getty Images)

The German city of Magdeburg was written into the sad history of terrorist attacks by Muslim migrants, when Saudi Arabian terrorist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen drove 200 meters into a crowded Christmas market on December 20, murdering a nine-year-old boy and four women, while wounding more than 200 people, 40 critically.

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The New Middle East: The Elephant in the Room

by Amir Taheri • January 5, 2025 at 4:00 am

[P]olicy wonks have decided that in a region that hasn't known good news for decades if not centuries, one should be content with news that is "less bad". Thus, the fall of the Butcher of Damascus is news that is less bad rather than good because, despite Ahmad al-Sharaa's trimmed beard, silk necktie and Colgate smile, no one knows where the new rulers might be heading.
[T]he current rush to brainstorm on the future of the Middle East ignores the geopolitical aspect of this complex situation.
That in turn is symbolized by the elephant in the room: Iran. This elephant has a genetic tendency to going rogue.
Anyone familiar with Iran's history under the theomaniacal system created by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would know that the regime has faced a dire choice from the start: become like the rest of the Middle East, or make a whole Middle East like itself.

The current rush to brainstorm on the future of the Middle East ignores the geopolitical aspect of this complex situation. That in turn is symbolized by the elephant in the room: Iran. Pictured: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands with a rifle as he leads Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini Musalla Mosque on October 4, 2024, in Tehran. (Photo by Iranian Supreme Leader's Press Office via Getty Images)

As the new year begins, think tanks and policy circles start buzzing with ideas about "the future" of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, in short, the Middle East. Some futurologists prefer to talk of a "new Middle East" made possible by the "liberation" of Syria, the near annihilation of Hamas and the serious downgrading of Hezbollah and the Houthis.

All this is happening in a feel-good context as policy wonks have decided that in a region that hasn't known good news for decades if not centuries, one should be content with news that is "less bad". Thus, the fall of the Butcher of Damascus is news that is less bad rather than good because, despite Ahmad al-Sharaa's trimmed beard, silk necktie and Colgate smile, no one knows where the new rulers might be heading.

One has to agree that "less bad" is better than no good.

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