A NEW REALITY FOR EUROPE

The acts of terrorism committed in France will have serious consequences, not only for socio-political life in that country, but throughout Europe as well. The Old World is rushing around in its quests to preserve its liberal identity and is at the same time trying to find an optimal model for multiculturalism. But all these intentions can only be realised if security is provided, so the relevant bodies in France and the EU are working out measures of a strategic nature to achieve this.

The nation's march of unity in Paris which brought together a record 1.5 million participants (the total number of demonstrators throughout France was more than 3.5 million people) demonstrated the readiness of the French to defend democracy. True, the publication of yet another issue of the weekly "Charlie Hebdo" just a few days later, confirmed that many Europeans' ideas of democracy are extremely strange, since they do not see anything antidemocratic in offending millions of their fellow citizens who are Muslims, not to mention the 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide.

The publication which was subjected to the terrorist attack, printed new cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and thereby assumed responsibility for possible further excesses on the basis of intolerance between civilisations. Surely intellectual arbitrariness does not correspond to the very essence of the freedom of speech defended by the magazine and its numerous fans? Or has the insulting of people's nationality or religion, their shrines and values, ceased to be regarded as the whipping up of hatred?

The reaction to the acts of terrorism in Paris is no less blasphemously boosting the Islamophobia represented by certain circles in the West, as it is a response to the acts of terror in Paris. Dozens of attacks on mosques have already taken place in France itself, which have compelled the authorities to take measures to ensure their protection. In Germany the activity of PEGIDA ["Patriotic Euro-peans Against Islamization of the West"], which puts Islam almost on an equal par with terrorism, is gathering momentum.

By the way, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu gave a weighty response to the Islamophobic propaganda while on a visit to Germany. He stressed that it never occurs to anyone to call the incidents of mass murders of Turkish citizens by neo-Nazis in Germany as "German" or "Christian" terrorism. This means that such terms as "Islamic terrorism" should not be used.

It is to the honour of the many prominent representatives of the European intelligentsia that they speak out against using the tragic events in France as a pretext for whipping up anti-Muslim hysteria. In particular, the well-known French director Luc Besson appealed to young Muslims in France in an open letter, in which he urged them to reject weapons and violence and to pick up pens and pencils instead of guns. "My brother, if you knew how much I hurt for you today, for you and your beautiful religion defiled, humiliated and pointed at. Your strength, your energy, your humour, your heart, your fraternity have been forgotten… It is unfair, and we will all stop this injustice," it says in Besson's open message, published in the newspaper "Le Monde". The French director has called upon the country's authorities to come up with education and employment solutions to help alienated young Muslims.

Whereas there will still be lengthy arguments about how liberalism can be combined with contemporary European democracy while retaining respect for the sacred values and objects of the adherents of other confessions (not just Islam), when it comes to preventing the wild outbursts of terrorism in the countries of the Old World, the relevant bodies have recognised the obvious need to be able to protect the public from religious extremists. Unprecedented measures are being taken in France, which other leading states in Europe are, to all appearances, prepared to copy to a certain extent. Approximately 10,000 servicemen have been drafted in to protect the country's most important facilities. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has stated that the decision to mobilise the servicemen was taken by the country's president, Francois Hollande, during a meeting at which the country's security was discussed. This unique situation stems from the fact that France has never before effected a mobilisation like this in peacetime. Special security measures have been extended to all Jewish schools, synagogues, shops and places of assembly of the Jewish communities, in particular.

In many European states anti-terrorist measures have also been stepped up. In Germany they are planning to adopt an additional package of laws to combat terrorism. Among other things, these will envisage the introduction of travel restrictions on those citizens wishing to leave for the world's hotspots. Neighbouring Austria is considering equipping the police with more state-of-the-art armoured vehicles and helicopters needed to carry out special operations.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has stated that, if he is re-elected, he will expand the powers of the special services, which will be able to legally snoop on the Internet communications of people suspected of being involved in terrorism.

Finally, Spain's interior minister, Jorge Fernandez Diaz, has proposed closing the border with the rest of Europe. He put forward the initiative to make changes to the Schengen agreement which will envisage, if not total control, then at any rate checking everyone who is suspected of being a party to terrorism.

In the European Union itself moreover they are also considering variants for stepping up the monitoring of those travelling to the territory of the Old World. The existing Schengen rules stipulate that the documents of all those entering the territory of the EU across the external borders of the Union are subject to scrutiny. But now these checks will undoubtedly become a lot more thorough.

An important event in European politics last week was the conference of EU interior ministers held in Paris, which was attended by US Attorney General Eric Holder. The main topic of discussion was of course combating terrorism. These police department chiefs agreed to form a pan-European system of data gathering on airline passengers and to deepen cooperation among Internet providers in order to curb activity on extremist websites. France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve voiced the expectation that the European Commission would take the appropriate steps in these directions. In his opinion, also expressed on the outcome of the conference with parliamentarians at the National Assembly, stepping up measures to combat terrorism should not be limited to France, but should serve as an example for other EU countries and partners to arm themselves with.

Among measures to counter the threat of terrorism an amalgamation of the European countries' intelligence services in one form or another seems probable. It is highly likely that something like this will actually happen owing to the serious errors made by the French special services in their operations, which have incidentally been recognised by official Paris (specifically by Prime Minister Manuel Valls).

Thus, the French authorities have admitted that they did not have at their disposal detailed information about 26-year-old Hayat Boumeddiene, the accomplice of the terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, who perpetrated the slaughter in the kosher-food supermarket in the east of Paris. Now the issue of stepping up measures to eavesdrop on everyone suspected of being involved in terrorist activity has been raised on a European-wide scale, for which changes will have to be introduced into the legislation and coordination will have to be improved among the bodies of law and order and the prosecutors' offices. Besides this, the radical Islamists, who have been sentenced for terrorism, should be isolated and held in separate prison blocks so that they cannot recruit potential new fighters while they are behind bars.

The idea of uniting the European special services has been voiced previously. Back in autumn 2013, European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding proposed setting up a pan-European intelligence service. But other EU bodies perceived this initiative in an extremely restrained manner, referring to it as a political idea requiring greater definition. The fact is that Reding made this proposal in the midst of a confrontation with the US special services, which had compromised themselves in the eyes of European allies by eavesdropping on top officials in the EU member states. The task of setting up the pan-European "structures required" has been raised again in the light of the new situation that has arisen in Europe after the shooting of the editorial board members of "Charlie Hebdo".

Moreover, precisely in these circumstances the main issue is that of the composition of further relations between the European Union and the United States. The proposed amalgamation of the European special services, even though the priority task is that of fighting terrorism, may be accompanied by a definite increase in differences with the USA (especially taking into account the persisting controversies over the American surveillance operation).The EU countries' intelligence services are not objectively interested in bringing pressure to bear on their Trans-Atlantic counterparts.

But the upper echelons of the European establishment who have close ties with the US elite, consider the emergence of any kind of friction between Europe and America to be unacceptable in the new circumstances. The establishment recognises its vulnerability in the face of the global challenges, and is therefore inclined to think of the need for Brussels to draw greater support from Washington. Naturally, the United States itself is interested in the latter.

Incidentally speaking, former US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts has proposed an extremely interesting variant of the real in-depth state of affairs relating to the terrorist acts. In his view, the purpose of the attack on "Charlie Hebdo" was to assign to France the status of Washington's vassal. "The suspects may be both the guilty and also the scapegoats. Remember all the terrorist plots organised by the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] have served to make the threat of terrorism a real one for the Americans," Roberts stressed. The former treasury secretary explains the USA's striving to boost its influence on France by the fact that of late French President Francois Hollande has permitted himself excessive freedom in his foreign policy, proposing in particular that the sanctions against Russia should be lifted. Experts think that Paris is softening its anti-Russian policy because the French economy stands to suffer quite a loss as a result of the sanctions against Moscow. Moreover, Paul Craig Roberts asserts that the USA has planned a "hoax" operation in Europe in order to stir up hatred for the Muslims and draw the European countries into the orbit of Washington's influence. A number of the world's media are of a similar opinion, leading us to think that, after the acts of terrorism in Paris, it will be much easier for the United States to form an anti-terrorist coalition against "Islamic State", which is continuing to retain many of the positions occupied by it in Iraq and Syria.

In the context of scenarios like this, irrespective of the extent to which they reflect the true state of affairs, there are obvious grounds for the actual overall geopolitical situation fraught with a developing confrontation between the West and the Muslim East. In this connection, the political circles in Europe have serious issues to deal with. For is it not those same notorious "jihadists", whose representatives committed the acts of terrorism in Paris, who have for long years now been supported by France and the entire Western world, using them as a tool to depose recalcitrant Euro-Atlantic regimes in the Middle East? Surely, even now, when France has been shaken by the deaths of 17 people at the hands of the terrorists, they must recognise the illegitimacy of the approach to combating terrorism that they have chosen. Are the jihadists bad guys for infringing upon freedom of speech in France, but good guys for destroying Syria and other unruly countries?

It is obvious that the terrorists who have perpetrated their evil deeds under the slogans of Islam do not have anything to do with the latter, either from the point view of ideological, or legal or moral attitudes. The best response to the terrorists may be the unity of all the countries and peoples in the world in the struggle against this evil.  This needs to be a realistic unity, not hinging on the geopolitical interests of individual world forces pandering to Islamophobia as a tool against the growing influence of the Muslim community, in which they see an impediment on the path of the global triumph of Western liberalism.