Another Day. Another Terror Attack.

Over the past two weeks Europe has experienced a rash of Islamist terrorist attacks.

This began on July 14th (14/7/16) when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a truck through revellers celebrating Bastille day in Nice, France. He murdered 84 people.

On July 18th (18/7/16) Riaz Khan Ahmadzai (AKA; "Muhammad Riyad") - a 17 year old refugee from Afghanistan - attacked passengers aboard a train in Wurzburg, Bavaria, Germany with an axe. He seriously injured four people.

On July 22nd (22/7/16) Ali David Sonboly - a German/Iranian dual national - went on a shooting rampage in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He murdered 9 people.

On July 24th (24/7/16) an as yet named illegal immigrant from Syria who'd been refused refugee status attacked passers-by with a machete on the street in Reutlingen, Baden-Wuttemberg, Germany. He murdered a pregnant Polish woman.

Also on July 24th (24/7/16) another illegal immigrant from Syria who been refused refugee status attempted to carry out a suicide bombing at an open air music festival attended by some 2,500 in Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany. Having been denied entry to the festival he detonated his bomb at a near-by bar. Fortunately he only succeeded in killing himself although he did injure 15.

In response to all of these attacks I've spoken at length about how Al Qaeda have long had a strategy of using terrorism to destroy the secular space in which Muslims and non-Muslims coexist. Due to the growing community tensions caused by the migrant crisis the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seem to have adopted this tactic having identified a fracture point they can exploit.

Yesterday (25/7/16) the was yet another terrorist attack. This time in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France. 

Here two attackers burst into a Catholic Church taking a Priest, three Nuns and two Church goers hostage at knifepoint. They filmed themselves forcing the 84-year Priest to kneel before the altar before beheading him and sending the video to ISIL. They were then both shot and killed by police marksmen.

ISIL view it as their mission to purge the World of everybody who does not follow their perversion of Islam. This includes Sunni Muslims put particularly Shia Muslims, Christians, Druze and Yezidi. As such the spectacle of ISIL fighters storming into a Church and beheading Priests and slaughtering Christians is an all too common one.

However if people in the west were being told the truth of what is happening in Syria, Iraq and beyond there would be riots through the streets and western politicians would be torn limb from limb. As such a huge effort has gone in from both the media and politicians to hide the horrors of the Middle-East from the public.

With it being impossible to hide the beheading of a Priest in a Church in France yesterday's terror attack was extremely shocking to people who don't know that this is happening everyday and has been happening every day for the past five years. 

It was intended to be seen as a direct threat to Europe's Christian's and its secular way of life by Muslims. The idea being to create a backlash by non-Muslims against Muslims. Particularly Muslim immigrants.

The attack also seemed to be a personal one against the Pope - the head of the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church is currently holding its biannual youth camp. 

This sees young Catholics from around the World gather together for what is essentially a weeklong social festival. It is often dubbed; "The Catholic Woodstock." The highlight is World Youth Day which is today where the Pope attends the festival to address the crowds.

This year the World Youth Camp is being held in Krakow, Poland.

The European Union's (EU) ability to respond to the migration crisis has been severely hampered by two of its members - Hungary and Poland - refusing to implement an agreement that would see refugees shared out in quotas amongst member states. 

The Polish Law & Justice Party (PiS) government of Beata Syzdlo in particular has made it quite clear that it does not want to accept a single Muslim refugee because it wants to preserve Poland's pure, Catholic identity from which the party takes much of its power.

The Pope - as the head of the Catholic Church - has much disagreed with the Polish government on this point. So when PiS has said that you cannot allow Muslim refugees into a Catholic nation the Pope responded by taken Muslim refugees into his home in the Vatican City - the ultimate Catholic nation.

As a result the Pope's trip to Poland today for World Youth Day was always going to be extremely tense. Unusually for a supposedly Catholic party the PiS are refusing the recognise the Pope's visit as an official state one with all the respect that affords.

Therefore yesterday's attack on a Catholic Church coming so soon after the terrorist murder of a Polish woman seems intended to weaken the Pope and strengthen the PiS' position on the migration issue.

After all by creating a weakness in the EU's response to ISIL the PiS are ISIL's biggest ally in Europe.

It also seems to have been an attack on me personally.

In response to the June 12th (12/6/16) terror attack against the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, US I spoke about the psychological effects of traumatic shock that occur during this type of situation. Using an example from my own life I mentioned an older Irish woman who'd been in a Catholic Church when the congregation was attacked by a naked swordsman. I mentioned this again in response to the Wurzburg train attack.

Therefore by carrying out what was effectively a sword attack on a Catholic Church I think the attackers were also trying to trigger off some sort of traumatic memory in me. The hope being that would take me out of the game preventing me from going after ISIL.

As such I should probably explain. I wasn't actually in the Church during the sword attack. In fact it was the way that this woman was randomly telling me about this guy's penis that had me nodding my head and thinking; "Yep. That's traumatic shock."

In terms of the psychological effects of this relentless parade of slaughter obviously it does have an effect on me.

Although it wasn't directly linked to ISIL the July 7th (7/7/16) terror attack in Dallas, Texas made for an extremely long and unpleasant day from me. This really lasted until the memorial service on July 13th (13/7/16). I really then had one day off before the Nice attack. It's been non-stop since then.

So even as far back as Saturday (23/6/16) was scheduling yesterday evening to go off an deal it. For obvious reasons I don't to share my particular process but generally it is just a matter of accepting that these things do affect you and coming to peace with it.

I could really have done without the mother of Sandra Bland appearing at the Democratic National Convention yesterday though. After all she is extremely offensive to anyone with knowledge of genuine Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was very obviously the work of a small, largely self-directed ISIL cell. 

The reason why it was so quickly indentified at as such is that one of the attackers - 19 year old Adel Kermiche - had previously served 10 months in prison for attempting to join ISIL in Syria. At the time of the attack he was released from prison on license/parole and was wearing an electronic monitoring tag.

The fact that despite being a known ISIL sympathiser Kermiche was free to commit the attack has obviously prompted a backlash against the French security services. However I should point out that cases such as these put them in an extremely difficult position.

When we talk about Muslim citizens being a nations first line of defence against terror we are not being politically correct. It is simply the truth.

The reason why the French authorities knew that Kermiche was an ISIL sympathiser is because his own mother and sister informed them that they were worried he was becoming radicalised. If the French authorities react to that by putting the son in prison for the rest of his life no other mother is going to come forward.

This will create a situation like the one you have in Molenbeek, Brussels, Belgium. Here not only don't local residents inform the authorities of members of the community who have become radicalised they actively shelter terrorists as they did with Saleh Abdeslam. As Lahouaiej Bouhlel demonstrates it is the threats the authorities don't know about that are the most dangerous.

That said though in other cases where people have been convicted of serious terrorist offences that haven't been uncovered by community intelligence should remain in prison until ISIL have been defeated. Those who have already been released from prison should be immediately recalled indefinitely as a threat to society.

What I am much more concerned about though is the French government's failure to combat the threat of ISIL at the international diplomatic and political level.

On May 10th 2016 (10/5/16) Russia tabled a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution to designate both the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham) and the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) as terrorists groups.

These two groups are key parts of the Al Qaeda led Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF) coalition in Syria. They regularly fight alongside ISIL - particularly during the spring of 2015 when the JAF's Northwestern offensive was co-ordinated with ISIL's capture of Palmyra. Therefore the designation of Ahrar al-Sham and JAI as terror groups is vital to the defeat of ISIL.

However France along with the US and the UK vetoed the Russian resolution. This allows nations such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia to continue supplying Ahrar al-Sham and JAI with weapons which are then passed on to ISIL. It also grants unwarranted legitimacy to ISIL claim that they are simply protecting Muslims from oppression.

Although I need to deal with it as a separate issue the big development over the past few weeks in Syria is that the Syrian government has succeeded in liberating the Castello Road. 

Along with Highway 214 which is a crucial part of what I term "Erdogan's Pocket" or "Garvaghy Road." It's liberation cuts the supply line between Turkey and Army of Conquest forces occupying Aleppo City. As such the liberation of the Castello Road is a massive step forward in the efforts to force ISIL and their associates from Syria entirely.

Curiously though on Monday (25/7/16) the UNSC held a session on the liberation of Castello Road. Rather than celebrating this victory the French Ambassador joined with the US, the UK and others condemning this defeat of the terrorists. They then called on the Syrian government to hand the terrorists supply line back to them.

So if ISIL is at war with France as French President Hollande said in response to the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray attack he really needs to hurry up and decide which side he's on;

France's or ISIL's. 

17:05 on 27/7/16 (UK date).