Brussels Explosions: Mere Brussels Sprouts Compared To What Authorities Expect In The Future

As if the Brussels explosions were not enough, Belgium has been warned by ISIS of bigger terrorist attacks to come in the very near future, according to Heavy. Many people cannot even bear to look at the bloody and horrific images paraded around the world in print, video, and on the internet. What is to come can be infinitely more painful to imagine.

It is entirely possible that what the general public has seen so far in relation to the Brussels explosions are mere Brussels sprouts compared to what is to come. The fact remains that, in the aftermath of the series of explosions that rocked the Belgian capital on March 22, authorities admitted that they had no idea that it would all come to this.

Another simple fact is that Belgium is a hotbed for radical Islam, the way it has been for years. And Brussels is a ticking time bomb. CNN has been warning of this terrorism cauldron for a long time, yet the warning call seems to have fallen on deaf ears. It is so sad that 31 people had to perish, with scores injured, in order to finally wake up the rest of the world.

Dylan Thomas wrote, “Do not go gently into the good night; rage, rage, against the dying of the light.”

This should have been the proper attitude towards the terror menace that has been holding the free world hostage since the September 11, 2001 incident. Yet, as human nature would prevail, people tend to put painful memories at the back of their minds. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, but this is easier said than done.

The good news is that the Brussels explosions will trigger a security tremor around the world at a level never seen before. Wikipedia captures it so succinctly: “Security was increased, particularly at airports and other transport hubs, in countries such as Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States.”

Finally, the whole world is waking up. Indeed, the world is starting to think that the Brussels explosions could have been Brooklyn explosions or Montreal explosions or Manila explosions… Accordingly, all the mayhem and bloodbath could have occurred in any airport or subway, for that matter. What ISIS has done to Brussels, it has done to the rest of the free world.

And so it is not surprising that, in the aftermath of the Brussels explosions, US President Barack Obama pledged to do everything that is necessary to combat terrorism, reports US News. Speaking from Cuba, the president urged further unity as the only way to overcome future threats to world peace. Damages sustained by the Zaventem airport and the Malbeek metro station due to the Brussels explosions are easier to repair.

What is harder is to repair, one that will take more time, is the economic depression in parts of Belgium which has served as a flash point for the attacks. Case in point: This social cancer has spawned seeds of radicalism which terrorism would eventually exploit and inflame over time. These are precisely the areas where Brussels in particular and Belgium in general will need all the help it can get from the local government as well as from allies.

Reuters has been able to capture all the finger-pointing between Belgium and Turkey regarding one of the confirmed perpetrators of the Brussels explosions:

“The Belgian government deflected the criticism from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, saying the elder Bakraoui brother, 29, had not been deported back to Belgium but to the neighboring Netherlands. Officials have said that as in the case of one of the Paris suicide bombers, they cannot detain militant suspects expelled from Turkey without clear evidence of a crime.”

It’s time for all the finger-pointing to stop with regards to the Brussels explosions. The greater need is to work together to fight a common enemy, as well as to never again underestimate that opponent, as any war book will say.

The @eu_comission is flying flags at half mast after today's #Brussels explosions pic.twitter.com/3Uh8ZEzZS4

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) March 22, 2016

[Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images]