Clearly, like we did with respect to the French people when the Bataclan concert hall was attacked by terrorists in Paris, we express full solidarity with the Russian people following the heinous attack on the Crocus hall in Moscow. The senseless murder of innocent citizens cannot but arouse a sentiment of disgust and reinforce an ever stronger commitment to not allow terrorists with the fear that they seek to instill to determine how life is lived.
Two queries about the Moscow tragedy stand out. Given that a long time has passed since we last heard about their depredations, many had believed that the terrorists of ISIS or other similar extremist agencies were totally fenced in. It now seems that this was not the case. Perhaps the world should be given a full account of what has actually been accomplished in recent years to ensure that terrorist organisations have been truly destroyed.
Then there is the point that Russia is in a state of war. (Who started the war and is responsible for it is immaterial in this context.) Now a country at war must be prepared to counter an attack on all fronts coming from those it is fighting, and other enemies who might be biding their time for an opportunity to deliver their blow. It does not appear that Russia was prepared for the terrorist attack to which it was subjected.
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PRESSURES
One doubts whether there is a full understanding of how the decision-making dynamic existing within the group of EU member states operates to bring about a decision. We still subscribe to the idea that the Union moves forward by arriving at compromises which all or almost all can accept, and this despite the qualified majority mechanism for reaching decisions.
To be sure, such an approach is frequently followed but it also does happen that if in the EU grouping, the most influential member states are determined to achieve some goal, they will find ways by which to “persuade” those who remain sceptical about their aims, and make them swing to their point of view. And during this process of “persuasion”, they hardly have problems with bringing all pressures to bear in order to achieve “consensus”.
This is what is happening at the moment in the way by which very very rapidly, the EU is evolving into a military alliance.
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DILAPIDATED BUILDINGS
Nothing much is said about the abandoned buildings/houses that for various reasons are left empty and dilapidated. They could have been inherited by a number of persons who do not live in them; or they need extensive repair; or they are really old structures, where today nobody wants to live any more. Some are left in a bad state of repair and exposed to the elements.
In B’Kara where I live, quite a good number of buildings are in this state, including in Valley Road, which in the past used to be a commercial and residential centre but which has now degenerated into just a major traffic artery.
It is true that in the main, the stock of dilapidated buildings is privately owned. But would it not be possible to devise some strategy by which to save them from becoming rubble?