It's a detail I know, but what possessed Belgian authorities to tell the press that this guy was talking? I'm sure that influenced the cells to push the attacks forward. Honestly, these people need some serious retraining. Or is there another ridiculous law that says information like that has to be released? Also, are bomb sniffing dogs deployed at transportation hubs? If they're not, they should be, and I don't mean just for a few weeks; I mean year round, seven days a week.
It is indeed ridiculous. All Belgians know that the Belgian police is a joke. By the way, many policemen in Brussels are of Moroccan extraction, so they may not be efficient at catching their fellow Moroccans on purpose.
I confirm that I have never seen sniffing dogs in metro stations or airports in Belgium.
Any Republican would be good on this issue, even Kasich, unlike the Democrat candidates; we don't need that clown Trump. What we also don't need is more of the Obama foreign policy, like Kerry's visit to Paris after the bombings...a wreathe of flowers, a hug, and James Taylor singing "You've Got a Friend". Pathetic doesn't begin to describe it. Meanwhile, Hollande's plea to stop batting away bees and go after the hive were ignored by this administration. This is the modern Democrat Party.
Also, nice as these light displays in the European capitols are, what they need to do is focus less on symbolism, forget their childish ethnic and nationalistic disputes, and put together an EU wide plan for immigration, refugees and security. Otherwise, just scrap the whole damn thing. This is a joke.
Oh, and meanwhile the U.S President is watching a baseball game in Cuba and discussing the long term deleterious effects of colonialism, global initiatives against poverty, and other progressive goals with those champions of civil rights, the Castro Brothers.
He is the definition of an empty suit. A Nato ally has been attacked. He should be in the Situation Room in contact with European leaders hammering out a plan.
I agree with all this. But what do you think the American president be doing concretely in such a situation ? It's mostly the EU that should get its act together and make in-depth reforms about immigration, refugees and security, as you said. The US could maybe consult to help establish security agencies like the FBI and Homeland Security at the EU level.
All of that said, if you're going to strip people of their citizenship for committing crimes, then it should apply to everyone. You can't penalize people just based on their ethnicity and religion.
Europe traditionally applied the principle of
jus sanguinis for nationality, even though politicians have yielded to the pressure of immigrants in countries like the UK, France and Belgium to make it easier for anyone to acquire citizenship after 5 to 10 years of residence in the country.
For me the whole concept of nationality in non-colonial countries does not make much sense without a reference to ancestry. If it were up to me there would be a clear distinction between
nationality, which requires continuous ancestry in one country for at least 7 generations at least on one parent's side, and
permanent residence, which would confer similar rights to any family who has immigrated to the country without intermarrying (and having children) with locals.
In the case of Muslims living in Europe, if they have acquired the country's citizenship it must have happened only in the last few decades. Since they have no right of jus sanguinis their citizenship should be conditional to good behaviour. Therefore logic dictates that a criminal could be stripped of their acquired citizenship. And that is in fact the law in the UK, France and Belgium, among others.
British Law stipulates that a naturalised citizen could be deprived of their British citizenship if they engaged in conduct “seriously prejudicial” to the UK’s vital interests. (
source) That would include terrorism, but also planned terrorist activities, Islamic activism, etc.
French Law foresees five cases in which a naturalised citizen can be deprived of his/her nationality:
1. If he is convicted of an act of crime or offense constituting a
breach of fundamental interests of the nation
2. If he is convicted of an act of planned crimes or offenses punishable under Chapter II of Title III of Book IV of the Criminal Code (that is to say as part of an
attack on the public administration)
3. If convicted of evading his obligations under the Code of National Service
4. If they committed acts
incompatible with the status of French and detrimental to the interests of France to the benefit of a foreign state
5.
If he was convicted in France or abroad for an act constituting a crime under French law and that resulted in a sentence of at least five years' imprisonment
That's more than enough to strip most naturalised criminals and suspected terrorists of their citizenship and expel them from the country. I think that the law should apply also for children of naturalised citizens.
Art. 23 of the
Belgian citizenship code also specifies that a naturalised citizen
can be stripped of their nationality if he/she seriously neglects his duties as Belgian citizens (e.g. terrorism) (the law does mention the example of terrorism).
In conclusion, you may be right that you cannot discriminate based on ethnicity or religion. BUT, you can make a clear distinction between citizens by ancestry and naturalised citizens.
Deprivation of citizenship applies to any naturalised citizens conducting criminal activities or any other activities that are seriously prejudicial to the country's interests or incompatible with the country's values. This would include any individual who belongs to an organisation that supports terrorism (even if they haven't committed terrorist acts themselves), plan the overthrow of the government, or try to establish Sharia Law, or professes values that are contrary to Western values. In other words, any radical Muslim should be stripped of their citizenship according to the law as it is now.
It would be easy enough for Western governments to infiltrate radical Islamic organisations in their country, list all the members, gather evidence, then strip them all of their citizenships and expel them back to their country or origin. This is the first and most important step in combatting terrorism.
