Assimilation will mean concessions - A changing Europe

EVERY terror attack by Islamic extremists provokes anger and the incomprehension religious fanaticism generates in a largely pluralist, liberal, and increasingly irreligious Western world.

That incomprehension is exacerbated by the indifference those terrorists show towards their survival. It is as if their death is a longed-for honour if their attack can achieve maximum carnage, mayhem, and publicity. It is as if they imagine themselves contemporary, urban Kamikaze rather than deluded bigots driven by hatred in pursuit of the impossible — establishing a medieval caliphate in Europe.

That is our angry response but then, hopefully, the more reflective side of our nature tries to rationalise how young men and women, often born in Europe, feel so very alienated and unable to build a worthwhile life that they leave suburbs like Molenbeek, Schaerbeek, St Denis, Tower Hamlets or, say, Tallaght to join barbarians waging jihad in Syria. We struggle to see how that choice, no matter how difficult Europe might be, could ever be a more appealing option.