The fact that the number and severity of terrorist attacks has declined since 2015 is both undeniable and also serves to mask a deeper truth, Horváth said.
While in 2015 – in parallel with massive waves of immigration – there has been a surge in terrorist attacks claiming hundreds of lives, since then most such attacks were smaller scale and sometimes “budget attacks” with knives or hijacked vehicles.
On the one hand, this indicates that secret services – and the governments behind them – have understood the threat and are ramping up their work despite the fact that they did neither receive a huge boost in numbers, nor a better legislative background. But the heads of governments have understood that the peace that followed the cold war is over.
The other reason is the significantly weaker position of the Islamic State in the Middle East. They are no longer coordinating massive attacks against Western Europe as they are too busy reorganizing and maintaining their illegal networks for the future.
But even if the Islamic State was completely eradicated, that would not be the end of terrorism. The spread of radical Islam, organized crime and no-go zones are parts of a struggle for political influence. Islamic parties have made their appearance, their members are learning the ways of democratic systems and are grabbing for power.
They are now removing crosses from classrooms, unilaterally renaming Christmas the fir holiday and Europeans are giving up their very identities. It is totally misguided to think that we can persuade a tiger to convert to vegetarianism. And we are vegetarians, Horváth said.
