Counter-terrorism

Hillary gave a speech at Stanford in which she discussed her counter-terrorism policy.  It sounded good, but came down to "keep doing what Obama's doing."  Bernie, in an interview on PBS Newshour, said essentially the same thing, but it didn't sound as good because it was an interview rather than a prepared speech.  The Republicans continued their "tough talk," consisting mainly of commitment to racial profiling with some torture thrown in for good measure.

(Yes, it's racial, not religious profiling, aimed at brown people.  Blue-eyed blond Muslims from the Balkans would almost certainly escape Tr*mpian and/or Cr*zian notice.)

None of those approaches stands much chance of success, of course.  Everybody observes that We need more help from Them (Europe, the Arab autocracies) — something Obama has been trying to achieve, with very little success.  The Arabs really don't give a shit if Europe explodes, and the competing European agencies tasked with stopping terror attacks are all protecting their respective "turfs" — not even cooperating with each other, much less us.

Something that should have become obvious by now, but hasn't, is that motivations for the terror attacks have never been especially religious.  None of the attackers has been particularly observant of Shariah Law.  The Belgians, by and large, were petty criminals and drug offenders before they affiliated with Islamist State.  It looks a lot like economic, social, and racial discrimination, arising out of a long history of European colonialism, is a far greater motivating factor than any number of virgins waiting in the afterlife.  Religion just provides a platform that accommodates the grievances of this world.