Stomping out the far right threat

[TC Talks]

Biden has called for an assessment of the size and scope of the far-right movement. Well idiots spouting off racist diatribes are protected, arming and training cells of people are not necessarily protected in light of the insurrection. A suspected, the CIA has been encouraged to not monitor these groups around the world during the Trump Administration. That's why you saw so much rhetoric with Trump criticizing the intelligence community.

I would imagine the same scrutiny will apply to the much smaller far-left groups. I am sure they are more closely related then one might think.

Adherents of racist far-right movements around the world share more than a common cause. German extremists have traveled to the United States for sniper competitions. American neo-Nazis have visited counterparts in Europe. Militants from different countries bond in training camps from Russia and Ukraine to South Africa.

For years far-right extremists traded ideology and inspiration on societies’ fringes and in the deepest realms of the internet. Now, the events of Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol have laid bare their violent potential.

In chatter on their online networks, many disavowed the storming of the Capitol as amateurish bungling. Some echoed falsehoods emanating from QAnon-affiliated channels in the United States claiming that the riot had been staged by the left to justify a clampdown on supporters of President Donald J. Trump. But many others saw it as a teaching moment — about how to move forward and pursue their goal of overturning democratic governments in more concerted and concrete ways.

It is a threat that intelligence officials, especially in Germany, take seriously. So much so that immediately after the violence in the United States, the German authorities tightened security around the Parliament building in Berlin, where far-right protesters — waving many of the same flags and symbols as the rioters in Washington — had tried to force their way in on Aug. 29.

President Biden has also ordered a comprehensive assessment of the threat from domestic violent extremism in the United States.

For now, no concrete plans for attacks have been detected in Germany, officials said. But some worry that the fallout from the events of Jan. 6 have the potential to further radicalize far-right extremists in Europe.

“Far-right extremists, corona skeptics and neo-Nazis are feeling restless,” said Stephan Kramer, the head of domestic intelligence for the eastern German state of Thuringia. There is a dangerous mix of elation that the rioters made it as far as they did and frustration that it didn’t lead to a civil war or coup, he said.

New York Times

[TC Shuts Up]

Oh, you mean the people who believe in and love America?

Because THAT is who you are afraid of.

One day, you'll wake up, and discover you don't like Communism. Your children will suffer greatly one day.

I'm not German, but I'm pretty sure you are. Do you fight these Nazi tendencies in yourself every day? Obviously, you know you have the the genes that cause the desire for world domination and ethnic cleansing. Do you have someone lock you up to prevent yourself from doing these things, like a werewolf in a movie?

[TC Talks]

I mean people on both sides who hate democracy and believe their perspective is the only perspective for America. The people who attacked the capitol do not love the United States of America. They are criminals.

It's not exclusive to the right and their racism. There is a group on the left as well. I say we pack them all up and ship them to North Dakota and let them fight it out...

James Ofsink, president of Portland Forward, a local advocacy group for liberal causes, said the growing tension in Portland’s progressive circles — and the elation with which right-wing pundits and politicians have watched far-left demonstrators destroy Democratic structures, sometimes literally — is emblematic of a larger tug of war happening in the nation.

“Portland is going to continue to be a microcosm of the political divides, especially among the left, that we’re seeing across the country,” Ofsink said. “The idea that middle-of-the-road Democrats can say with a straight face that we need to take things slowly or do things in a very deliberate way rubs a lot of people the very wrong way.”

Violent and destructive activity among far-left groups has been increasing nationwide, according to a recent study by the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonprofit policy research group. Though nearly 70 percent of terrorist attacks and plots in the U.S. last year were committed by white supremacists and far-right militia groups, according to the study, the portion led by anarchist and anti-fascist groups rose to 20 percent from 8 percent in 2019.

Seth G. Jones, the center’s director, said violent far-right events like the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville — which resulted in the death of a counterprotester — have prompted many of the far-left groups to arm themselves and organize more events that have also become increasingly violent and destructive.

“There is additional danger coming down the road where we have this extremism almost feeding on each other, almost inspiring one another,” Jones said. “Based on recent trends, we can expect violent far-left networks to conduct explosive, incendiary and firearm attacks against police, government and corporate targets.”

Portland has been a hotbed of both extreme-right and extreme-left activity, a trend that Wednesday’s destruction suggests will continue.