Disrupted bombing attempts

The on-going investigation of the failed/ineffective bombings in London and at Glasgow Airport continues. Tantalizing hints have been provided almost from the start with no basis in fact to support them. Ongoing references to "Al Queda links" and "Al Queda-like" methods of operation serve only to raise the public's alarm level rather than to actually inform the public as to what is going on.

Obviously in such cases, law enforcement/counter-terrorism agencies are not going to report the minute details of what they know. However, dropping vague hints about the persons involved and where they may be from and who they may consort with has served no useful purpose here, except to raise suspicions about people based only on their ethnicity. The current emphasis on the known suspects being made up in whole or part by "Asian medical professionals" without any real supporting detail is unhelpful. Exhorting the public to report "suspicious activity" presumably being carried out by "Asian medical professionals" near you is apparently the goal.

I personally have no problem going a step further when I state that there is an attempt to continue to whip up a certain amount of xenophobia regarding the "threat" that these "foreigners" represent. Not only do they come to the West seeking jobs and presumably taking same away from the native-born, but now they are arriving pre-disposed to fomenting insurrection.

This scenario reminds me in no small way of the fear instilled in us here in America during the early part of the 20th century of "anarchists" arriving on our shores from such hotbeds of discontent as central and eastern Europe. Immigrants from those areas were viewed not only as unwelcome as they were inferior to our native-born population, but they were automatically disposed towards the use of violence to achieve their goal of the spread of socialism.

The lack of depth in the reporting and the inability of any reporter or commentator to provide the historical context here to help us understand what may be going on is appalling. What is more appalling is the willingness of the various governments involved to play up and play upon these fears.