Large anti-terror operation in Europe, more cells feared, US/uk announce JTF.

[Gumboy]

Several large scale operations have been discovered in europe, and their have been firefights with police, and arrests made

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30848946

And also today:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-30856793

UK and the US will work more closely together in order to find and fight terror cells, at home and abroad.

Kind of a strange quote from that article:

"Asked whether an attack was "imminent" in Britain, Mr Cameron said the terror threat level, set independently by the Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre, was currently at "severe" - meaning an attack is "highly likely"."

An attack is highly likely in England? Thats not good at all.

Other then the usual talking points, their were a couple little insights in both articles, including talk of more cells they are working to root out, of militant people coming home from syria/other areas, as was feared when this whole thing kind of started.

[Independent voter]

I've been watching Homeland lately on Showtime. It's laugh out loud ridiculous at times but it makes you think.

[Deleted]

We have been bouncing between Substantial and severe for the last decade with two jumps to critical that lasted less than a week in total, don't worry about terror attacks as there is nothing you can do to stop them. The threat level has been at severe since August, nothing has changed much.

[Gumboy]

We have been bouncing between Substantial and severe for the last decade with two jumps to critical that lasted less than a week in total, don't worry about terror attacks as there is nothing you can do to stop them. The threat level has been at severe since August, nothing has changed much.

Oh I'm not really "worried" about it personally, pretty sure where I live isn't exactly a terrorist hotbed or anything. I think you have much, much greater odds of getting hit by lightning then a terrorist attack or something like that.

I don't know why they even have the warning system they do if its always at high essentially.

[Deleted]

Oh I'm not really "worried" about it personally, pretty sure where I live isn't exactly a terrorist hotbed or anything. I think you have much, much greater odds of getting hit by lightning then a terrorist attack or something like that.

I don't know why they even have the warning system they do if its always at high essentially.

It is not meant for public use, it is meant for Government, Military and Emergency services and basically determines whether or not you get time off work.

Low/normal levels mean it is business as usual.
Moderate/substantial means we are on heightened alert, security is a little beefed up but apart from that business as usual.
Critical means the shit is about to hit the fan, all leave is canceled and you are not going to get much sleep. This obviously is meant to be a very temporary measure.

[ringpriest]

Oh I'm not really "worried" about it personally, pretty sure where I live isn't exactly a terrorist hotbed or anything. I think you have much, much greater odds of getting hit by lightning then a terrorist attack or something like that.

I don't know why they even have the warning system they do if its always at high essentially.

How else are they supposed to keep you scared?

As you pointed out yourself, getting hit by lightning is more likely to kill you (or anyone else) than being killed by a terrorist. Government and security officials (and the mass media) can check what threats are truly high-probability, just like anyone else (moreso, really). That they still persist in aiding the terrorists by magnifying their effect makes it seem that they're either blindingly incompetent, or operating out of (presumably malicious) ulterior motives. (Which isn't to say that anti-terror operations don't have their place - they do; it's just important to keep in mind that traditional "terrorists" are really just an tiny number of particularly vile criminals. Nothing more. When they're treated as anything else, its a win for the terrorists.)

[Themius]

I wonder if people will complain about US and UK working together on this.