H and I are meeting my sister in Ireland next month. My MIL said, “thank goodness it’s Ireland” and I had to remind her of all the IRA bombings which really weren’t all that long ago!
A friend is going to Paris over the winter. She is completely determined to go and I’m glad for that.
D’s friend, an exchange student in Paris is coming home next week, 3 weeks early. According to his mom, the bomber outside the stadium was denied entry otherwise he would’ve been inside. I haven’t read the updates to confirm this but it makes sense that the bomber would’ve tried to get in.
HImom, we have tickets to Europe for June. DH and I are planning to scrap our plan of the doing the big cities and visit the countryside avoiding the densely populated areas.
Thanks for checking in @deb922!
For anyone who, like me, needs a primer in the Syrian civil war, and who’s fighting who, this explainer might help:
https://youtu.be/NKb9GVU8bHE
There are zillions of different sides here, all variously allied and/or fighting one another in poor Syria: Assad, rebels, ISIS, Kurds, Turkey, Iran, Jordan, other gulf states, Russia, US. And of course the Shia/Sunni divide manifests itself. What a mess.
I’ve always liked rural areas, as well as national parks. Cities are nice but the outdoors really draws us and you tend to have more opportunities to interact with residents. Would still like to go to Germany and also Japan and Australia and NZ. So much to see and experience!
I would recommend Poitou-Charentes (Marais Poitevin for green canals, Poitiers for medieval churches , Royan for 1950s urbanism, Cognac for the liquor), Limousin (Brive, Sarlat for the markets, Lascaux cave, Rocamadour for an old pilgrimage site), Aquitaine (Dordogne and its castles, Bordeaux/wineyeards, Landes for cycling through immense forests, Biaritz for waves and a specific architecture). All of this is mostly countryside or small towns.
I too would like to go to NZ and Australia!
DS1 loved his study abroad in NZ. I thought he might not come back. 
Cardinal Fang, thanks for that primer. I had to stop it multiple times to make sure I understood it. What a mess.
For all of you who are changing your travel plans; does it bother you at all that is a “win” for the terrorists?
Is not visiting the gang neighborhoods of Chicago a win for the gangs? I don’t see the two as connected. The terrorists don’t care whether tourists come or not.
If it’s true that one of them was a Syrian refugee, does this mean they have purposely planted themselves in the mass of people in order to gain entry to host countries? Including, now, the good ole U.S. of A?
This scenario was warned about from the start of the ‘refugee’ crisis.
apparently, one of them wasn’t a refugee, as he had a legitimate Syrian passport, but yes planted himself among the refugees (few of whom go to France, by the way, because France is woefully equiped) - he passed through the border along with legitimate refugees. And yes that risk was known, which is why there’s a processing system. But that’s one man vs. 7 Frenchmen… and hundreds of thousands of legitimate refugees, some of whom live about 3 miles from my in-laws. No one is confusing that terrorist guy with the refugee families there.
Again: if we start getting paranoid that anyone can be a terrorist, then the terrorists win. We can’t turn against each other and accuse the torturers’ victims. Let’s focus on the murderers.
Anyone’s read The Fifth Wave and Infinite Sea?
Unrelated, but no.
How is it not related, @JustOneDad ?
Anyway, there was a warning about the refugee crises and this happened. I hate being hypocritical as I came to the US as a refugee, but we need put the resources we would use to help them get to other countries into fixing their country so they don’t have to flee.
How IS it related?
They might both frighten you, but domestic gangs are not international Jihadist terrorists.
Edit: Never mind, I get what you’re saying.
Probably. But does it make sense to bar all Muslims on the chance that they’ll be terrorists? Might as well bar all men to college entry on the chance that they’ll be school shooters.
Maybe it was a legitimate Syrian refugee who became disaffected by what he saw in the West.
Nope, apparently he wasn’t a legitimate Syrian refugee. He had contacts with Balkans arms dealers previous to entry.
That doesn’t change the fact almost all Syrian refugees are legitimate and 1 in a hundred of thousands does not justify changing refugee policy. It does justify hiring those extra officers faster for surveillance and security purpose.