General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is Europe headed for a civil war? [View all]LeftishBrit
(41,205 posts)It's always existed. I'm not sure it's that much worse in Europe in general than it's sometimes been in the recent past. The LePen family have been a curse on France since what seems like the year dot -certainly since the early 80s.
And while the Islamist extremists are also a big problem, we have to remember that Europe has had a problem with terrorism of one sort or another for a very long time: the IRA and Protestant 'paramilitaries' in the UK; ETA in Spain; the Red Army Faction and other groups in Germany. Contrary to what you'd think from the media, the frequency and death toll from terrorist incidents in Europe was WORSE in the 1970s than it is now.
I don't think there would be civil war in most parts of Europe, however.
Nationalism, however, has brought the UK to the brink of a very bad social and economic mess, however. If not quite civil war, the equivalent of a country imposing sanctions on itself. And there is the risk of reigniting localized civil war in Northern Ireland.
It is never a good idea for a country to get itself so whipped up against outsiders that it ends up punishing itself. Please please don't do so yourselves in November!!!!!!