Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 14
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Paris was chosen for attacks by terrorists, because gaps in security made it possible for them to take place, according to an independent Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.
"They did it in Paris, because they were able to," Felgenhauer told Trend. "If they could do it in the United States, they would."
However, security and defense against terrorist attacks is much better organized in the US, Felgenhauer said.
The security issue in Europe is largely connected to the revelations of Edward Snowden, after which the laws prohibiting wiretapping of ordinary citizens in Europe were introduced, he said.
Edward Snowden is a US privacy activist, computer professional, former CIA employee, and former government contractor who leaked classified information from the United States National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 that it massively spied not only on the EU citizens but also a number of European leaders.
He said that such wiretapping is the first way to deal with the organization of the attacks. At the same time, wiretapping continues in the United States, in spite of everything, which helps to avoid such acts of terror, the analyst said.
"In order to prevent terrorist attacks, location of terrorists should be identified, if possible in advance, and most importantly it is necessary to create difficulties for them," said Felgenhauer.
Faced with major obstacles to commit large-scale actions, the terrorists will redirect their efforts on the less protected facilities, according to him.
Felgenhauer said that if it was possible, terrorists could carry out terrorist attacks in Russia as well, as the French, in spite of the air operations in Syria, carry out less of them than the Russians do.
Russia, in his opinion, of course, has to fear terrorist attacks in case if terrorists are able to move their forces closer to the country.
Felgenhauer said that just like in any other terror, the targets of terrorist attacks in Paris were political. However, this is unlikely to lead to the launch of a ground operation in Syria, as there simply will be no one left to carry it out, the analyst said.
Gunmen and bombers attacked restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium at locations across Paris Nov.13, killing at least 120 people in a deadly rampage that President Francois Hollande called an unprecedented terrorist attack.
Four gunmen systematically slaughtered at least 87 young people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall. Some 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, including an apparent double suicide bombing outside the national stadium, where the French president Hollande and the German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier were watching a friendly soccer international. Some 200 people were injured.