QAnon Abroad

From Mitch Prothero's 10-13-20 BUSINESS INSIDER article entitled "European Intelligence Agencies Are Deploying Resources to Track QAnon as the Conspiracy Theory Spreads Beyond the US, Sources Say":

Europe's domestic intelligence and law-enforcement services have apprehensively watched the QAnon conspiracy theory migrate from the US and now consider it a significant security concern.

That assessment was given by two security officials contacted by Insider, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity given the nature of their work [...].

A Belgian counterterrorism official told Insider that many European services like his were now rethinking a decision to ignore QAnon as a solely American phenomenon.

He drew parallels between QAnon and jihadist movements that have traditionally occupied intelligence agencies.

"I worked on jihadis and Al Qaeda, ISIS, for over 20 years, and now I am looking at the secular American version," said the official, who's part of Belgium's Federal Police.

"This Q thing is very similar to jihadism in several ways that are not obvious at first. For example, both are cults of magical thinking. Jihadis are drawn to the cause because they find comfort in a black-and-white morality in a complex world.

"And then they get to participate in a new version of reality, one where they aren't just a flawed person but they're heroes in a battle that normal people are too ignorant to even see.

"So it turns out the world isn't a complex place where making the right choices and understanding things around you can be a challenge," the official continued. "It's a very simple place where there's good and evil and you get to be good and oppose evil.

"And you're no longer some Moroccan kid from Molenbeek — you're a holy warrior protecting the true Islam," the official said, referring to a Brussels neighborhood associated with jihadism. "Or you're no longer some normal suburban person with a boring job — you are on the front lines battling a lizard-person death cult."

When asked whether fears of Q-related violence in Europe were legitimate, the official said they probably were [...].

A French police official based in Paris said that a long list of other concerns meant that significant resources hadn't been assigned to QAnon. But he said that could change.

"French love conspiracies; half our country thinks the Masons run the world, and the other half thinks the Masons should," the police official said.

Click HERE to read the entire article. 

(And click HERE to read my recent five-part SALON series about QAnon.)