British Airport security - the rationale

[David Guyatt]

Not content with faking a terrorist threat (as per above thread) just to keep the airlines inside the circus tent, now we're getting the additional spin of further terrorist attacks expected in Germany.

I wonder if the unnamed country is the "international community", more often known as America?

Or might one perceive planned "news management" to eclipse another bigger story - say the EU bailout of Ireland diarized for discussions behind closed doors?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11775436

17 November 2010 Last updated at 13:30

Germany tightens airport security over attacks threat

Extra security measures will remain in place until further notice, the interior minister said

Germany is increasing security at airports and railway stations in light of "concrete indications" of terrorist attacks being planned for the end of November.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said it followed a tip-off from another, unnamed country.

Germany had information on "sustained efforts" by Islamist extremists to carry out attacks, he said.

He said the extra security would remain in place "until further notice".

"There are grounds for concern, but not for hysteria," Mr de Maiziere told a news conference in Berlin.

The federal police force has been ordered to step up checks at airports and train stations, he added.

Yemen connection
Mr de Maiziere said Germany had received a tip-off after two parcel bombs were intercepted en route from Yemen to the United States last month.

October 2010: four German Islamists killed in US drone attack in northern Pakistan, believed to be part of a group which vanished from Hamburg in 2009
August 2010: Hamburg mosque linked to 9/11 attacks closed down on suspicion it is again being used to foment extremism
March 2010: four men jailed for planning explosions and attacks on US soldiers in Germany
2006: Moroccan student in Hamburg, Mounir al-Motassadek, convicted in connection with plotting the 9/11 attacks
Germany reconsiders terror risk
One of the bombs was despatched via the German city of Cologne but was intercepted in the UK.

The Yemen plot showed "the adaptability and the persistence of terrorists in pursuing their aims," Mr de Maiziere said, and also underlines "the reliability of some leads."

Germany would not allow international terrorism to constrict its way of life or liberal culture, he said.

Last year, twelve militants vanished from Hamburg, some to resurface in Northern Pakistan where at least one, but not all were killed in an American drone attack.

Some of the new security measures would be clearly visible, Mr de Maiziere said, but others would not.

The BBC's Stephen Evans, in Berlin, says a month ago, Germany was dismissive of American warnings of attacks. That feeling has now gone.