First, the updates:<\/p>\n
Despite the seeming impossibility of the task, the Cologne police have had more success in identifying attackers than at least I had expected would be the case. \u00a0They\u2019ve got a list of 31 suspects so far. \u00a0Countries of origin, according to Der Spiegel<\/a>:<\/p>\n (The U.S.? \u00a0A true American tourist, or someone with dual citizenship?)<\/p>\n It seems to be the case\u00a0that these \u201csex-mobs\u201d (as they seem to now be labelled even in German<\/a>) were coordinated (this Spiegel article<\/a> speaks of a three-digit number of men having planned, well, something<\/em> \u2014 the article is vague as to whether the police don\u2019t know or are unwilling to say more. \u00a0But these attacks follow the same pattern and method as in Tahir Square in Cairo, for example.<\/p>\n A recent article in The Guardian<\/a> describes coordination, based on an eyewitness account:<\/p>\n \u201cI watched for some time as three men who were smartly dressed gave out instructions. One time a group of three or four males would come up to them, be given instructions and sent away into the crowd. Then another group of four or five would come up, and they\u2019d gesticulate in various directions and send them off again.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to Deutsche Welle<\/a> (in English),\u00a0a total of 379 women have now come forward to report attacks, 40% of which involved sexual crimes. \u00a0(UPDATE: \u00a0as of Der Spiegel\u2019s Sunday reporting<\/a>, it\u2019s now 516.) \u00a0And it\u2019s not just Cologne. \u00a0Hamburg\u2019s count<\/a> is now up to 108. \u00a0 Instances were also reported in Dortmund and Dusseldorf<\/a>; in the former city only two complaints have been reported so far, but police presume there are more and are asking women to come forward; in the latter city, there are 11 cases so far \u2014 in both cities the attacks were of the same \u201csex-mob\u201d nature. \u00a0\u00a0Cases have been reported in Berlin <\/a>as well, though only of two attacks, in each case with a single perpetrator, each of whom was a registered refugee, one from Iraq and one from Pakistan, not mob attacks.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most extensive description of the situation I\u2019ve seen so far is an English-language article in Der Spiegel, \u201cChaos and Violence: How New Year\u2019s Eve in Cologne Has Changed Germany<\/a>\u201c, which places the attacks in Cologne in the context of ongoing crime in the area:<\/p>\n The search for the perpetrators initially led the Cologne investigators to a criminal milieu, one that has plagued Cologne for years, especially in nightlife districts or around the train station. It\u2019s typically groups of young pickpockets who use perfidious tricks to snatch wallets, phones and other valuables off unsuspecting pedestrians. The perpetrators dance up to their victims in a pretend celebratory mood, rub up against them and rob them. Those who try to defend themselves are insulted, threatened or even hurt.<\/p>\n In Cologne alone, more than 11,000 people have been robbed in this way in the last three years. According to police, all of the perpetrators have been male and in the majority of cases, they have come from North African countries such as Morocco and Algeria. The authorities are also investigating groups of men from central Africa and Kosovo. One person involved in these investigations has said most of the men have been in Germany for quite some time but only have a \u201ctolerated\u201d immigrant status*, meaning officials could not confirm their country of origin due to missing travel documents. This milieu has little to do with the refugees who have arrived in Germany recently after fleeing places like Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan.<\/p>\n The perpetrators \u2014 among whom are also some Germans \u2014 tend to be between 16 and 25 years old and they usually operate in small groups. On any given day in Cologne, there are about 20 of them on the streets. Conviction rates are low, and when they are made, the result is usually just a fine. Thus far, such penalties have not had a deterrent effect.<\/p>\n But all that may now change \u2014 now that the criminals have moved on from mere thefts and threats. New Year\u2019s Eve may have marked a dramatic turning point. Sexual assaults were perpetrated en masse in several cities, as if coordinated by some invisible hand. Two of the alleged attacks in Cologne ended in rape. These are serious offenses that can hardly be mentioned in the same sentence as the tricks of the pickpockets.<\/p>\n In one rather explosive development, however, authorities in Cologne were able to locate some of the mobile phones that were stolen on New Year\u2019s Eve. In a number of cases, the trail has led to refugee shelters or their immediate neighborhood.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The \u201ctolerated\u201d status, by the way, means that the individual\u2019s claim for refugee status has been rejected, but for whatever reason, they are not eligible for deportation. \u00a0According to Deutsche Welle<\/a>,<\/p>\n Very few refugees are granted full asylum status, which means that their personal persecution by the authorities back home is recognized by the state. Most are offered only \u201ctolerated\u201d status in Germany. These are people whose asylum application has been rejected, but who have not yet been sent home by the immigration authorities. This may be because they are too sick to travel, or because the situation in their home country is too dangerous. In some states, tolerated refugees don\u2019t get money to live on, but only vouchers which they can exchange for food and hygiene products like shampoo. In addition, they must apply every six months to extend their status. In any case, they are expected to leave Germany as soon as possible. This makes their integration almost impossible.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Another DW article<\/a> describes the difficulty these individuals have in finding work, even though (it seems) they are legally allowed to work. \u00a0This seems to be a status similar to the \u201cTemporary Protected Status\u201d in the U.S. \u00a0Hence, it\u2019s technically correct that these people are not refugees, but neither are they individuals who immigrated as guest workers, or with some other status.<\/p>\n Political repercussions continue. \u00a0Deutsche Welle reports<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe most important thing is that the facts about what happened [in Cologne] are spoken about openly and bluntly. Terrible things happened, and we must respond to them,\u201d Merkel told an audience of fellow members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at a meeting in Mainz.<\/p>\n Under Germany\u2019s current laws, asylum seekers are only sent back if the government sentences them to three-year jail terms and deems they will not be in danger if they\u2019re sent back to their countries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should ask ourselves whether it might be necessary to take this away earlier [than is currently the case], and I have to say that for me, we must take it away sooner,\u201d Merkel said, the first time she has explicitly called for a change to the law, according to AFP news agency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here in the U.S., there\u2019s a lot of \u201cI told you so,\u201d\u00a0as sites\u00a0such as the National Review place this into a context of a Muslim\/Arab culture which accepts or even encourages this sort of action. \u00a0For instance, \u201cEuropeans Studiously Ignore Muslim Mobs<\/a>\u201d by John O\u2019Sullivan, says that underlying these attacks is a sense of superiority on the part of Muslim men, whcih originated from a set of rules<\/p>\n includ[ing] capital punishment for leaving Islam (a.k.a. apostasy), which is presumably a disincentive to doing so; strict rules for regular public prayer, which strengthen group solidarity; a privileged position for men over women, amounting in practice to ownership of them as either wives or concubines; a hierarchical structure within Islamic society that places Muslims in a position above non-Muslims in law, government, and social life; and a religious orthodoxy that endows Muslims with a general superiority (and sense of superiority) over others in non-Islamic societies.<\/p>\n Taken together, these rules help to shape a Muslim community that is cohesive, conscious of its separation from the rest of society, resistant to influences likely to undermine its cohesion, self-policing through its male members, and \u2014 because its sense of superiority is not reflected in its actual status either locally or globally \u2014 prey to resentment and hostility toward those whom it blames for its unjust subordination.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n