THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-August 19, 2017- Topic 2

Barcelona horror

A vehicular attack to maximise casualties and spread panic is now a well-tested terrorist strategy in European cities. Barcelona became the latest urban centre to be so hit when a van ploughed into pedestrians on a busy street, leaving at least 14 dead and more than 100 injured. This is Spain’s worst terrorist incident since the Madrid train bombings of 2004. The Islamic State has, expectedly, claimed responsibility. The plot appeared to be multi-site and involved numerous actors, not just a “lone wolf”. 

This hints at meticulous planning. The police have linked the van attack in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas area to an explosion the previous evening that ripped through a home and killed one person in a town 200 km south of Barcelona. Authorities also saw connections to a second vehicle attack that occurred in the resort town of Cambrils, south of Barcelona. With at least one attacker, the driver of the van, said to be at large, the Spanish government is likely to be grappling with the same question as its counterparts elsewhere in Europe: what options are available to law enforcement to thwart attacks using easy-to-obtain vehicles to grab the headlines? Over the past year, the weaponisation of vehicles has increasingly become the tactic of choice for extremists: it was used in London (March and June 2017, at least 12 killed), Stockholm (April 2017, five killed), Berlin (December 2016, 12 killed), and Nice (July 2016, 86 killed).

If indeed it is established that the IS was behind the Barcelona attack, even if only as an “inspiration” and not in terms of planning or execution, this would call for a renewed focus on containing the jihadist group’s recruitment agenda in Europe. There is a real risk that with the steady erosion of the IS’s territorial control in Iraq and Syria, recently highlighted by its defeat in Mosul, foreign fighters may return from those battlefields to their home countries and focus on carrying out attacks there. European intelligence and security services that were beefed up after a multitude of al-Qaeda-linked attacks through the decade of the 2000s are still fumbling to gain control of this new paradigm of individualised, low-tech terror. Until now it was believed that Spanish intelligence had performed better on this score than France, and perhaps even the U.K. Strained by a lack of resources and suboptimal intra-Europe coordination, France’s intelligence seemed no match for the 2015 IS terror campaign on its soil, which culminated in the death of 130 people in the Paris attacks in November. Spanish authorities, on the other hand, are said to have foiled several major plots in 2008, and “at least 10 separate conspiracies” in 2016, not to mention additional networks reportedly uncovered this year. Notwithstanding these variations, law enforcement agencies across the continent, and elsewhere, now face the unenviable challenge of adapting to the evolving terror tactics of a dispersed, determined enemy.

Vocabulary

Panic: sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior.

Example: She hit him in panic

Synonyms: alarm, anxiety, nervousness, fear, fright, trepidation, dread

Ploughed: move in a fast and uncontrolled manner.

Example: The car plowed into the side of a van

Synonyms: crash, smash, career, plunge, bulldoze, hurtle, careen

Meticulous: showing great attention to detail; very careful and precise.

Example: He had always been so meticulous about his appearance

Synonyms: careful, conscientious, diligent, scrupulous, punctilious, painstaking

Resort: a place that is a popular destination for vacations or recreation, or which is frequented for a particular purpose.

Example: A seaside resort

Synonyms: vacation spot, tourist center, vacationland, retreat, spa, onsen

Grapple: engage in a close fight or struggle without weapons; wrestle.

Example: Passersby grappled with the man after the knife attack

Synonyms: wrestle, struggle, tussle, brawl, fight, scuffle, battle

Enforcement: the act of compelling observance of or compliance with a law, rule, or obligation.

Example: The strict enforcement of environmental regulations

Steady: firmly fixed, supported, or balanced; not shaking or moving.

Example: The lighter the camera, the harder it is to hold steady

Synonyms: stable, firm, fixed, secure, fast, safe, immovable, unshakable

Erosion: the process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents.

Example: The problem of soil erosion

Beef: complain.

Example: He was beefing about how the recession was killing the business

Synonyms: complain, grumble, whine, carp, bitch, gripe, bellyache

Culminate: reach a climax or point of highest development.

Example: The tensions and disorders which culminated in World War II

Synonyms: come to a climax, come to a head, peak, climax, reach a pinnacle

Continent: able to control movements of the bowels and bladder.

Example: We compared the risk of urinary incontinence in the daughters of incontinent women with that in the daughters of continent women

Disperse: distribute or spread over a wide area.

Example: Storms can disperse seeds via high altitudes

Synonyms: scatter, disseminate, distribute, spread, broadcast