Brotherhood on the right

Evidently, the coalescence of white supremacists and Middle Eastern terrorists we've been predicting here is starting to occur north of the border:

Extremists joining forces, CSIS warns: Unlikely partners: White supremacists allying with Islamists, document claims

Experts say Canada's extreme right has been largely in disarray since the 1994 collapse of the Heritage Front, a Toronto-based white supremacist group that united the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations and a U.S. criminal terrorist group called The Order.

But such hate groups have found a common cause recently with Muslim extremists in the Arab world who have been promoting Jewish conspiracy theories and attempting to deny the legitimacy of Israel, experts say.

"The threat from the far right has not disappeared, though it's been overshadowed by the threat from Islamism and Arabism," said Manuel Prutschi of the Canadian Jewish Congress. "And indeed, in some ways, they have re-energized each other. It's a bizarre alliance, but nonetheless there it is."

A source familiar with Canada's extreme right agreed, saying: "The people in leadership of the right wing are always looking for opportunities."

I've been trying to stress this all along: That white supremacists and neo-Nazis clearly view the havoc wreaked by 9/11 as a prime opportunity to "piggyback" on the violence and spread even more chaos. Indeed, that has been their agenda for the past 20 years: To convince the public that their democratically elected government cannot keep them safe; at which they intended to present their authoritarian alternative as the answer. The entire purpose of Oklahoma City, lest anyone forget, was of a piece with this agenda. And it is appearing increasingly likely that the October-November 2001 anthrax attacks were part of the "piggybacking" strategy as well.

Now, remind me again: Who comprises the real "fifth column" in this country?