Many new details about the biography and past criminal history of Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, the Magdeburg Christmas market attacker, have emerged in the past week.
Keeping comment section limited to subscribers because I'm too tired right now to have the same arguments about this event over and over again.
Three points though:
1. Al-Abdulmohsen did not shout "allahu akbar" when police arrested him – that is a bystander calling him a "Hurensohn" (bastard) in the background.
2. Al-Abdulmohsen's tweets calling Wahhabism the "true Islam" do not mean he is a Wahhabist sleeper agent. He is arguing that the Muslim tradition most closely associated with Islamist terrorism is the true Islam and this is why Islam is bad.
3. Al-Abdulmohsen's seemingly pro-Hamas tweet is clearly sarcastic.
Also a belated Merry Christmas to everyone. I am sorry to contaminate what should be a cheerful season with this grim news, and I sincerely hope all of you had a wonderful holiday.
It is unbelievable. I guess his job treating criminal drug addicts at a government hospital was one of the least desirable and hard-to-fill positions imaginable, his Arabic probably considered a rare advantage in a situation like that, and everybody is desperate for migrant success stories.
This happens in the NHS as well: no-one looks too closely in certain departments and units, they just need bums on seats and who cares what happens to the junkies? If their families don't why should the authorities?
Also, how could he have been admitted to training, passed the exams, get a job etc when his German language skills were so poor and he appeared to be so inept? Never mind his clearly poor mental health. I hope this is not reflective of the German medical system.......
This what I was thinking. I know he fell out with one organization, but were their other NGO’s who he was in contact with that assist refugees? I’m just thinking given his mental instability in 2016, the same year he supposedly passed, that just does not make any sense. But that said, here he was making all of these terroristic threats repeatedly and the German government said- yeah, this guy is a winner, lets give him permanent residency.
Well, firstly he probably got his medical degree back in Saudi and it was recognised by the German system when they let him onto the psychiatry programme.
I guess there was a less unhinged stage of his life where he was capable of rote learning and intense study? In many European countries, public sector positions are dependent purely on exam results and not on interviews or demonstrable on-the-job competence.
It does strike me as odd that a qualification in psychiatry wouldn't involve a clinical element of some sort -- where your interactions with patients and colleagues would be observed and assessed -- but it also doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility in highly rigid bureaucratic systems.
Probably did have many years ago. I'd guess that he did not spend much time actually dealing with patients. Maybe not really relevant/essential for what he ended up doing.
That has been laid down as fact all over the place but how does one research a negative? Kinda like finding a case that K. Harris actually first chaired.
But I was illustrating how we seem to be going fast and loose with medical degrees, not necessarily including Whoopi Goldberg bragging that Jill Biden was a medical doctor.
"In Germany, pensioners who call Green politicians “morons” get their houses raided by the police, while insane migrants who promise over and over to commit terrorist acts attract no attention."
That just about sums it up.
eugyppius, even in the midst of a bout with cold you can still write brilliantly! Take your C, D3 and zinc, and get well soon.
Stunning. A cascade of failure encompassing nearly every governmental, legal and law enforcement apparatus covering a wide swath of German cities and states and organizations, all culminating in an horrific and savage mass murder.
I’m a sucker for accountability, like I’d want the papers of Germany to list every single government organization that oversaw every step of this and the individuals responsible for the decisions. That includes the judges. Interesting that he threatened a judge and nothing happened. Now in Germany, someone criticized a convicted rapist and the judge put that person in jail, more time in jail than the rapist himself. Where does the German legal system go from here?
I suppose some badjudge could could issue a misruling that makes explicit the ideology underlying this all: that native Germans are second class citizens; and that correctly hued foreigners may feel free to terrorize them without consequence.
Sorry to hear that you're feeling miserable and hoping you get better soon! And hoping too that you somehow managed to have even a little bit of Christmas cheer--a horrible irony I know, with this your post. But still.
I'd like to know what the all-fuck is wrong with this guy's colleagues/supervisors/head of hospital to have allowed him to treat anyone for anything. That is some shocking dereliction of duty towards patients.
And considering the general derangements of Shia Islam, and the political and religious position of Shias in Saudi Arabia, I suspect this guy was such an obvious flaming mess as he entered Germany that it's almost like there was some general conspiracy--because such a degree of incompetence amongst German authorities of law and order administration is impossible to contemplate, right?--to make Mr. Mayhem welcome. Almost like those Afghan refugees who turned out to be Pakistani operatives that you wrote of earlier.
Well, I ache for all those grieving in Germany right now, and the savaging of the season. What more can one say when words are so little solace?
Thank you for clarifying the situation. This is a story full of red flags seemingly ignored and what is being said on social media is confused accusations and arguments from what I’ve seen
Thanks for dragging yourself from your sick bed for that review of the situation.
I suspect your analysis is right. This bloke is neither a right-wing radical, nor a jihadi but instead some unhinged bloke with a persecution complex. He should never have been let loose within the German health care sector, nor even have been in Germany in the first place.
You could call this a catalogue of missed opportunities to either deport him or put him in a straitjacket but since the people in charge are so loathe to deport anyone, I'm not sure 'missed opportunity' is the correct term. Perhaps 'unwanted opportunity' is more suitable.
Reading this account, two things stand out, the present and the absent:
Present: how could someone who was so clearly defective and suffering from mental issues himself, continue to be employed in the medical psychiatric profession? Even being head of three wards? This is as close as you can get to saying "lunatics taking over the asylum". For those of us here who complain about the failure of the medical profession during covid, this is yet another incident.
Absent: his private/personal life. It appears he had no family or partner in Germany. Was he spurned or repeatedly rejected? In Saudi, arranged marriages are the norm. It is not normal for a man to know how to talk to a woman. He relies on his mom to talk to the girl's mom and convince the girl to marry him. I wonder how much of any malfunction in his personal life, contributed to his general alienation and misconduct. (I am discounting that he is gay because he would have brought that up in his asylum application.)
Eugyppius, I found it very interesting that Al-Abdulmohsen was both insane and canny enough to keep his threats from crossing a line which would trigger arrest. I therefor conclude that those who make oblique threads may be more prone to act than those who make direct "true" threats. Best holiday wishes from California.
I don't think he *did* keep his threats beyond that line, save for "being of a class of person who cannot be charged with such offenses for fear of causing offense.".
After this well-researched history, I think the most surprising thing is that they arrested him even after his murderous attack. I guess he left them no choice, but I suspect they're quite upset that their hand was forced.
Thank you Eugyppius. It is certainly a confusing case and that has played into the hands of more than one set of stock narratives. People often complain that Islamist terrorism is played down by authorities claiming that the perpetrator was 'psychologically disturbed' but here we have a situation where this is clearly the case.
Gute Besserung and thanks for the info :) But don't kill yourself to write an article, just get some rest.
Also, would love some time in the future to hear your expectations for what's going to happen w/ the Bundestagswahl in February. I keep seeing people on twitter reconsidering their personal "firewall" against the AfD but don't (yet) see that reflected in the polls.
If there are but 2 sides to any political discourse now, both are using this clearly unstable and violent man for their own ends. Nobody actually seems to give a sh'+ about the fact that no authorities ordered mental help for him, deported him as being in Germany illegally and also being a threat, and/or decided to.protect German citizens from a madman.
I am thankful US society is not that far gone despite the substantial percentage of self identifying liberals who seem to want privileges for law breakers of certain identity groups (ie - everybody but white guys unless they're progressive), sociopaths, mentally unstable people and the like at the expense of ordinary citizens.
My intuitive explanation for this situation is that the authorities were so desperate to have “good immigrant” success stories, and so nervous about being seen as racist, that they gave this crazy cat 29 lives in the judicial system. If only he had been a 70 year old ethnic German housewife, 5 people would be alive today.
Keeping comment section limited to subscribers because I'm too tired right now to have the same arguments about this event over and over again.
Three points though:
1. Al-Abdulmohsen did not shout "allahu akbar" when police arrested him – that is a bystander calling him a "Hurensohn" (bastard) in the background.
2. Al-Abdulmohsen's tweets calling Wahhabism the "true Islam" do not mean he is a Wahhabist sleeper agent. He is arguing that the Muslim tradition most closely associated with Islamist terrorism is the true Islam and this is why Islam is bad.
3. Al-Abdulmohsen's seemingly pro-Hamas tweet is clearly sarcastic.
Also a belated Merry Christmas to everyone. I am sorry to contaminate what should be a cheerful season with this grim news, and I sincerely hope all of you had a wonderful holiday.
Merry Christmas, get well, and thank you for your ever incisive pieces. It is a joy to go through articles which spare me assumption laden thinking.
💯!!!
Merry Christmas and güte Verbesserung!
Merry Boxing Day!
I celebrated by going and challenging random passers-by to boxing matches.
(OK, I'm joking about that.)
Merry Christmas to you as well. Get well soon. I always appreciate your thoughtful and factual analysis.
How is it possible that this nut retained a medical license?
It is unbelievable. I guess his job treating criminal drug addicts at a government hospital was one of the least desirable and hard-to-fill positions imaginable, his Arabic probably considered a rare advantage in a situation like that, and everybody is desperate for migrant success stories.
This happens in the NHS as well: no-one looks too closely in certain departments and units, they just need bums on seats and who cares what happens to the junkies? If their families don't why should the authorities?
Also, how could he have been admitted to training, passed the exams, get a job etc when his German language skills were so poor and he appeared to be so inept? Never mind his clearly poor mental health. I hope this is not reflective of the German medical system.......
More importantly, how did he actually receive said license?
I was about to speculate they waved most of the requirements during covid, but he passed his exams in 2016. I got nothing.
Maybe he cheated at the exams i.e. paid someone else to do them for him??
This what I was thinking. I know he fell out with one organization, but were their other NGO’s who he was in contact with that assist refugees? I’m just thinking given his mental instability in 2016, the same year he supposedly passed, that just does not make any sense. But that said, here he was making all of these terroristic threats repeatedly and the German government said- yeah, this guy is a winner, lets give him permanent residency.
Someone actually once wanted to pay me money so that I would take an exam for him, in person. I guess this is much more common than you would think.
Yes, perhaps this is more common than you may think?
There was that bit about him not getting credit for something he supposedly studied...
Well, firstly he probably got his medical degree back in Saudi and it was recognised by the German system when they let him onto the psychiatry programme.
I guess there was a less unhinged stage of his life where he was capable of rote learning and intense study? In many European countries, public sector positions are dependent purely on exam results and not on interviews or demonstrable on-the-job competence.
It does strike me as odd that a qualification in psychiatry wouldn't involve a clinical element of some sort -- where your interactions with patients and colleagues would be observed and assessed -- but it also doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility in highly rigid bureaucratic systems.
The language requirements are often surprisingly low and it's not medics who decide to hire, at least not in Britain, it's managers
Does Fauci have a medical license? Serious question if anyone has a minute.
Probably did have many years ago. I'd guess that he did not spend much time actually dealing with patients. Maybe not really relevant/essential for what he ended up doing.
Fauci has never treated a patient.
That has been laid down as fact all over the place but how does one research a negative? Kinda like finding a case that K. Harris actually first chaired.
good points.
But I was illustrating how we seem to be going fast and loose with medical degrees, not necessarily including Whoopi Goldberg bragging that Jill Biden was a medical doctor.
Naturally, he has an MD.
Do you remember the "covid vaccine" mandates and the push for those from the "medical authorities"?
I'd say he fits right in!
"In Germany, pensioners who call Green politicians “morons” get their houses raided by the police, while insane migrants who promise over and over to commit terrorist acts attract no attention."
That just about sums it up.
eugyppius, even in the midst of a bout with cold you can still write brilliantly! Take your C, D3 and zinc, and get well soon.
Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2025!
And take care of yourself, get some rest.
Stunning. A cascade of failure encompassing nearly every governmental, legal and law enforcement apparatus covering a wide swath of German cities and states and organizations, all culminating in an horrific and savage mass murder.
Heads should roll, but where to begin?
A National shame.
I’m a sucker for accountability, like I’d want the papers of Germany to list every single government organization that oversaw every step of this and the individuals responsible for the decisions. That includes the judges. Interesting that he threatened a judge and nothing happened. Now in Germany, someone criticized a convicted rapist and the judge put that person in jail, more time in jail than the rapist himself. Where does the German legal system go from here?
I suppose some badjudge could could issue a misruling that makes explicit the ideology underlying this all: that native Germans are second class citizens; and that correctly hued foreigners may feel free to terrorize them without consequence.
Sorry to hear that you're feeling miserable and hoping you get better soon! And hoping too that you somehow managed to have even a little bit of Christmas cheer--a horrible irony I know, with this your post. But still.
I'd like to know what the all-fuck is wrong with this guy's colleagues/supervisors/head of hospital to have allowed him to treat anyone for anything. That is some shocking dereliction of duty towards patients.
And considering the general derangements of Shia Islam, and the political and religious position of Shias in Saudi Arabia, I suspect this guy was such an obvious flaming mess as he entered Germany that it's almost like there was some general conspiracy--because such a degree of incompetence amongst German authorities of law and order administration is impossible to contemplate, right?--to make Mr. Mayhem welcome. Almost like those Afghan refugees who turned out to be Pakistani operatives that you wrote of earlier.
Well, I ache for all those grieving in Germany right now, and the savaging of the season. What more can one say when words are so little solace?
Thank you for clarifying the situation. This is a story full of red flags seemingly ignored and what is being said on social media is confused accusations and arguments from what I’ve seen
Thanks for dragging yourself from your sick bed for that review of the situation.
I suspect your analysis is right. This bloke is neither a right-wing radical, nor a jihadi but instead some unhinged bloke with a persecution complex. He should never have been let loose within the German health care sector, nor even have been in Germany in the first place.
You could call this a catalogue of missed opportunities to either deport him or put him in a straitjacket but since the people in charge are so loathe to deport anyone, I'm not sure 'missed opportunity' is the correct term. Perhaps 'unwanted opportunity' is more suitable.
'...he complained that “The Muslims in the West receive enormous support,” while “ex-Muslims” like himself “receive little to no support"'
A claim that seems amply refuted by the government's many concessions to his threatening behavior.
I dunno, I think he did an excellent job of proving the case that the German government will ignore offenses committed by auslaender.
Reading this account, two things stand out, the present and the absent:
Present: how could someone who was so clearly defective and suffering from mental issues himself, continue to be employed in the medical psychiatric profession? Even being head of three wards? This is as close as you can get to saying "lunatics taking over the asylum". For those of us here who complain about the failure of the medical profession during covid, this is yet another incident.
Absent: his private/personal life. It appears he had no family or partner in Germany. Was he spurned or repeatedly rejected? In Saudi, arranged marriages are the norm. It is not normal for a man to know how to talk to a woman. He relies on his mom to talk to the girl's mom and convince the girl to marry him. I wonder how much of any malfunction in his personal life, contributed to his general alienation and misconduct. (I am discounting that he is gay because he would have brought that up in his asylum application.)
Eugyppius, I found it very interesting that Al-Abdulmohsen was both insane and canny enough to keep his threats from crossing a line which would trigger arrest. I therefor conclude that those who make oblique threads may be more prone to act than those who make direct "true" threats. Best holiday wishes from California.
I don't think he *did* keep his threats beyond that line, save for "being of a class of person who cannot be charged with such offenses for fear of causing offense.".
Amazing, willful blindness on the part of the authorities. Worse, no apparent single point of failure.
After this well-researched history, I think the most surprising thing is that they arrested him even after his murderous attack. I guess he left them no choice, but I suspect they're quite upset that their hand was forced.
Thank you Eugyppius. It is certainly a confusing case and that has played into the hands of more than one set of stock narratives. People often complain that Islamist terrorism is played down by authorities claiming that the perpetrator was 'psychologically disturbed' but here we have a situation where this is clearly the case.
Gute Besserung and thanks for the info :) But don't kill yourself to write an article, just get some rest.
Also, would love some time in the future to hear your expectations for what's going to happen w/ the Bundestagswahl in February. I keep seeing people on twitter reconsidering their personal "firewall" against the AfD but don't (yet) see that reflected in the polls.
If there are but 2 sides to any political discourse now, both are using this clearly unstable and violent man for their own ends. Nobody actually seems to give a sh'+ about the fact that no authorities ordered mental help for him, deported him as being in Germany illegally and also being a threat, and/or decided to.protect German citizens from a madman.
I am thankful US society is not that far gone despite the substantial percentage of self identifying liberals who seem to want privileges for law breakers of certain identity groups (ie - everybody but white guys unless they're progressive), sociopaths, mentally unstable people and the like at the expense of ordinary citizens.
My intuitive explanation for this situation is that the authorities were so desperate to have “good immigrant” success stories, and so nervous about being seen as racist, that they gave this crazy cat 29 lives in the judicial system. If only he had been a 70 year old ethnic German housewife, 5 people would be alive today.
Bingo