At a time of universally sapped morale, the forces of evil and enemies of decency have gained a temporary upper hand, while the forces of decency and enemies of evil are wondering if they can grab a victory somewhere from the jaws of setbacks.
Item: A week ago today, at a popular park and children's playground in Lahore, Pakistanis were picnicking and generally relaxing in hundreds of groups of families and friends. Some Christians were celebrating Easter Sunday. This upset sensitive men of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar, so the group detonated a massive bomb in the park in order to kill 29 children and 41 adults, and send another 300, some maimed horribly, to the hospital. More on this below.
Item: Five days earlier, terrorists set off three bombs at a subway station and the airport in Brussels. They killed 32 people and the three bombers — mutually exclusive groups. The bombs were so destructive, being filled with nails for example, that the airport is still closed and won't be rebuilt for a year.
Items: A suicide bomber loyal to the Islamic State killed 60 in the market at Hilla, Iraq. A suicide bomber on a Peshawar bus killed 16. A car bomb in Ankara killed 32. A suicide bomber inside a football stadium killed 29 just outside Baghdad. Two female bombers killed 22 at a mosque in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Item: As the Islamic State gleefully slaughtered innocents on purpose, the home-grown terrorist gangs of Thailand blew up prospects of a settlement in the deep South. The Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) answered the public question of the military regime's negotiator, "Are you ready to talk peace?" A car bomb at Pattani and a chilling 30-man assault on the Cho Airong district hospital in Narathiwat, was the definitive answer.
Continuing the guerrilla-style offensive begun to mark the 56th anniversary of their armed uprising, BRN gunmen ambushed a pickup carrying nine policemen involved in investigating the hospital invasion. Three were killed instantly, six wounded. The next day, gangs set off bombs in Yaring district, Narathiwat that killed two elderly residents. In other words, "No talks yet."
It takes a while these days — too long — just to list and summarise events of the new and indefensible campaigns at home and abroad. Enough to say that in the deep South, rebels without much of a cause pose a mortal threat to decent people, a real threat to the economy of the region they supposedly champion, and no threat whatsoever to central power.
There is no question the Thais of the far South have legitimate gripes against Bangkok directives, and real grievances against security forces. There are long memories on both sides. Now, the gangs have switched to a long-range strategy. In a hugely ill-conceived moment, authorities seized all the property of the Jihad Witaya School, making a third major grievance after the Krue Se mosque killings and the Tak Bai mass suffocations.
Can it be worse? Yes, sadly for Europe. After the pro-Islamic State bombings, Belgian authorities called off the citizens' "march against fear", because of fear that security forces could not — difficult to make this up — provide security.
Then it got worse.
It turned out that just before the Brussels bombings, Belgian security forces captured Salah Abdelslam, the accused leader of last November's IS-aligned attacks on Paris. For 24 hours they didn't talk to him because he had hurt his leg during his capture. Then they talked to him for two hours, but broke off because he was tired and had to sleep.
This is a major violation of the First Law of Hole Digging.
This is when interrogators in the other 175 countries and territories bring in the "bad cop" and put on the pressure. Tired detainees are fresh meat for proper interrogators, and it's a shame the Belgians have none. During the two hours they coddled him, they didn't even ask him if he knew anything about planned attacks.
Let's summarise. Belgian police didn't ask Europe's leading terrorist if he knew anything about future attacks. Four days later, their own country was attacked. Mr Abdelslam might have lied. He also might have boasted. We will never know.
The Belgian waffle is far too common, call it lack of resolve or political correctness. Europe has reached a critical stage far different from all other continents.
EU security forces fear that if they move against known terrorists, it could enrage their Muslim communities. Many doubt that, particularly since Thai, US, Australian and all other Muslim communities outside Europe are thrilled when security forces arrest violent men.
If Brussels authorities continue to fear marches against fear, while fearing backlash from their own citizens, then as French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy said to BBC Newsnight last Monday, "Europe might be dying".