Just to be clear, Andy, can you just summarise your position on what you think happened in Cologne and who is to blame for it? I've lost track amidst all the shit flinging that's been going on and am only skim reading this thread now (probably like many others as there are only about 5 or 6 people posting).
OK, lets give this a go...
I want to qualify this right from the beginning by saying this is what I think from the information I have available (largely from this thread and the mainstream media), and I don't think anyone knew two months ago, knows now or will ever know exactly and completely what happened, so the following comes with that caveat attached.
It appears that large numbers of sexual assaults, other assaults and robberies were committed in the crowds around Cologne station, that some were reported to the police at the time, some were possibly witnessed by members of the police at the time, and many of them were committed by people who the victims described as being of foreign appearance. None of that's in dispute, certainly by me. I believe what the victims are saying, including what they say about the people committing the attacks, and I've never said otherwise.
But as the story developed and unfolded, things quickly get muddied and established facts got confused with supposed facts and supposed explanations for those established and supposed facts. There's nothing new or unusual about that, it happens with most news stories.
One thing is that it appears that police were slow to realise the scale of what was happening, which may or may not be understandable given the logistics of the situation as it unfolded on the night, I don't know. It also appears that the police may have been slow to release info to the German media, and that the media may have been slow in reporting the story, which may also be understandable given the confusion and the new-year-and-after holiday.
It's been suggested, right from the beginning, that these delays in responding and reporting were the result of deliberate suppression (motivated by leftie-inspired political correctness, obvs...) I'm utterly skeptical about this, TBH, because I don't think that's how either the police or the MSM work, and because it's an all-too-convenient trope for leftie bashers here and elsewhere to jump on, but jump on it they did, to the extent that it quickly became accepted fact to many, even though there are other equally or more likely explanations which were generally ignored or dismissed out of hand.
It also appears that as time went on and the story unfolded, more victims reported being attacked. There's nothing surprising or suspicious about this, many people who've been assaulted don't report it immediately, for all sorts of reasons, and it's possible that some victims only reported what had happened to them when they realised that it was part of a larger thing that was reported in the media, and that they might otherwise not have reported it, if that makes sense. This doesn't mean, as has been suggested on this thread, that those who mention that some of the victims have only come forward after media reports are in any way doubting what those those victims have said.
As far as the "foreigner" aspect of the story goes, I believe the descriptions given by the victims, and I accept that many/most/even all of the attackers may have appeared to be foreigners, or may have possessed asylum seeker papers (they may even have been foreigners or asylum seekers, though one doesn't follow the other automatically), I'm not seeking to deny or even downplay that.
What I am objecting to is focussing on that aspect (by sections of the media, by far-right opportunists and by the usual leftie-bashers on this thread) to push that as the dominant part of this story, and to whip up a moral panic on the back of it about western women being under threat from sexual-aggressive foreigners, because that's one of the oldest and most well-worn rightwing tropes going, and it's sickening to see it wheeled out yet again.
I hope that answers your question to some extent, though there's probably bits I've missed out, other things I could have said, etc.
