British elections are planned for 8 June 2017.

At the end of a pop concert by US singer Ariana Grande in Manchester, an enormous ‘controlled’ explosion killed at least 22 people and injured 59, as reported by British media. Many of them are children and adolescents, as most of the concert-goers were young people.

The singer is unharmed. The concert hall accommodates 21,000 people. After the blast, panic broke loose, resulting in a mass stampede. It is not clear whether people were also killed in the stampede.

Hours after the explosion, although BBC reported it was not evident what exactly happened, UK police and authorities talked immediately of an act of terror.

Early Tuesday morning, 23 May, British authorities said that the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the explosion. The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Ian Hopkins, stated investigators believe the attack was carried out by a lone suicide bomber “carrying” a homemade device. He was killed by the blast.

The IS-Propaganda agency Amak apparently issued the claim of IS’s responsibility for the deadly blast. Did an independent authority check whether this is indeed true?

The attacker, is now named by US officials (why US officials?) as Salman Abedi, 22, a British citizen, born in the UK. He is told having detonated the improvised explosive device.

Another 23-year-old suspect was apprehended in the south of Manchester. But so far, the Chief Police Officer refused to talk to the media about suspects.

Prime Minister, Theresa May raised the threat warning to the highest level, from ‘severe’ to ‘critical’, saying other attacks may follow. This is the highest security level in the UK. She also urged police to investigate whether the attacker was alone or may have acted as a member of a wider terror group.

The attack is the worst in the UK since 56 people were killed in the 7 July London bombings in 2005.

Both, Theresa May and her election opponent, Labor Leader Jeremy Corbyn expressed their deep sorrow to the victims’ families. All campaign activities for the 8 June elections have been suspended.

Mr. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, proclaiming on what the raised threat level means for the city, said, "there will be additional police officers on London's streets over the coming days - including additional armed officers. You will also see some military personnel around London - they are there to help our police service to keep us safe and guard key sites.”

The head of Counter Terrorism at the Metropolitan Police, Mr. Mark Rowley, informed that “there has been an arrest and there are currently multiple searches and other activity taking place as I speak. However, at this stage it is still not possible to be certain if there was a wider group involved in the attack; 24 hours in we have a number of investigative leads that we are pursuing to manage the ongoing threat.”

All of this points to a rapid militarization of the UK, akin to France. What EU country will be next?

Why would the Islamic State kill children in England, when they know exactly that this provokes further NATO – EU – US military aggression against them? And why in England, just before elections? Do they not know that they incite election results unfavorable to them, unfavorable to the Muslim society, electing the candidate that promises even more discrimination against Muslims? A candidate even less eager to find a peaceful solution in the Middle East?

Of course, they know. ISIS / IS (Daesh), Al-Qaeda and most other terror groups fighting in the Middle East proxy-wars for the West, are the creation of the West. We, The People, should wake up to this reality and see such terror attacks at crucial points in time as what they are – provocations, false flags, to dupe the public into asking for what the establishment, the ruling class wants – more “protection”, like a gradual but ever accelerating militarization of the west.

Even the installation of Martial Law is not far-fetched. Former French President Hollande has tried to introduce it in France’s Constitution ever since the Hebdo Charlie (false flag) attack; so far unsuccessfully (see http://www.globalresearch.ca/germany-and-nato-towards-martial-law-preparing-for-a-fascist-repression-in-europe/5590292  and http://www.globalresearch.ca/french-election-fraud-will-macron-be-able-to-form-a-government/5589262 ).

This gives the Deep State-installed EU government, i.e. Brussels, the legitimacy to clamp down and if needed violently repress protests in European cities, as they may arise with increasing neoliberal financial domination of western economies, imposed austerities, privatization of public services, educations systems, health care – cuts in pensions, in brief, the imposition of a fascist economy. We are almost there, just look at Greece.

-----

As always, the question to ask is Cui Bono? – At first sight it looks like the act of ‘terror’ might benefit Theresa May and her conservative Tories. They propagate clamping down on terrorism, on immigration to keep ‘terrorists’ out. Snap-elections decided without much warning by PM Theresa May, are scheduled for 8 June, just 17 days away from the attack, but enough time to launch massive pro-conservative and anti-Labor propaganda.

Interestingly, Jeremy Corbyn has been making rapid gains lately in the polls. The supposed ‘terror’ attack, may set his gains back and advance the “pro-security” Tory leader, Theresa May. As if Jeremy Corbyn and Labor were against ‘security’ – This is the implied falsehood of the presstitute – foreseeable, like in The Theft of an Election Foretold.

Interestingly too, the recent French elections were also preceded by a terror attack. Just days ahead of the first round of elections, a gunman opened fire on a police car on Champs Élysées, killing one policeman and injuring two, the gunman was immediately killed by French police; the chief witness gone. End of story.

The incident most likely helped propel Macron and Le Pen into the second round. That’s what the dark hands of the ‘system’ wanted. So, it would be easy to focus the propaganda on the self-styled centrist, pro-Europe, pro-globalization, pro-NATO, and naturally, pro-enhanced security, i.e. pro-militarization of Europe, the Rothschild banker, Emmanuel Macron – who eventually ‘won’ in a landslide, against Marine Le Pen, who campaigned pro French sovereignty, against Brussels, against the euro and against NATO.

We will see later this year whether more killing is needed to get Mme. Merkel re-elected.

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a former World Bank staff and worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research, ICH, RT, Sputnik, PressTV, The 4th Media (China), TeleSUR, The Vineyard of The Saker Blog, and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War,

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47129.htmEnvironmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe.