Of course it’s not a “Clash of Civilizations.” No, no … it’s not blow-back for our participation in America’s War on Terror in Iraq. No, the colonial past of Western Europe in North Africa and the Middle-East can’t be part of a revenge. The planned attack was highly symbolic: Paris’ bolwark of satire and our freedom of speech. Yes, freedom of speech in the nation of enlightenment, the Revolution and liberalism. Well, not all freedom in speech is allowed of course, we have our rules.
We do lack understanding and harm done to other nations and people by acts of agression and so-called pre-emptive war. As I have written and said so often discussed, two decades ago the Western Hemisphere had think-tanks for Peace, all have been replaced by neocons, right-wing mouthpieces of corporate power. NATO states and Obama have helped spread the crisis amongst Arab states, aggravated militancy in North Africa, used military power for regime change in Libya, destroyed the state as Bush had done before in Iraq. Allowed arms and jihadists travel from North Africa to Syria, promoted the militias with intelligence, arms and munitions to overthrow Assad in Syria.
Last week the Obama administration made clear how it stands on the Palestinian issue: “Stand with Israel.” Of course Jerusalem and Palestinian statehood has nothing to do with Islamophobia promoted in the Western Hemisphere. Resolving a crisis? Hope for change is lacking in results. Who to put the blame on?
Charlie Hebdo: 12 morts, une traque sans précédent | Le Figaro |
Trois individus ont tué 12 personnes au siège parisien de Charlie Hebdo en blessant plusieurs autres très grièvement. Les tireurs ont pris la fuite, criant «Nous avons vengé le prophète». Le plan Vigipirate a été élevé à son niveau le plus élevé en Ile-de-France.
“Cet attentat doit libérer (la) parole face au fondamentalisme islamique” (Marine Le Pen)
La présidente du FN Marine Le Pen a estimé que l’attentat devait “libérer (la) parole face au fondamentalisme islamique”. “C’est ma responsabilité de dire que la peur doit être surmontée et de dire que cet attentat doit au contraire libérer notre parole face au fondamentalisme islamique, ne pas se taire, et commencer par oser nommer ce qui s’est passé. Ne pas craindre de dire les mots : il s’agit d’un attentat terroriste commis au nom de l’islamisme radical”, a affirmé Le Pen dans une vidéo diffusée sur le site internet du Front national.
« click for video report
«On a vengé le prophète Mohammed, on a tué Charlie Hebdo» {Le Figaro)Live: Deadly shooting at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo | France24 |
French President François Hollande spoke to the press at the scene and stated that the shooting was “undoubtedly a terrorist attack” [one needs to be an elected president to come forward with such wisdom – Oui], adding that “several terrorist attacks were thwarted in recent weeks”.
The gunmen were armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher, according to sources close to the investigation.The attackers fled the building and their whereabouts are unknown.
France raised its security alert to the highest level and reinforced security at places of worship, shops, media offices and transportation.
Obama on Paris shooting: “It’s a terrorist attack.”
In 2012, the White House criticized Charlie Hebdo’s publication of the caricatures as “deeply offensive to many.” During the September 19, 2012, press briefing, then-spokesman Jay Carney questioned “the judgment of publishing something like this.”
“We know that these images will be deeply offensive to many and have the potential to be inflammatory,” he added a week after the Benghazi consulate raid.
Alternative headline @MoA
Charlie Hebdo – The Chickens Come Home To Roost
Twelve people, including two police, were killed in France when unknown gunmen attacked the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo today.
Some forty people were killed in Saana, Yemen, today in a bomb attack on people who were hoping to enlist with the police. These forty people and the many more wounded in the attack will get much less headlines than those killed in France.
Videos (1, 2) from the attack in Paris show the attackers in black clothing and behaving as if they had at least some military training. They were armed with automatic weapons and, according to the police, with a rocket launcher. At least two attackers are still on the run. We do not yet know the motive of the attackers, but I consider the following more likely than a false flag attack.
In 2011 the magazine Charlie Hebdo was one of those that printed the Mohammed caricatures, a crude and insulting attempt to smear the prophet and all Muslim as terrorists. In 2012 the magazine continued the campaign depicting the prophet Mohammed as naked, attention seeking gnome.
Unlike U.S. “liberals” most of the world does not consider free speech as an absolute right. Indeed like screaming “fire” in a filled theater, insulting the believe of other people is likely to get you hurt in most parts of the world. To claim such insults should not matter is itself an insult in that it declares one culture, that of absolute free speech rights, to be superior to other values. It is indecent.
That the Charlie Hebdo satire was indecent and insulting does not justify the murderous attack, but explains the probable motivation of the attackers.
