French police officer after Paris attacks.

Politics

إننا في حالة حرب

Nov 16, 2015 Dominique Moisi

باريس ــ عرف الباريسيون، منذ الهجمات الإرهابية التي جرت في شهر يناير على المجلة الساخرة شارل إبدو ومتجر الأطعمة اليهودية الحلال، أن البربرية أصبحت قاب قوسين أو أدني منهم، وأنها ستوجه ضربة ثانية. بيد أن معرفة الشيء وتوقعه أمر ليس كمثل مواجهة هذا الواقع المرير. وفي مساء الجمعة صفعتنا الحقيقة بهذه الرغبة في الانتقام. إننا في حالة حرب. ومن الخطأ، بل والخطير، ألا نعترف بذلك. ولكي ننجح يتطلب الأمر الوضوح والوحدة والحزم.

فوضوح التحليل هو ما نحن في أمس الحاجة إليه. ونحن نكاد لا نعرف عدونا، باستثناء شدة كراهيته وشراسة وحشيته. ولفهم استراتيجيته، علينا الاعتراف به على ما هو عليه: خصم ذكي ومنطقي بطريقته الخاصة. لقد استهنا به وقللنا من شأنه لفترة طويلة للغاية، والآن نحن في أمس الحاجة لتغير هذه النظرة.

في الأسابيع القليلة المنصرمة أفضت استراتيجية الإرهاب التي يتبناها تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية إلى الموت في شوارع أنقره وبيروت وباريس وفي سماء سيناء. ولا تدع هوية الضحايا مجالا للشك في الرسالة "الأكراد، الروس، اللبنانيون، الشيعة، الفرنسيون: أنتم تهاجموننا، لذا سنقتلكم".

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 40 Comments on this article

Romeo Andersson Nov 24, 2015

"We are, after all, engaged in a political battle with the Islamic State, one in which our love of life must prevail over their love of death".
This one sentence says the truth and the whole story. We are waging a war to defeat death and make life ALIVE and WELL with all out values of freedom, liberty, democracy, and secularism in all walks of life.
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george sos Nov 24, 2015

Who are these "we"??
Because as far as i am concerned,I am not a friend of Turkey,even though Greece is still a member of NATO(which we should really reexamine today).
"We" are not the ones who will give their blood to save Erdogan and his bosses(Obama are you there ?).
In short,if anyone plans the WW3,they better remember ,this is not 1940.
People are informed and fed up with the makings of the "politicians",the servants of the few.
We are not going to play this game.
If USA wants war with Russia,they can fight it themselves and far away from us and our homes......
In other words,USA frack off.Religious idiots too.
Religious idiots,war loving investors and human hating perverts all in one basket.And then set it on fire......
These subhumans must be eliminated.
First from our consciousness.Then physically.
.Enough already with the myths of christianity,Islam,and what have you. It is the 21st century stupid!You are not allowed to be ignorant.No one is.
NATO is a gang of blood thirsty soldiers serving the interests of few rich ,not an alliance of countries and peoples.
Exactly like all the undemocratically created institutions that have a sole purpose ,to keep us all under control(call me Euroarea) ..
Again,Turkey should meet the full force of Russia united with all of our countries that have an interest to keep peace and clear the space of the islamic fanaticism and perversion.And send the yankees home.(since they are useless anyway)
As for Israel ,it better start working with its neighbours to achieve a peace ,by sharing not by trying to eradicate palestinians (call me holocaust)in order to steal land(under the cover and context of some religious difference)
No,there is no truth in religion and hypocrisy.
So we really must somehow stop it.
Ban them from all the earth.
Lets make a difference,lets make the 21st century revolution,Ban Religions .(in the public sphere anyway).
If you want to pray to some imaginary guy ,it s up to you,but you do it only at your privacy,not in public and not on our expense.Same goes for all religions of course.
Lets keep churches only as museums of an age old idiocy we must never run into again.ever!.(I know we are not yet out!!:):)but i am hoping ..)
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Bala Subramanian Nov 23, 2015

With all due respect, Dominique Moisi, 'We are war" simply perpectuate the myth, that there at least two separate entities: "US" and "Them" just as the myth of "Quality" and "Quantity" which you yourself have said is a "crude formulation". These are meaningless groupings and have been the root cause of the 21st century wars. Please let us not make 21st century and extension of the ill-conceived 20th century. The "clarity of analysis" you seek and advocate, begins by knowing, there is no collective identity. There are only individual-identities and a collection of individuals, be it called Europe, Middle East, Muslim, Christian and any other variety are mere theoretical formulations and are not real-identities. They may be appropriate for administrative/statistical comparisons/analysis but in reality are unfounded and not-real. War is not a legitimate mechanism be is waged by administrators or by opposition to administrators. If you seek, honestly, peace and well-being for the entire humanity, we need to stop "counter-terrorism" before "terrorism" can be blamed. Hate/Evil is not destroyed by "hate-less"/"evil-less" war. They are one and the same. There is no "righteous war" either by the administrators or by their oppositions. "Clarity of Analysis" should make it possible for all of us to come to the table and negotiate continually and make it possible to help/serve one another all the time as suggested in this discussion: http://synergism-inc.blogspot.com/2015/08/transcapes-as-methodology-process-to.html
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de Lafayette Nov 23, 2015

WHY WE ARE AT WAR (PART 1)

If we do not understand from our mistakes, then we will likely repeat them. (paraphrased from Santayana, a Spanish-American philosopher).

The French newspaper Le Figaro carried an excellent article in its magazine recently titled "Daesh - The Mysterious Enemy" (by J-M Conin). It portrays adequately what we are up against – and more importantly why.

Here is a résumé of that article:
*Daesh was born of the handiwork of one person. A certain Hadij Bakr who was a colonel in the army of Saddam Hussein and a Sunnite. (The Muslim world is divided into a number of sects, the Shiite being the majority), the Sunni, the Kurds, etc.)
*Bremer, practically upon installing himself in Baghdad, made a very bad political calculation. He decided to put aside any and all who had anything to do with Hussein’s army. The officers were held forcibly in a place called Camp Bucca run by the American army. Bakr was a prisoner there. Bremer, however, chose a certain Ahmed_Chalabi, a Shiite.
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de Lafayette Nov 23, 2015

WHY WE ARE AT WAR (Part 2)

*Chalabi was from a rich Baghdadi family and when Hussein came to power he left Iraq, spending most of his time between the US and the UK, whilst obtaining a very suspicious political reputation in the US. He was suspected by the French to be an Iranian agent. Nonetheless, Chalabi was made head of the new Iraqi government by the Bush administration.
*His first move was to consolidate as much power as possible. To do so, he isolated the Sunnite members of the elected parliament, giving them only token positions in government. Thus, the Sunnites felt that – because of Saddam – they had no future in politics in Iraq. Most Sunnites live in the north of Iraq, where the major city Mosul is located.
*In Camp Bucca, Bakr had managed to coalesce around himself a Sunnite officer-corp, created Daesh and skillfully established in 2010 as its figurehead Abou Bakr al-Baghdadi, a fellow prisoner who had pursued Koranic studies at university in Baghdad. Daesh is run by the ex-Saddam officer-corp, and not al-Baghdadi. These officers are very adept soldiers, even if they lost war. They preferred, however, whiskey to Koranic lessons.
*Bakr moved his organization from Baghdad to the Syrian capital of Raqqa, which they took easily since Syria’s president (Bashar Assad) could not defend it. Daesh became a full-fledged government (a state, in fact) with heads of agencies, taxation as well as a police force; and became a “Caliphate”. From Raqqa, Daesh took not only the Syrian oil-fields to the east, but beyond to Sinjar and Mosul (where there was stored hundreds of millions of dollars in gold bullion). Daesh became rich literally overnight. In Mosul, the Shiite Army, numerically stronger, broke and ran at the first sight of the Daesh irregulars. Chalabi’s fate was sealed by this defeat.
*The Kurds are a third Muslim sect and, therefore for Daesh, the enemy. However, the Kurds know how to fight and have effectively resisted Daesh remaining an independent state within Iraq.
*Bakr died in 2014, and since Daesh has been run by the officer-corp that he had established. Since having consolidated their “state” in both Syria and in parts of Iraq, they have now moved onto an International Front – where they threaten the western-nations who – finally – have decided (after Paris) that “something must be done”.
*Which is a bit late in the game, given the damage and destruction that could have been avoided had the Bush Administration not been so abysmally incompetent.
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Milton Kotler Nov 23, 2015

Professor Moisi,
We have had plenty of analysis over the past years, which has accomplished nothing. Enough of academic theory! What we need is leadership action. While academicians may know little, the military and intelligence services know a great deal. They have no leaders to execute their knowledge and plans of action.

Forget unity and support national leadership. Drams of Unity will get us no where.

You urge realism, but are an idealist. The Islamic terrorists attack precisely because we are buried in analysis and denounce national leadership.

We are not in a political battle, but a military battle. Academicians recede; let national leaders lead.

Milton Kotler
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Steve Hurst Nov 22, 2015

'We are at War', D Moisi

Nope, they are here and embedded already. They are our citizens. If we are at war it is with ourselves. How do you propose to win that militarily. Please let me know

As for the far off, or too near lands of the ME, it is clear 'we' cannot stay there in perpetuity which means local ownership of the problem - which has been in short supply so far

In short - the thinking that got us here is on display again but I guess if you dont know where you are going any road will get you there
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Akbar Montaser Nov 22, 2015

Regrettably, Professor Moisi offers no solution. Unity is required? Good finding! Obviously,an elementary school student knows unity is required in any war. The author has neglected the source of problems! I suggest reading an article in NYT about:

How ISIS Defeats Us
Ben Wiseman; 11/21/15

The relevant questions are: 1) who created ISIS? How ISIS was created?

Here is the answer. Professor Moisi should watch the following Video:

https://www.facebook.com/UniversalFreePress/videos/1109286879117550/

Let us ask who really bombed the Russian Airliner this month? It is very simple. In any event in life, must not colors fit together?
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Allan Bleiken Nov 22, 2015

AS YOU SOW, SHALL YOU REAP
Islamic terrorism began with the colonization of foreign territories by the colonial nations. It was further exacerbated by the Treaty of Versailles, which empowered colonial countries, including France and Britain, to occupy and pillage other peoples. If this was not enough, the Americans joined the party and invaded and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan. As documented in numerous reports and studies, the level of terrorism goes hand in hand with invasion and occupation. Given that Western Powers, using conventional warfare methods have proven totally inadequate in fighting guerrilla wars, their option is to bomb a country into dust and to let someone else do the fighting for them.

This just does not work. After allocating $100 million to train foreign nationals to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and achieving a grand total of five questionable fighters in return, the Americans have now decided to just give weapons to rebel groups in the hope the will be used against ISIS. As evident in media reports, many of these American weapons land up in the hands of ISIS. Another losing strategy.

The reality is that Western Countries need to mind their own business and let other countries decide their own fate. What gives America the right, with less than 5% of the world's population, to dictate international policy to the world. What gives NATO the right to bomb other countries such as Libya, with an outcome far worse than existed before. The pretext of going to war to protect citizens in another country does not hold, water. If it did, the first priority would be African nations, who have been slaughtering their people for decades. Let's face it, the major nations of the West, still have a colonial mentality in which they think they have the right to invade and dictate to other people. It just does not work any more. Stay home, mind your own business, and you will not have terrorism.
- de Lafayette Nov 22, 2015
  
  '{The reality is that Western Countries need to mind their own business and let other countries decide their own fate.}
  
  And what do we do about the attacks as in Madrid (240 killed) and in Paris (130 dead)? Just fold our arms and walk away insouciantly?
  
  Because with your attitude, there will be no reason whatsoever for Daesh to stop their killing spree.
  
  If Americans have been saved from any massive killings by Daesh, it is because the country is further away and a bit more difficult to enter.
  
  But the Syrian Daesh is patient - very, very patient ... and they have plenty, really plenty of "kamkazis" who want to die for their extreme kind of the Muslim religion (and the 40 virgins waiting for them with open arms).
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eusebio manuel Nov 22, 2015

Western democracy is more advanced development of the world We have the power to put an end to regional conflicts in the world
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de Lafayette Nov 22, 2015

KNOW THY ENEMY

This war is no less religious in nature as was in Europe the Hundred Years War of Protestants and Catholic. This one is even older reaching back to the schism in the 7th/8th century between the Sunni and the Shiite. The former being the predominant religion amongst the Muslims.

That may or may not be a minor point in the confrontation with Daesh. Except for the fact that no Sunnite Army is likely to want to fight a Sunni Daesh. This is despite the fact that Daesh was on a roll when it leaped from its position in Eastern Syria and literally waltzed into northern Iraq where there is a large population of Sunnites. They were literally bankrolled by the gold they found in the banks in Mosul – because this was “home ground” to Saddam Hussein and obviously, as a Sunnite, he favored “his people”. (Lest we forget, Hussein’s sons were killed in shoot-out in Mosul.)

Also, I ask in this forum yet again, why is Turkey so reluctant to not fight Daesh? Why did they not even cut off the Oil Money that Daesh was earning from the Syrian oil-wells? Because Turkey is a majority Sunnite nation*. Which is why Putin is proposing, and the US/France are refusing, that the Alawite (Shiite) Bashar Assad, the President of Syria, retake what was lost to Daesh.

So, before this farce gets more curious, if we (the West) know who or what is the enemy, we should settle upon a Battle Plan. Because, in a ground war, the US has already proven that a standing army (i.e., foot-soldiers with proper training and superior firepower) can indeed defeat a Sunni-led Army of Ragtag Youngsters with Kalashnikovs. Because this Sunni Army is commanded by exactly the same Sunni officers who fought and lost Hussein’s war.

They had all come together at Camp Bucca when prisoners (of the US Army) near Baghdad, and after their release (somewhat stupidly by the US) they were reformed by a Hadj Bakr to create Daesh (with a so-called Islamic Caliphate run by a figurehead “al Baghdadi”) …

* http://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/assets/4231075/sunni_shia_nasr.jpg
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Odyssios Redux Nov 22, 2015

Indeed we need clarity, and it's exactly this which is missing here. We're not 'at war' in any meaningful sense. There is a struggle - a very vital one - in progress, but that's not 'war' in any conventional sense, and a 'war' style response if indiscriminate bombing will only bring about more. My evidence? The past 25 years (since 'Gulf One') of just this. All we succeed in doing is worsening our position. We need no hand-wringing examinations of 'why do they hate us?' They've told us plainly! They want us out of the middle east. So be it. We've been dealing with a successful Caliphate-style government for decades - the Saudis. There is NOTHING ISIS has done that the Saudis haven't.Their style of theocracy is exactly Wahhabism; their behavior towards internal dissidence is that of ISIS - beheading and mutilation. They are also responsible for financing the spread of Wahhabism in the Islamic world, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia. So let's pin blame where it's due. Also, it would help if we'd acknowledge that the Turkish government has by failing to secure its southern border, failed to impede the flow of volunteers and weapons, south to ISIS-controlled regions. Plus, the Turks have oppsed - bombed, even - the Kurdish forces which are the only ones (US included) that have succeeded in slowing the geographic growth of ISIS. Whose side are they on? Their own, of course. Clearly their agenda is not ours.

The only responsible and successful way of dealing with the threat is by patient, intelligent police and security-department work - such as has followed the Paris attack. You'll note that not one of the people in Belgium who have been arrested, have been bombed; yet they've been successfully countered.

Any move to bomb, or invade, CANNOT FAIL TO BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO THEIR STATED AIMS. If we can't see this, then to be direct, we don't deserve to 'win' this struggle. It's with a rabid religious, not political, opponent, of a kind Europe has forgotten it once represented itself. And certainly forgotten how to counter.
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Luc Lapointe Nov 22, 2015

I like George Orwell's book 1984 - the party’s slogan War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength as good examples of double thinking. Though contradictory by definition, they are both accepted as correct, simultaneously, by the citizens of Oceania. This means that even though Oceania is in a constant state of war, the people are acting like there is peace as well, hence they can easily switch from one emotion to the other, in accordance to what The Party asks of them.

So if War is Peace ...eventually someone may want to end this and both sides will begin negotiating!? Looking at an examples (like Colombia) where the 50 years of war have created so much damage, violence, murders - they are now talking peace.
There were not too many options
1) Fight until they give up
2) Negotiate
The government with the help of Norway and many others have now come up with the "imperfect peace accord" where the one that have committed horrible crime will not go to jail, will not be extradited to the USA for drug trafficking, will become an official political party, and yes the get to keep the money that they have robbed.

All f this in the name of peace because the other is to continue fighting and that also has a cost.

Let's just imagine that the French Government decides to end the conflicts - are the families? citizens? and the world ready and willing to extend the same privilege to ISIS?
I don't really like this bank but I love this sentence that is part of their album - "The Cynic Spoke War, The Fool Spoke Peace, The Beloved Spoke Forgiveness"
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Tamer Kirac Nov 22, 2015

It's OK for a page of commentary. However, it's no solace for the pain and suffering that still continues.

The battlefield is not expected to be where the long term solution lies.
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Can Calhan Nov 17, 2015

The physical existence of the ISIS in the protected zone enables the organisation to conduct military, ideological training and strength its financial situation. This has to be stopped by ending the physical occupation of the organisation. However, the lasting solution still remains waiting. As long as there is no effective and efficient solution to the ideology, experiencing such organisation under different name is always possible.

I believe the Muslim countries, Muslim organisation, Muslim institutions and influentialMuslim individuals should come together and give an name to the child has been growing out of the Islam.
The issue became an issue of the West. The confrontation of the West with such ideologies has been increasing the cultural tension. The wrong perception that the West is against the Islam influences many Muslims to establish a association of sympathy with jihadists.
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Krishnananda Kini Nov 17, 2015

Unless shameful medieval religious practiced proudly, resulting Gender inequality is banished in large scale, no other money spending efforts will stop the Religion in question, breading militants continuously,
who wanted to enjoy Burqa and Polygamy in this life and 73 waiting Virgins in the Heaven.
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michael CROCKETT Nov 17, 2015

Mr Moisi does the west no service by overrating the intelligence of ISIS. Attacking open free societies using force and cruelty is not difficult, and the fact that some of these disaffected muslims have done so does not make them especially clever.

It is being said that the main purpose of this attack by ISISis to create tensions between Muslim communities and other inhabitants of the western countries. I do not believe this is their aim, I think they are completely uninterested in what we think. I think their aim is to revenge the killing of their friends by the countries bombing them, and our aim should be to react by bombing them a great deal more effectively.

The likely drawing together of Russia and the west in this situation is a very positive result for both the west and for the unfortunate population of Russia.
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jagjeet sinha Nov 17, 2015

France has in history repeatedly shown the way forward - and Europe needs France to lead by example of its mind.
The future of not only Europe but The Mediterranean depends on France - a Region home to Two Global Religions and source of hope.
The desire to transplant a form of governance - that provides a template successful in many Geographies - renders many illegitimate.
The black hole created in Stateless Sanctuaries then unleashes violence - Afghanistan Iraq Libya Syria - and Civil warfare.
Bombing Religions only strengthens the resolve for billions and an enemy become a a rallying template.
The answers must always be found amongst the belief and the believers - Billion plus Clubs perhaps the best possibility.
Legitimacy of leadership ought to be sourced from within - and accountability for intransigence must remain.
Each one of us answerable to the Almighty in our own ways - answerable nevertheless.
France will find the answer - and lead the way as best as it always has.
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Mr Econotarian Nov 17, 2015

What kind of training ground do you need to walk into a concert hall and shoot some people with an AK-47?

Each Paris attacker on average killed about 19 people, a much lower total than the Virginia Tech shooter, 23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people with two handguns.

This is not a war. These are terrorists, and not very good ones. At least some of the 9/11 terrorists needed to learn how to fly a plane.
- Rik Rijs Nov 17, 2015
  
  Moisi was a strong defadvocate of ousting Khadafi. The fall of Khadafi, strange as France is supporting many dictators ib Africa, brought chaos and civil war, killing thousands. When will Moisi apologise for his errors? It's just another self declared expert who only showed to be dead wrong. France deserves better.
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Curtis Carpenter Nov 17, 2015

One hopes France will learn from recent U.S. mistakes and remember the maxim that revenge is a dish best served cold.
- michael CROCKETT Nov 22, 2015
  
  The quote about revenge being a dish best served cold always seems to be the very opposite of striking while the iron is hot. I prefer the latter.
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Procyon Mukherjee Nov 17, 2015

The war cry makes a such a stunning connection with the populace, look where the fiscal austerity is headed.

The intransigence we have seen through the past several years to spend anything remotely connected with the public, now makes a sweeping correction. From drones to all kinds of sophisticated gadgets for warfare would now have all the requisite backing it needs, from public money of course.
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Zsolt Hermann Nov 17, 2015

Again it is the comments that are reassuring, they paint a much more real picture than the article.

We have no chance of 'winning" this war, which is a "war of values" based on our present paradigm, societal values.
As basically all the other comments conclude an empty, cynical, value-less Western society - only concerned about cheap, immediate material pleasures and short term exploitation of whatever we can put our hands on - have no strength or validity to defend itself against any extremist forces whether they are coming with religious, political or any other ideology.

The article mentions unity which is a positive thing.
But for real unity, mutual responsibility, mutually complementing cooperation individuals and nations would need to give up their inherent, instinctive selfish and greedy calculations, their ruthless competition, success at the expense of others. And such fundamental change cannot happen overnight.

What I fully agree with from the article is the need for clarity. We have to clarify the real causes behind the spread of this terror, as we have to identify the real causes behind our deepening, multi-faceted global crisis.
And then we would need to understand that when people are sitting on the same sinking boat it does not matter who is drilling holes underneath whom we all sink and drown.
It is our value-less, purposeless, hedonistic lifestyle and inner weakness the extremists are exploiting exactly as it happened at the collapse of the Roman Empire.
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Peter Schneider Nov 16, 2015

The most telling line in this essay is "we need firmness [...] in defending our values, especially adherence to the rule of law". First in the currency crisis and now in the border crisis, our elites have proven over and over again that they don't care much about the rule of law. They still call this system "democracy" where democratic elections become meaningless, unlegitimated bodies take the decisions, puppet governments pretend normality and state media narcotize the public. Our political class rules with lies and more lies from morning to night. They are themselves the reason for the weak and discordant Europe. With their misguided ideology they have destabilized Europe and they continue destabilizing Europe day in day out. They produce chaos and more chaos - and this political class shall win the war? I don't trust them.
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Petey Bee Nov 16, 2015

Yes, clarity would be excellent, and it is precisely this quality that will be impossible in the coming days and weeks. The intelligent recognize that they ought to avoid important or irrevocable decisions when emotionally compromised.
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Adrian Lucas Nov 16, 2015

Compared with Robert Skidelsky's article 'The Decline of the West Revisited' (16 Nov), this article by Dominique Moisi is a poor one.

Concepts and phrases used are poorly-thought-out, and here are 2 examples not addressed in earlier comments:
1. "adherence to the rule of law"
Is it not a fact that Isis takes 'adherence to the rule of law' extremely seriously? Obviously not adherence to UN law, nor to international law, nor to Syrian law, nor to Iraqi law, but to Isis's variation of sharia law? But however awful its law, Isis is arguably more committed to the principle of adherence to the rule of law than the likes of Fifa, VW, HSBC, BNP, Petrobras.
In other words, 'adherence to the rule of law' is not a criterion by which one can judge whether a society is a just society or a good society: it depends on the rule of law adhered to, and to the constitutional processes by which those laws are agreed upon and drafted.
2. 'love of life' vs. 'love of death'
The West's love of life is also founded on death, even if not to the same extent as the Isis's love of a sharia-founded caliphate 'free of sodom and gomorrah'. The West's 'love of death' takes the forms of 'collateral damage' (=the explicitly implicit deaths of those without a voice), and includes not just the deaths of tropical forests, death of coral reefs, death of species, death of glaciers, death of Pacific islands, death of indigenous cultures, but also the excess deaths of humans due to diesel pollution (VW), diabetes (CocaCola) and tobacco (Philip Morris). Supporting the West's religions of 'free' circulation and cool gadgets is a toxic materialism of metals and plastics, and destructive extractive industries. The project of Isis seems, to me, to be absolutely nihilist; but is not the project of the West rather more nihilist that we admit it to be?
- Oswaldo de Mello Nov 22, 2015
  
  These are the wounds of civilization we have built. Stop hypocrisy!
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- Petey Bee Nov 16, 2015
  
  Adrian Lucas -- you bring up important points.
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M M Nov 16, 2015

It is like declaring war on one self, a self-defeating declaration from a failed statesman. By the way, where is Merkel in all of this…in hiding..? Hollande has better start getting his own house in order first. Putin this evening said it all at the G20 meeting, with “substantive and documented evidence”.
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hari naidu Nov 16, 2015

Dominique, the notion that France is at war, as Hollande has just now proclaimed in front of the National Assembly, sitting in Versailles, is not only absurd; but absolutely false from historical perspective.
Why didn't the state counter-intelligence apparatus not prevent the tragedy from taking place, is a more serious policy issue for Hollande to answer to French public.
And, BTW, the ring leader was a French citizen!
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Max Isert Nov 16, 2015

I wrote/commented the following weeks ago here on Project Syndicate: ''Max Isert SEP 30, 2015

What I do not understand is, where NATO is in all of this? If there ever was a case for Article 5, this ''Immigration Invasion'' is one, in my humble opinion.

If there ever was a need for Collective Defence, it is now. Granted this ''Immigration Invasion'', is not an armed attack, yet, but I think it is just a matter of time until it will be.'' - http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/european-solidarity-refugee-crisis-by-joschka-fischer-2015-09

Use NATO forces now, to secure the borders of Europe. Do Not send them to the Middle East. Keep bombarding ISIL from the air and keep supporting the Kurds in the struggle against the extremists, but do not send European troops to the Middle East. I repeat, use NATO troops to lock down Europe and make it the ''Fortress Europa'' now, secure the Schengen area with these troops, patrol the waters in the Mediterranean. Stop the Islamic Immigration Invasion into Europe! This is the only way to stop attacks like this from happening again, and to prevent Europe from collapsing, economically as well as politically.
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Francesco D'Allessandro Nov 16, 2015

Mr. Moisi we have been at war since the 1980's. Have you forgotten the Beirut attack (carried by Iranian proxies) on the French barracks in 1983? Many in the global community haven't... yet Iran wasn't castigated for it even though the Ayatollahs in 2004 erected a monument in Tehran commemorating the "martyrs" of this heinous terrorist misdeed. When you state that ISIS threatens Russia and Iran you are right but let us be clear that Iran is also part of the problem. Yes we are at war against radical Islamic groups both Sunni and Shia; we've been in a war of attrition and it will continue to rage on until our elected officials delete from their mind-set the political correct posturing and act accordingly to the threat we face. It's not clarity of analysis what is lacking but the will to act against those who want to destroy our Western culture. Our intelligence communities know where the enemies recruit from: mosques and madrassas; they know that Iran supports Hezbollah; they know which Middle Eastern countries assist ISIS whether in the funding of their vision or purchasing their oil. The clarity is there. What is absent is the political will to initiate the appropriate belligerent measures and until the day comes where we act rather than verbally spouting bravado sound bites or misleading statements (such as President Obama did a day before the Paris attack as to having ISIS contained), the enemy will persist in their pursuit of annihilating our liberal world order...and by the way Mr. Moisi, former President George W. Bush did make mistakes but he didn't start the conflict; Iran did and let's not forget.
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Michael Public Nov 16, 2015

Yes, you are at war - but it is not a war that can be won with airstrikes, drone strikes, surveillance programs, propaganda programs or economic sanctions. In fact, in a perverse way, the harder you squeeze these zealots the harder they will hit back. Next attack might be 80 soldiers, not 8, and so on. The answer is lies in something that the west will not like to hear. The answer lies in changing the western thinking and behavior to make it less a 'materialistic extremism' as juxtaposed against the Islamic "religious extremism' . Since the West is not much interested in mitigating their viewpoint I think we can settle down for a long period of strike and counter-strike to the point where it ends up like a bigger version of the Israeli-Palestine stalemate.
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dan baur Nov 16, 2015

Perhaps something's wrong with France too - immigrants have perpetual second-class status there, and your society makes no effort to integrate them. Furthermore, the "secular" (read atheistic) French society persecutes Muslims, Christians and even Jews by not allowing them freedom of religious expression.
- Mr Econotarian Nov 17, 2015
  
  Immigrants and the descents of immigrants are second-class citizens in France in large part due to restrictive labor laws. They have difficulty finding work because no one will take a chance on hiring someone they don't know well who they also can't fire. France would go a long way to less racial division if employers could hire and fire without restriction.
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M M Nov 16, 2015

Monsieur Moisi, You are very much wrong again. The world has been at war since the 1st Iraq war. The kind of war (s) that humanity has been living ever since then is not a ”traditional type of war”. It is rather a war of “conflicts of interests”, albeit under the banner of a specific ideology, faith/beliefs, political / financial power, cultural, etc. The enemy is very well known and is called “Greed” and “Misinformation” or as one of my fellow commentator has called it “cancer”. Has anyone ever asked what is leading these guys to blow themselves up for no reason? Besides publicity (which in their own mind falls under the category of immortality”), there is the issue of a “perceived social injustice”. 24 hours before the Beirut bombing and therefore 48 hours before the Paris bombing (and incidentally they are both very much linked), the Lebanese SS caught a young Syrian (after disarming him) at 4am riding his scooter in an irrational manner in the suburb of Tripoli in the North of Lebanon. He was wearing an explosive belt and fully armed. He tried to blow himself up but was not successful due to a fault with the detonator. This guy was so high on drugs that the Lebanese SS could not interrogate him until yesterday. In the meantime of course both the Beirut and Paris incidents happened. This guy admitted yesterday that his true intention was to blow himself up in one of the Shia neighborhoods and admitted everything to the Lebanese SS (full names, bomb manufacturing places, intermediaries, recruiters, etc.). These aforementioned sequences of events have been released and are publicly available on the internet by the Lebanese authorities. A couple of weeks prior, A Saudi Prince with his entourage, were arrested at Beirut Airport trying to smuggle out on” his private jet” Two (2) tonnes of narcotics which are known to have originated from Syria. So in short, what are the common factors between all these incidents: (1) Money; (2) Drugs; (3) SS. Today, there are many similarities between the Syrian and the Afghan wars. The West is best to stay out of the ME. The ME of today is very much different from the ME of say 10 years ago. The French were wrong to bomb Syria and to use force, because this is exactly what ISIS wanted them to do, e.g. to add fuel to an already raging fire. One should not play in the hands of these barbarians and in no one elses' hands either. And by the way, the SS of the ME and the West, know exactly who the potential detonators are and where to find them.
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Robbie Jena Nov 16, 2015

"We are at War" - Pope said that too...It will be a troublesome activity for our Civilization...Solution would not come until after a major effort happens.
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Procyon Mukherjee Nov 16, 2015

The best line in the whole essay is, "we barely know our enemy", that is indeed the state of understanding of the problem, after more than a decade of posturing.

Declaring a war on such an enemy, that grows like a cancer with every severed link, gives no solace that we know what awaits a victory. Hope, that we know better to engage than to severe.
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