Opinion

Today’s a day to grieve for Paris, not score political points

Like so many others in the world in the last twelve hours, we’ve gone back and forth to the screen to find out the latest news from Paris. But really, it doesn’t make sense to be glued to the media right now. No one knows that much; there’s been a lot of misinformation, and the most important facts we know so far seemed pretty clear at the start, a small group of self-styled Islamist radicals had carried out terror attacks in Paris, with massive loss of innocent lives. Right now the French people and the families of the victims have our deep condolences. We’re pulling for all the injured to come through. We want to put an arm around the frightened young urbanites near the Bataclan.

And yes, some of the victims are sure to be Muslim citizens of Paris — as the perpetrators were Muslims. But this is not the time to try to score political points off the horrors. Yes, important political decisions will be made in the coming days, but right now it’s grotesque to try and use the Paris suffering to advance any cause — even our cause, a just solution in Israel and Palestine and a regime of human rights around the world. We know that if we could wave a wand and the Israel/Palestine conflict ended tomorrow and all the dictators were marched off to the Hague, some disaffected French youth would still be radicalized. There are other causes, too, for that besides Palestine, from Syria being broken to the souring of the Arab spring, to unemployment and marginalization in France itself.

That being said, Paris’s Friday the 13th is surely a momentous day in the history of issues we care about: the relations of Muslim former colonial territories to the imperial west, the relations of Islam and Judaism and Christianity, and the efforts by some to turn political differences into religious war and raise the walls between cultures. We have long resisted those efforts, and we will going forward. We have too many Muslim and Jewish and Christian friends to do otherwise, and if you believe in the progress and benefits of civilization, then that’s nothing less than a duty. In the next 24 hours we’re going to seek out informed voices we trust, including Juan Cole, Josh Landis, Adam Shatz, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Jews Against Islamophobia, among others, for analysis. We’re going to stay away from the television, grieve for others’ losses, and honor those in France who are responding with aid, kindness and reserve.

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My email to President Obama:

President Obama:

Speaking of the terrorist attack on Paris you said:

Once again we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians. This is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share

But there is a far worse, and far more long-continuing attack on all innocent civilians throughout the world, living and not yet born, namely CLIMATE CHANGE/GLOBAL WARMING.

And the USA has largely, though not single handedly, caused this attack.
And the USA has largely, though again not single handedly, refused to deal in a serious way (to limit emission of greenhouse gases GHGs).

It is time for the USA to begin VERY ACTIVE and VERY SUSTAINED efforts to combat the on-rushing CLIMATE CHANGE/GLOBAL WARMING.

Please be a leader in this important matter.

I DOUBT HE (OR HIS OFFICE) WILL EVER READ THIS EMAIL. I DOUBT IT WILL MATTER IF THEY DO.

SAME GOES FOR EMAIL S ABOUT PALESTINE.

Well done.

While it saddens me greatly to see any innocent civilian harmed in this way, it also saddens me that the ISIL attack on Lebanon which also happened yesterday that left over 40 dead will not gain the coverage it too deserves.

Similarly to how the Boko Haram massacre in Baga barely received any coverage due to the Charlie Hebdo attack, although it dwarfed it in scale and victims claimed.

Indeed, before anyone tries to use this to score points against Islam and Muslims, let them remember that the most numerous victims of ISIL are predominantly Muslims.

I spent hours watching international TV reports on this tragedy, however most reporters tried to outdo eachother by making untrue claims, so we must just wait until the dust settles down.

Every human life is just as valuable as all others, regardless of jewish, islam or christian, white or other colour, and it bothers me how politicians declare war on people who are damned to live in the middle east and have absolutly nothing to do with the Paris events!
France decided to join the bombing of ISIS during this past september, and I have profecised that they will be very sorry doing it. Both France and GB, the old colonial powers in that area, try to outdo eacher to fight the ISIS and gain influence again in the region. The problem is that they do the fighting by bombing towns and cities and we all know those smart bombs are not as smart as claimed to be, they kill more innocent people, women and children, than the actual targets, the terrorists. The US military is a good example, we killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, not to forget Vietnam, millions of innocent civilians and the killing orgy still goes on. A hospital bombed, sorry, collateral damage, a wedding party, why do they keep firing their rifles into the air, etc.

Gen. Wesley Clark, (I have the pleasure to know him personally, he plays a great handball and racketball), made an interview and we all can see it on YouTube. According to him, about 10 years ago certain political groups in the Pentagon decided to destabilize 7 ME countries, it was sold to us as the “Arab Spring”. Dictators, not friendly to the US, must be deposed and new ones installed. Consequently we have a failed state in Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Libya and Syria, ( with Iran they could not achieve their goals ), because we never knew what to do and had no plans after we destroyed a state.

Our politicians would do good if they sit back and think for a minute or two. We are bombing and invading countries and killing hundreds of thousands in the ME, what did they think, what will be the results? A thank you with red roses? They are hitting back and Paris may just be the beginning. If a man has nothing to lose he can be very dangerous and an underground army can fight very hard and beat a regular army anytime, or did we not learn anything from our losses in Vietnam? Little men in black pyjamas, with a handfull of rice as daily meal, beat the mightiest military power on Earth, we were running for our lives. The afghans drove out the british, the russians and the US/NATO forces are the next, all superpowers with great military might. After the Korean War with its huge loss of lives, our generals advised that we should never get into a landwar in Asia, as we cannot win it!! We ignored this advice, consequently we lost all wars in Asia during the past 50 years or so. Is it not the time to get the idiots out of our governments and replace them with men who have brains?

People, just think for a moment. How is ISIS, who is currently being obliterated by Russia, stand to gain anything from this? On the other hand, who stands to gain the most from the ensuing chaos and panic towards Islam?

Every major terrorist acts in the past 50 years consistently have been sourced from actions of only two countries. As such, it is wise to consider the bigger picture before simply accepting the media’s storyline.

This is all part of the game these people are playing, and they wear the finest suits, not black jumpers and headwraps.