So we're going to blame victims of a war thats at least partly of the Wests making?

Great

I'm almost going to say if WWIII breaks out it will be in the next year or so, a lot of nations are getting pretty feed up with ISIS.

not just that they are getting sick of ISIS, but alot of countries economies are going down the tube.. it has been shown that, in history, during some major conflicts weak economies can be temporarily strengthened by the shift in production to primarily support troops

They should have been rounded up and charged as terrorists. If they want to celebrate in the streets and associate with their "victory" then they are guilty by association in my book.

Yup, my father is visiting and cannot get back to England. He was due to leave today. They will open the borders very quickly I am sure, but right now we have stocked up on food and I noticed that many other people are doing the same as closing the borders even for just a few days will affect supplies.

Yes, I certainly hope that the British police at the least took note of who was out there doing it. Just absolutely appalling. I would not expect that from British citizens, which those people are regardless of their religion. The sheer audacity of them, it is like a kick between the legs, punch in the gut and slap in the face to those who lost loved ones in this selfish, insane attack on innocent people in Paris.

Everyone here is now using 'Je suis Paris', instead of 'Je suis Charlie'.

This...

I have no words for this...

Just horrid.

I was just in Paris a few months ago

I'm French, and that is pretty much my fear, and this of many people right now. Trying not to infringe on the forum rules, let's just say the ambiance in the country wasn't friendly before ; and in January, what you said did happen. I hope we prove better than that : the only proper answer is not to be scared, not to turn against each other and live our lives normally, in freedom and fun. Which is exactly what the madmen want to prevent.

I would like to just put out there that if you are part of the Muslim faith, now is the time to be vocal. There will most certainly be some form of backlash but if you are vocal about your disgust of these actions then you will set yourself apart from them. Being silent will not defend you or your faith.

I will be praying for the people of France and worldwide, after hearing of this terrible news. Words cannot accurately describe how horrific events like these are. I feel depressed because of them, including the ones happening every day in the Middle East. There are near-daily stabbings going on in Israel, and Syria and Iraq, as well as Lebanon are in very poor condition.

I think I read in the news that the refugee camp ij calais was lit on fire. Although it wasn't stated who was responsible for it or if it is arson... Could be the start of a backlash..
How sad...

I won't say part of my mind because it goes strongly into political territory, but let's just say it's not a nice thing to say about a certain collective of animals posing as religious crusaders.

What I will say though is that it disgusts me this has happened and I hope to see action taken and fast. I just lament that the innocent Muslim people will be accosted because of the actions of Daesh. To call them Islamic is an insult to true Muslims everywhere and to call their members 'people' is spitting on the very principle of a human. They are the lowest form of animal only dreaming they could ever in the faintest glimmers of time be human.

Let's not dehumanize our enemy. We'll never solve the mystery of such violent behavior if we claim it is not us. It is us. ISIS is as much an ugly part of humanity as anything else. Only when we accept this, I think, will we be able to really address our problems with radicalization.

Well yes but Colonel Martyr was quite careful to seperate Muslims in general from ISIS.

Now we just have the problem of ISIS, one our leaders can only see solving with military force although given the state of affairs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libyia etc I can't see that as enough.

After these attacks I no longer feel safe in my own country I never thought this could happen in France, not on that scale. This is all incredibly depressing :/ I'm afraid of what the future holds.

My family and I are way away from Paris. I hope you and yours are all safe ?

http://md0.libe.com/photo/826540-attentats-de-paris-place-de-la-republique.jpg?modified_at=1447518377. Right ?

I've just read in Le Monde that the fire has been confirmed to be accidental. No precision whether people were hurt though, I hope they're okay.

i just heard about them at the time and felt it would be good if there was a topic i could return to while i looked for info

Haven't checked the news for a while now. Thanks for the update!

“Les dévots. Parce qu'ils ne sont pas de l'homme ils croient qu'ils sont de Dieu.

Parce qu'ils n'aiment personne, ils croient qu'ils aiment Dieu.”

Charles Péguy

(The bigots. Because they are not from the man they believe they are from God. Because they love nobody, they believe they love God. Charles Péguy)

Pity, I cannot find when he said or wrote that.

Note conjointe sur M. Descartes, 1914, I think. Good quote.

I've been watching this thread for you. I was so very relieved to see your post.

The world stands with Paris

http://i.imgur.com/cOeyPSb.jpg

Europe's quickly becoming a dangerous place for 2 reasons:

----------------------
Problem #1: Weak Border Enforcement

Before the last 2 years, there was the Schengen zone in Europe - a pact allowing free and open travel between participating nations, similar to how residents of the USA can freely move between states.

Here's the problem with how the Europeans implemented it: Lack of political unity. The Eurozone is primarily an economic/trade pact, lacking a proper equivalent of the USA federal government. This means that there's no way to hold member nations who are sloppy with border enforcement liable for damages to the entire Eurozone.
Also, the USA was built united from the ground up - while the Eurozone is made out of a hodgepodge of nations with vastly different languages and cultures, some of which were at war with each other 70 years ago.

Looks like the western and northern (more affluent/advanced) European nations have been scrambling to impose border controls ever since yesterday. They should have been closing the border 2 years ago.
Southern Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, etc) have been busy over the last few months reinforcing their borders - at this rate, it looks like the new national sport in Hungary will be fencing (that was a joke), and they're getting good at foiling border violations (pun intended - modern fencing sabers are sometimes called foils).

The problem: It might be too little, too late. Europe is already flooded and likely overloaded with illegal migrants, most of which haven't been screened for radicalism or dangerous diseases.

Contrary to popular belief, national survival requires proper border enforcement. Think about these:
-What happens to a cell if it loses its membrane and/or cell wall?
-A lot of sanitizers and antibiotics prevent infections by interfering with bacterial membranes.
-Would you leave your house door open all day, even while you were sleeping or away at work?

Europe's been letting their national membranes atrophy and left their doors wide open for way too long, and only now they are scrambling to lock down the borders when it's too late.

-----------------------------

Problem #2: Disarmament of the Public

In a lot of western Europe, there seems to be an unspoken rule that "only government authorities are allowed to be armed, and anyone else who's armed is an obvious danger to the public safety and order".

The result: A populace that is mostly disarmed and unable to protect itself, entirely dependent on the government to keep the public order.
There's a famous quote: "When seconds matter, the authorities are just minutes away".

If the general population is disarmed, bad people are nearly guaranteed a first strike because it takes some time for the government to respond to incidents.

Ever wonder why this type of crap never happens in Switzerland? Because in Switzerland, every mentally sound law-abiding advlt is required to be armed.

Think about this: In the old days (ancient times), most free people needed to be armed (even regular travellers would have a quarterstaff or a bo stick):
-Back then, the nearest guard post might be 20 miles away and yelling "Guards!" wasn't a solution.
-People could encounter dangerous wild animals or brigands/highwaymen on the road.
-Disarmament was usually reserved for underclasses to prevent uprisings.

The obvious solution: A well-armed, well-armored, and vigilant law-abiding public.
-This approach crowdsources national home defense, decreasing the amount of tax dollars required for the government to keep the public safe. In World War II, one Japanese general famously said that he couldn't invade the USA because so many American civilians were armed.
-Vigilant civilians are in a better position to prevent a dangerous incident than government authorities who could be 20 minutes away and might be too late.
-A well-armed and vigilant public is a huge deterrent against crime.

Poor border controls.

1.Allowed automatic weapons into the country.

2.One of the terrorists came via greece as a 'refugee'.

After Hebdo Europe was expected to act. It didn't. This is the result.

France could very well invoke Article 5 over this. And be pretty well justified in doing so.