What would be a good response to the Paris attacks?

[jackelgull]

France could take a page from the Cheney Doctrine-seize the opportunity to invade some country they have hated all along whether they are involved in any way or not. Almost a century since the last war with Germany, and there's always England...

If France really wanted to be faithful to the Cheney doctrine they'd choose a country without the capability to fight back. Looking like a good time to avenge that defeat in Vietnam right?

 

[Quintillus]

Well, France's National Assembly voted to extend its state of emergency to three months. Perhaps the French equivalent of the Patriot Act in the making? A critical article on it, in French and English, is linked.

While I wouldn't say it necessarily goes full Patriot Act at this point, the potential parallel, including a knee-jerk reaction to pass it in the first place, is certainly there, especially if it is renewed. Can't say I approve to extending it to three months (from the default of 12 days). Perhaps one month if there's reason to believe a follow-up is planned, but three months is a significant period of time, and long enough to set a precedent of sorts.

 

[JollyRoger]

Changing the name of French Fries to Freedom Fries seems to have helped keep us safe, so perhaps they should just rename their country Freedom.

 

[aelf]

No... but I didn't say it did now did I? I said that the fundamentals of Christianity remain the fundamentals of Christianity, and only one example of someone taking the written word of god to be literally the written word of god is required to demonstrate that fact. But actually there are millions of people who believe even the silliest details in their manual for living from 2000 years ago.

Only one person believing something is enough to prove a grand assertion about a 2000-year-old evolving religion. Excellent!

 

[brennan]

You have no rebuttal to the fact that there are literally millions of Creationists? Noted.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Changing the name of French Fries to Freedom Fries seems to have helped keep us safe, so perhaps they should just rename their country Freedom.

Oh we've already done that.

This painting is called "Freedom guiding the people". It shows Marianne which is actually the personnification of France.
Back in the days, that painting was even on our French francs banknotes.

 

[Birdjaguar]

How are things Marla?

 

[Marla_Singer]

How are things Marla?

Everything's fine.

I remember the old days of the heated debates we had on this board prior to the invasion of Iraq. I learnt a lot from that about how works terrorism, how it generates a collective fear and the necessity to quash the threat in order to generate a relief.

You guys in the US were really really not lucky at all. Of course there was the violence of the September 11th, which was of a totally different scale, but there was the nature of the enemy, coming from your direct allies in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and the fact Ben Laden was impossible to catch for so long.

And there was also the total ignorance of the threat. We are simple dudes living our lives peacefully who got suddenly struck by that violence, having asked for nothing. And how this fear popping up should be dealt with. Somehow, I became a tiny little experts of all this crap, and I can't say I've been shocked by such a gratuitous attack, but people around me were, deeply. It is excessively hard to appease people fearing the unknown.

 

[Birdjaguar]

That's good to know. I know you have talked about living in Paris. Do you still? How did you hear about the tragic events?

 

[Marla_Singer]

That's good to know. I know you have talked about living in Paris. Do you still?

Yes, I still live in Paris, now I live in Central Paris actually.

How did you hear about the tragic events?

Just like everyone else, on TV. With "special flash breaking news" reports on news channel telling us that we should all panic and people panicking on the social networks, and the French president in total panic declaring the "state of emergency".

 

[Birdjaguar]

Is it inappropriate to ask you what you would suggest as the best response for France to make now?

 

[Marla_Singer]

Is it inappropriate to ask you what you would suggest as the best response for France to make now?

Well, in France there's a heavy debate about this, so I'll only talk for myself. We know, and there is nothing new, that some crazy dudes want to kill us all. So in the short term, we should simply prevent them to be in position to harm us. This means, rather logically, to destroy their financial and logistical capacities.

In the longer term, and I'm more pessimistic on that point, I believe the major problem of the Middle East is the ultra-confessionalized societies they've created, where people are becoming a wolf to one another. I know these guys are pretty heated and won't chill out so easily, and apparently they never get bored about war. But something must be done about it one day or another.

 

[Marla_Singer]

I would also say that Tunisia should be economically helped much more than it actually is. The country is currently succeeding to set up the first democracy in the Arab world, and it is doing so all alone.

So let's invest in Tunisia!

 

[Birdjaguar]

I would agree, but the US is usually better at selling guns and cigarettes than nation building.

 

[r16]

Partners for the duration? Of what? I can make a long list of US allies that have been allies since WW1. How many allies has Russia had so long?

it's always and really loveable when Russia kicks _ss of those allies of the West in this wobbling , gobbling , misdirected-at-times Russian way of kicking _ss and West is merely reduced to making noises . Russia is doing good work in Syria and America has to respond to that in a good way . Which is better , far better , than any discussion of why America rules the world and nobody can defy America because America is America . Go Russia go !

 

[red_elk]

Russia is doing good work in Syria and America has to respond to that in a good way .

But they already respond as they can

A major US media outlet has been caught passing on footage of Russian air raids in Syria as American airstrikes in a bid to advance Washington’s military agenda, a new report reveals.
...
On November 19, a program dubbed PBS NewsHour used the Russian footage and passed them off as US airstrikes, without revealing the true source.
"For the first time the US is attacking oil delivery trucks," a voice-over said while the exact same video released by the Russian Defense Ministry was being shown.

http://presstv.ir/Detail/2015/11/22/438674/Russia-US-PBS-Syria-Oil-Trucks

 

[r16]

so what ? Russia has posed as supporting Damascus for years , you could have been doing this in 2012 ...

 

[aelf]

You have no rebuttal to the fact that there are literally millions of Creationists? Noted.

You wrote this:

and only one example of someone... is required to demonstrate that fact

I noted that first.

Even millions of creationists may not say anything much about Christianity itself. You could zoom in which branch of Christianity, where, etc.

 

[NovaKart]

But they already respond as they can


http://presstv.ir/Detail/2015/11/22/438674/Russia-US-PBS-Syria-Oil-Trucks

Not saying it isn't true but do you have another source besides press tv?

 

[red_elk]

The same is reported by RT
https://www.rt.com/usa/323070-pbs-isis-video-russian/