Never Forget marches against antisemitism in France

Maine Writer- In my opinion, the protests against antisemitism in France are the result of the collective horror memories about the Nazi occupation during World War II.

Over 100,000 March in France Against Antisemitism

Echo report published in The New York Times by Catherine Porter and Liz Alderman reporting from Paris:

The demonstrations in Paris and other cities came amid a rise in tensions in France over the Gaza war and a surge in antisemitic incidents.

Antisemitism is evil.  Full Stop!

More than 100,000 demonstrators in Paris and cities across France took to the streets on Sunday to show their solidarity with the country’s Jews and to deplore antisemitic acts that have multiplied across the nation since Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

The marches were called by the leaders of both houses of the French Parliament, the Senate and the National Assembly, and unfolded under gray skies mostly without incident, with 3,000 police officers in Paris alone patrolling the route. The marches in France came a day after a huge pro-Palestinian protest in London that police said involved about 300,000 people.

Tensions have been rising in France and particularly in Paris, home to large Jewish and Muslim communities, after Hamas’s attack and during Israel’s subsequent military campaign in the Gaza Strip. In the past month, over 1,240 antisemitic acts have been reported in France. The police had made 539 arrests as of November 10.

President Emmanuel Macron condemned “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled antisemitism” in France in an open letter published in Le Parisien newspaper on Saturday, and said there would be “no tolerance for the intolerable.”

He added: “A France where our Jewish citizens are afraid is not France.”

French presidents typically do not participate in such marches, and Mr. Macron said that while he would not be present, he would be there “in my heart and in my thoughts.”

Mr. Macron also called President Isaac Herzog of Israel on Sunday to clarify remarks he made to the BBC on Friday in which he said there was “no justification” for bombing civilians who were not tied to Hamas and called on Israel to stop the killing in Gaza.

Mr. Macron said “he does not and did not intend to accuse Israel of intentionally harming innocent civilians in the campaign against the terrorist organization Hamas,” the Élysée Palace said in a statement. Mr. Macron told Mr. Herzog that “he unequivocally supports Israel’s right and duty to self-defense, and expressed his support for Israel’s war against Hamas,” the statement said.

The president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and the National Assembly leader, Yaël Braun-Pivet, said the march was not intended to be a political statement about the war, over which political parties in France have clashed in recent weeks.

Instead, Ms. Braun-Pivet, who herself has been the target of antisemitic threats and is under police protection, said the march was an appeal for French citizens to show one another and the world “what France is today.”

The fact so many people participated in a march organized only six days ago — according to the Interior Ministry, more than 182,000 people marched across France, including 105,000 in Paris alone — showed that the French were “capable of assembling rapidly, reuniting around our values, our history, and what I’m sure will be our future,” she said.

Several former presidents joined the march in Paris, including François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as five former French prime ministers. Cultural figures attending included the actresses Natalie Portman and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Kathleen Lemire, 70, joined the throngs in Paris, many waving French flags or handing out posters with photographs of the hostages taken by Hamas. Ms. Lemire wore a yellow paper star pinned to her pink winter jacket, and a note that said, “Never Forget, Never Forgive.” Her mother had hidden Jewish children during World War II, she said, and her father was an American Marine who landed at Utah Beach during D-Day.

“My mother told me what she saw,” she said. “It was Oct. 7, but on a bigger scale. I feel this is just the beginning.”

Lisa Cohen, 31, just returned to Paris from a trip to Tel Aviv to support her friends and family there after the attack. “I felt better there,” she said walking in the crowd. Many of her non-Jewish friends had become distant she said, as they supported the Palestinian cause and could not find common ground.

“Some have been minimizing the antisemitic attacks, saying Islamophobia is worse and that Jews have had too much attention,” said Ms. Cohen, a project manager at a tech start-up.

Marc Badgett, 43, held up a sign in the shape of a giant white hand. Printed on it he had written “don’t touch my Jewish brother.” It was the first protest he had ever marched in — a rarity in France, where protest is a veritable rite of passage. He had never felt moved to before, he said.

“I have Jewish friends, and it’s important I stand with them,” Mr. Badgett said.

While the calls for Sunday’s marches were aimed at unity, they also fanned a political uproar.

Mr. Macron traveled to Israel last month to declare support for the country, while also working toward humanitarian support for Gaza.

But Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, dismissed Sunday’s marches on social media as a meeting for “friends of unconditional support for the massacre.” France Unbowed has refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization.

However, the new leader of the far-right National Rally, Jordan Bardella, announced that members of his party would be attending the march. He and Marine Le Pen, the former party leader, were greeted by angry shouts from the crowd, with people accusing them of trying to sanitize the party’s image, while a Jewish group called Collectif Golem loudly denounced them as “fascists.”

Party officials appeared unfazed. “A lot of people are happy to see us,” said Wallerand de Saint-Just, a National Rally regional counselor. “Antisemitism today is from Islamic radicals. That’s clear. People know, at all levels of society, that we are the first to denounce this danger.” He added, “We are the rampart against the real enemy.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, whose father was a Holocaust survivor, was at the front of the march and said that the government was “telling our Jewish citizens that we are at their side, we are mobilized, and we will not let anything pass.”

PM Borne has served as Prime Minister of France since May 2022. She is a member of President Emmanuel Macron's party

The march on Sunday took place under heavy security along a one-and-a-half-mile route on Paris’s Left Bank to the Place Edmond Rostand, a square named after a French playwright who was an outspoken supporter of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army officer wrongly accused of spying at the turn of the 20th century.

Demonstrations in the cities of Strasbourg, Marseille and Lyon were joined by thousands. In Lyon, which has recorded 50 antisemitic acts in the past month, three times the total in all of 2022, Richard Zelmati, the regional president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, denounced “the impotence of public authorities against the surge of hatred.”

France has been on high alert for terrorist attacks, with extra police officers and soldiers on the streets, armed with machine guns. A week after the Hamas assault, a man armed with knives killed a teacher and injured three other school employees at his former school in the northern city of Arras in what the police called an Islamist terror attack.

The government has also deployed 10,000 police officers and soldiers to guard synagogues and Jewish schools and centers around the country, mindful of attacks on such institutions during previous flare-ups between Israel and the Palestinians.

France has not seen huge pro-Palestinian marches on the same scale as in other countries, like in Britain on Saturday, in part because Mr. Macron’s government had sought to ban them following the Hamas attack, citing risks to public order. But France’s highest administrative court has ruled the bans to be mostly unconstitutional, except where marches might sow local tension, allowing some smaller pro-Palestinian demonstrations to move ahead.

France has also not seen huge confrontations between pro-Palestinian and Jewish students at universities, like in the United States. However, antisemitic acts have been reported on campuses across France, and Jewish students have reported a growing atmosphere of hostility.

“We’ve never seen numbers of antisemitic acts this high,” said Marc Knobel, a historian of antisemitism in France. “500,000 French people of Jewish faith are scared in their own country, and that’s absolutely terrifying.”

Republicans cannot support the "bone spurs" coward who disrespected World War One dead

Maine Writer:  I was reminded about my opinion letter published when the former guy Trump refused to visit an American World War One cemetery in France, because of the spineless excuses he made. When I read this essay published The Atlantic, by Jeffrey Goldberg, the report reminded me to republish my letter (below):

When former guy Donald Trump canceled a visit to the beautiful Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

Maine Writer: In fact, my letter to the editor of The Times Record a Brunswick Maine newspaper is a response to this callous, disrespectful, unpatriotic and stupid response by former guy Trump to the sacrifices made by American military heroes.
TIMES RECORD
Posted November 15, 2018
Letter: Dismayed at Trump’s no-show at Aisne-Marne

In 1959, when Mrs. Emma Martin Morin of Pike Street in Biddeford turned 95 years old, her birthday was a front page feature story printed above the fold in the local newspaper. Her birthday celebration was featured because Mrs. Morin was a Gold Star mother. Her son Napoleon was only 19 years old when he was killed at the Battle of Chateau -Thierry, during World War I, in France. Napoleon is interred at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France. Memere Morin’s sacrifice stays with the family, even 60 years after her death at 95 years old, when she died at home on March 20, 1960, in Biddeford. She was the oldest World War I Gold Star mother from Biddeford’s Tighe-Beaudoin-Farley American Legion Post 26, Auxiliary. My husband and I visited the beautiful but somber cemetery in France, several years ago.

We traveled to the location from Paris, by train. We could have hired a taxi to drive us. We saw Napoleon’s grave marker inside the cemetery chapel. His name was carved above the alter.

Obviously, we are dismayed about how President Donald Trump was unable to travel to Aisne-Marne to commemorate the dedication of the Centennial of the end of World War I, with other European leaders, because of rain. There are at least 2,000 other graves of young Americans who are also interred at Aisne-Marne. Thankfully, Defense Secretary James Mattis was thoughtful enough to attend the ceremonies.

Juliana L’Heureux, in Topsham Maine

Donald Trump alert - Thank God for expert Parisian firefighters

A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.

Daily Maine UK by Francesca Chambers and Geoff Earle

Notre Dame sanctuary still in tact thanks to the heroic work by Parisian firefighters

Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the Gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe.

In what amounted to a jealous move to grab the headlines, Donald Trump said the Notre Dame bells will ring again and called for using aerial water tankers to put out the flames.  His caustic remarks about using water tankers was another stupid comment. Moreover, the world is truly disgusted by his idiotic litanies.

Yes, the Notre Dame bells will ring again, but not because Donald Trump says so. In fact, the bells were not severely damaged.

'Those bells will sound again' because firefighters were experts about how to prevent the fire from doing more damage than was initially anticipated.

• French ambassador said water tankers would 'only worsen the situation of the building' that firefighters were ultimately able to save
• Trump did not mention the aerial approach again, and the White House avoided any mention of it in a readout of a call he placed to France's Emmanuel Macron.

Donald Trump called France's Emmanuel Macron to offer the United States condolences on the Notre Dame fire and U.S. assistance in restoring the iconic cathedral. 'France is the oldest ally of the United States, and we remember with grateful hearts the tolling of Notre Dame’s bells on September 12, 2001, in solemn recognition of the tragic September 11th attacks on American soil. Those bells will sound again,' the White House said in a Tuesday afternoon statement. (Stupid Donald Trump was wrong to make this correlation because he was leaping to a wrong minded conclusions.  There was no terrorist attack made on the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral.)

The message readout made no reference to Trump's suggestion while the structure burned that the French use damaging 'flying water tankers' to douse the flames. Trump made the outrageous recommendation from aboard Air Force One en route to Minnesota on Monday, without acknowledging the professionalism of the Parisian fire fighters, while viewers around the world watched iconic cathedral go up in flames. Obviously, Donald Trump could not deal with something other than himself being in the world's headlines.

Hours after Trump's stupid tweet, the French government explained that air drops could have caused the cathedral's walls to implode, bringing the structure down and ruining the artwork inside.

France's ambassador to the U.S. Gerard Araud told CNN, 'It's not possible to use water tankers which could only worsen he situation of the building.' He mentioned the difficulty of containing the fire with intense heat and tons of wood acting as fuel. 'So I think we have only to pray now,' he said.

The French civil security division posted a tweet that appeared to rebut Trump – posting a single English-language missive on its French-language account.

'Hundreds of firemen of the Paris Fire Brigade are doing everything they can to bring the terrible #NotreDame fire under control. All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral,' the tweet said.

First lady Melania Trump, who did work in Paris during her modeling career, also tweeted about the fire.

'My heart breaks for the people of Paris after seeing the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. Praying for everyone’s safety,' Melania Trump wrote.

Melania forgot to thank the expert Parisian firefighters.

I will do so for her.  Merci Parisian firefighters.

President Macron mourns the loss of Notre Dame Cathedral

Macron Pledges To Rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral “Because It Is, In Deepest Sense, Our Destiny”
Published in the Deadline news from Hollywood California

Tragedy in Paris

By Lisa de Moraes

UPDATED throughout: “It is with pride I tell you tonight we will rebuild this cathedral,” French President Emmanuel Macron told France Monday evening. On Tuesday, he said, he will call on the “greatest talent” from inside and outside French borders, “and we will rebuild Notre Dame because it is what the French expect of us, it is what our history deserves, it is, in the deepest sense, our destiny.”

Speaking to his country, Macron described Notre Dame of Paris as “our history, our literature…the place where our biggest moments played: plagues, wars, liberations. It is at the very heart of our lives.” By the time he addressed his country, the fire had consumed worldwide Twitter, including Top-10 trending for: Notre Dame, Paris, #NotreDameFire, Quasimodo, Victor Hugo, and Catholics.

Paris’ iconic Notre Dame Cathedral continued to burn Monday night. But Paris police report they have been able to save the two rectangular bell towers at the front of the nearly 900-year-old structure.

That welcome news came around 11 PM Paris time. Earlier in the evening, MSNBC had quoted the French Interior Ministry spokesperson saying firefighters “might not be able to save” the cathedral, that took 200 years to build, as the fire expanded into one of its bell towers.

The fire broke out at 6:50 PM Paris time which France 24 reported is “five or six minutes” after the cathedral closed for the day.

When the fire broke out, it was described as a small burning and local news in Paris was not focused on the fire. 

Paris April 15, 2019

Two hours after the fire first was noted, much of the cathedral was in flames. U.S.

Paris’ iconic Notre Dame Cathedral continued to burn Monday night. But Paris police report they have been able to save the two rectangular bell towers at the front of the nearly 900-year-old structure.

That welcome news came around 11 PM Paris time. Earlier in the evening, MSNBC had quoted the French Interior Ministry spokesperson saying firefighters “might not be able to save” the cathedral that took 200 years to build, as the fire expanded into one of its bell towers.

The fire broke out at 6:50 PM Paris time which France 24 reported is “five or six minutes” after the cathedral closed for the day.

Fox’s Shep Smith reported that when the fire broke out, it was described as small burning and local news in Paris was not focused on the fire. “As to why they weren’t able to contain it is reporting for another day,” he added.

Two hours after the fire first was noted, much of the cathedral was in flames. U.S. news viewers saw the spire become engulfed and topple; much of the roof burn away and the wooden interior consumed.

A spokesman from the church said the entire wooden interior was destroyed. No injuries have been reported. The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into the Notre Dame fire, CNN reports.

Paris’ deputy mayor described the damage to the cathedral as “colossal” and efforts had been underway to save some of the art and artifacts inside, though it’s not known how successful were those efforts. French authorities say the fire is “potentially linked” to the $6.8 million renovation project that had been under way on the church’s 295-foot high spire, which no longer exists.

Donald Trump took another crack at a presidential response Monday. (He initially tweeted to French firefighters about 'air bombing water' on the structure - NOT! The response was that, to do so, would collapse the structure.) 

Later, speaking at a Tax Day round table/campaign rally in Minnesota, Trump called the cathedral “one of the great treasures of the world. The greatest artists in the world if you think about it, I would say might be greater than almost any museum in the world, and it’s burning very badly. Looks like it’s burning to the ground.”

“That puts a damper on what we’re about to say, to be honest,” Trump told attendees, calling Notre Dame “beyond countries; it’s part of our growing up, part of our culture. Part of our lives.”

US Congress talks war against evil ISIS but won't use War Powers Act

Shame on the US Congress. Bearded Speaker Paul Ryan is clearly not leading the Congress to vote according to the War Powers Act to defeat evil ISIS.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan wears a beard....but can't lead.

Although the British Parliament wasted no time responding to the threat of evil ISIS, the self declared caliphate and terrorist group, when murderes affiliated with them attacked on November 13, in Paris, the United States Congress has yet to formally respond.

(CNN- British fighter jets took part in their first airstrikes in Syria, hours after United Kingdom lawmakers voted in favor of bombing ISIS strongholds there.)

Nevertheless, the US Congress, led by the bearded Speaker Ryan,chose to waste time with yet another useless vote to curtail the important Obamacare aka Affordable Care Act provisions, a vote that will be vetoed by President Obama. 

In fact, the US Congress abdicated its responsibility to vote, rather than just talk politics, about war, as required in the War Powers Act in the US Constitution.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution, sometimes referred to as the War Powers Clause, vests in the Congress the power to declare war, in the following wording:[The Congress shall have Power...] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water...

The Korean War was the first modern example of the U.S. being taken to war without a formal declaration, and this has been repeated in every armed conflict since. 

Meanwhile, the Republican conrolled US Congress continues to point fingers about how to protect Ameria's national security against terrorism without accepting their responsibility to enact the War Powers Act. Why don't they just do it?  Clearly, the American public is ready to eradicate the evil ISIS movement in Syria and Iraq, so a declaration of war seems to be essential.

In my opinion, the US Congress is cowardly about using the War Powers Act. They won't act because, in fact, to use this power means the war must be paid for, with tax revenues.  Evidently, Republicans prefer to protect tax cuts for the rich over supporting our military, who protect Americans against the spread of international terrorism.

So, indeed, let's get this right. Americans are fearful about terrorism and seriously worried about the risk of evil ISIS attacks in the US, like the deadly killings in  San Bernadino California. Nevertheless, the US Congress will not act to defeat evil ISIS.  On the other hand, the British Parliament has already taken action.

Obviously, Americans are entrenched in partisan politics and right wing extremismm, led by Republicans, especially Donald Trump, and his polarizingly negative charisma.

Rather than lead the American poeple to a sense of security by declaring a war against evil ISIS and funding it, the US Congress is, instead, wasting time engaged in finger pointing and even took on another usless attempt to tank Obamacare (50 votes have been taken to repeal Obamacare!)

It's time for Americans to wake up to the reality of the war against evil ISIS.  Our US Congress, led by the bearded Speaker Paul Ryan, must accept its Constitutional authority and support a war to defeat evil ISIS. 

Moreover, the war against evil ISIS in Syria and Iraq must be funded with  tax revenue and money budgeted to care for our US veterans, who will fight to win it.  

Commentary - Steve Coll ISIS after Paris (and now San Bernadino)

Obviously, Steve Coll, the columnist for The New Yorker, couldn't have anticipated the San Bernadino CA killings and the harm done to innocent people in a community center for people with disabilities, when he wrote "ISIS after Paris" in the November 30, 2015, issue. Yet, just put the addendum "...and San Bernadino" into Coll's narrative and his commentary becomes even more timely than when the article was written.

US Marines can win against ISIS but, "then what"? 

Coll's doesn't provide a hopeful analysis-  in other words......living under the threat of terrorism is not likely to change anytime soon.

He writes:

In the week since the attacks on Paris (addendum...San Bernadino), there has been a great deal of talk about waging war on the Islamic State, but scant clarity about how such a war might succeed.  

In a season when the improvisations of Russia's Vladimir Putin shape geopolitics, and those of Donald Trump shape American politics (Trump has even remarked that Putin is "getting an A" for leadership) it is perhaps unsurprising that public discourse about what comes next has been informed by opportunism and incoherence. Yet, even the sober, often stirring rhetoric of the French President, Francoise Hollande, has often eluded the main problem, which  involves aligning aims with realistic means. 

"France is at war," Hollande told his parliment last week, as French jets struck Raqqa, Syria, the Islamic Stsate's self-declared capital.  He vowed to "eradicate" the organization. But how, and how long will it take?

In 2004, James D. Fearonn, a political scientist at Stanford University, Published a study, "Why Do Some Civil Wars Last So Much  Longer Than Others?", in which he and a colleague analyzed courses of civil wars fought between 1945 and 1999. Some of the findings were intuitive: civil wars end quickly when one side has a decisive military advantage over the other; poor countries with natural resources to expeort often have long internal wars, because whoever controls the resources also controls the national treasury. Other findings were novel, such as the fact that wars following coups d'etat tend to be short.  In another study, "Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War," Fearon and the political scientist David D. Laitin, discovered that, even though the nations with exceptional ethnic pluralism, like Syria and Iraq, lines of conflict may be defined by ethnic identity, pluralism, itself is not a notable predictor of civil war; (rather) poverty is a much more significant factor.  

Rereading these works in light of the infuriating problem of the Islamic State, two discouraging findings stand out In 1945, many civil wars were concluded after about two years.  By 1999, they lasted on average, about sixteen years. And conflicts in which a guerrilla group could finance itselt, by selling contaband drug crops or by smuggling oil, might go on for thirty or forty years. The Revolutioary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, has been around since 1964, sustained in no small part by American cocaine consumption.

The Islamic State is an oil-funded descendant of Al Qaeda in Iraq, a branch of the original Al Qaeda whcih was formed in 1988. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.), (evil) ISIS has at least twenty thousand armed fighters; some estimates put the number much higher. It controls large swaths of terriroty, including major cities, such as Mosul. It is unusualy barbarous, and good at Twitter. Its millenarian ideologyof hatred and extermination poses a threat across borders. Yet, its army and its sanctuary in Iraq and Syria, are not, in a structural sense, exceptional. 

From the American intervention in Somalia, in 1992, through the French intvention in Mali, in 2013, industrialized countries have been able to deploy ground forces to take guerilla-held teritory in about sixty days or less.

The problem is that if they don't then leave, to be replaced by more locally credible yet militarily able forces, they invite frustration, and risk unsustainable casualties and political if not military defeat.

This has been true, even when the guerrilla forces were weak: the Taliban possesses neither planes nor significant anti-aircraft missiles, yet it has fought the United States to a stalemate and the advantage is now shifting in its favor.

If President Obama ordered the Marines into urgent action, they could be waving flags of liberation in Raqqa by New Year's.  But, after taking the region, killing scores of ISIS commanders as well as Syrian civilians, and flushing surviving fighters and international recruits into the broken, ungovened cities of Syria and Iraq's Sunni heartland, then what?  

Without political cooperation from Bashar al_Assad, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shite militias, Turkey, the Al Queda ally Al Nusra, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and others, the Marines (and the French or NATO allies that might assist them) would soon become targets for a mind-bogglingly diverse array of opponents. 

Syrian rebels overhwelmingly regard President Assad's regime as their main enemy, and for good reason: his forces have killed more Syrians than anyone else has.  In the absence of a political agreement with Assad or his removal from ofice, it is impossible to conceive of a Muslim-majority occupation force that would be able and willing to keep the peace after the Marines departed.  

Some may argue that it would be worthwhile, nonetheless, to wipe out the Islamic State on the ground and deal with the fallout later. After Paris, such  an approach may hold emotional appeal. After Afghanistan and Iraq, however, it is not a responible course of action.

Analyses like James Fearon's suggest that there are perhaps two ways to end, or at least to contain, long wars. One is to accept that success will be a long time coming, and to adopt a posture of military and diplomatic patience and persistence. That may yet led to the FARC's disarmament. The other is to negotiate agressively to form international alliances, which will allow for a rapid, decisive use of force on the ground. The European Union activated a mutual defense compactafter the Paris attacks; NATO could broaden the alliance by invoking Article 5 of its treaty, as it did after 9/11. Such coalitions can be switly effective  When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, George H.W. Bush and James Baker pulled together an unexpected miltiary alliance to force his reterat.  In Afghanastan, George W, Bush overthew the Taliban with worldwide support. Both actions elimiated the immedate threat, but neither resolved the targeted country's underlying instability or assured durable international security.  (As a matter of fact, Islamist terorists staged a  murderous raid on a hotel in Mali's capital Bamako, almost three years after the French-led intervention in that conntry.)

Barack Obama has all but ruled out a ground intervention in Syria or Iraq. Instead, last week he promised "an intensificication" of the strategy he is already pursuing.  

Special Forces raids, air strikes, and diplomatic conferences to try to resolve the Syrian war, perhaps by declaring ceasefires or insuring Putin's cooperation.  "A political solution is the only way to end the war in Syria and unite the Syrian peple and the world" aginst the Islamic State, the Pesident said.  Unfortunately, right now, that looks no more realistic than a prolonged Aemrican occupation of Raqqa.  Obama's caution in the Midle East since the ARab Spring is a reminder that there are perhaps as many risks attendant upon inaction as upon action. The dilemmas suggested by Fearson's research won't evaporate, they will be on the deck of Obama's successor.  - Steve Coll.

(One dire possibility not addressed by Steve Coll is, during the process of daunting negotiations, the evil ISIS finds access to more dangerous weapons including whatever Iran might be hiding in their centrifuges. What then?)

International criticism of Donald Trump - Is American media asleep?

American media continues reporting on Donald "Trump the Chump" campaign circus rallies. Yet, few seriously challenge Trump's carnival barker bombastic stump speech fiascos. He's insulted nearly everyone who dares to publicly challenge him.

Now, the international community is beginning a drum beat warning to Americans about the lunacy of a Trump candidacy, should he be nominated to run for the leader of the free world.

In fact, in the international community, Republicans are painting Americans as stupid for allowing Donald Trump to receive any media attention, when qualified candidates are sitting on the sidelines waiting for their second act. Obviously, the Republican mainstream candidates like Governor Jeb Bush or Governor John Kasich, two who could save the party from extinction, are being obfiscated by the Trump carnival.  Of course, Democrats are delighted to see the Republicans fight among themselves for who among them can be the most negative in the line up of candidates. Republican candidates are like wooden ducks on a carnival game skeet shoot. They all look alike while they're moving in one direction. Yes, Carley Fiorina even blends in with them.

America's Republican voters must get a reality check on the stupidity of a Trump the Chump presidential candidacy. 

Perhaps, the French Ambassador's input will help. He is frankly telling Donald Trump to mind his own business.

French Ambassador tells Trump: "Armed Citizens Defend Selves 'Only in the Movies'

Newsmax is reporting on just how dangerous the Trumponian concept of "defending ourselves with guns" won't work.

Armed citizens are able to defend themselves "only in the movies," French Ambassador to the United States Gerard Araud said this week, striking back at GOP front-runner Donald Trump's contention that it is important for people to arm themselves.

Further, he told Fox News' "Special Report" that he sent a tweet to Trump calling him a "vulture" after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, when a tweet reappeared on the candidate's Twitter page that was posted in January, after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

“It was a theater, a theater hall," Araud told Special Report. "Imagine a theater hall and suddenly people enter with machine guns and are really killing people … It is only in the movies someone is using his gun to defend himself.”

Trump's initial repeated tweet, "Isn't it interesting that the tragedy in Paris took place in one of the toughest gun control countries in the world?” was quickly taken down and replaced with another that said "My prayers are with the victims and hostages in the horrible Paris attacks. May God be with you all."

Araud also quickly took down his own tweet, that not only called Trump a "vulture," but said the initial tweet was "repugnant."

But, even though Trump's tweet was taken down, he's still saying that Paris, where guns are prohibited, would have been safer if its citizens were armed.  (Does "Trump the Chump" realize how a defender against a terrorist must know exactly who's shooting? Therefore, the defender must be a sharpshooter to respond with a mortal shot. Moreover, a defender with a handgun could never outshoot the horror of an AK47.)

Yet, just one day after the attacks, Trump told a rally in Beaumont, Texas, that the ISIS attack in Paris might not have happened if French laws allowed for more people to carry guns.

"The toughest gun laws in the world: Paris," Trump said, during a campaign rally crowd of about 8,000. "If they were allowed to carry -- it would have been a much, much different situation."

On Nov. 15, two days after the attacks, Trump was quoted on NBC's "Meet the Press" as commenting that "you can say what you want, but if [the French people] had guns, if our people had guns, it would have been a much, much different situation.”

And a week later, Trump doubled down on ABC's "This Week," commenting that "If in Paris some of those people had guns, you wouldn’t have had the horror show that you had where [none of the innocents] had guns.”  (Donald Trump clearly wasn't in Paris during the terrorist attacks. He wasn't at the scene during the attacks on Charlie Hebdo or November 13th. Therefore, he has virtualy no idea what would've helped to save people or how an uncoordinated response might've even caused more carnage. In fact, we'll never know what anyone could've done to save lives. Nevertheless, what we do know is that the Paris terrorist attackers launched their killing spree, with clandistine accuracy. What would've helped was more on the ground basic intelligence.)
With the French Ambassador challenging Donald Trump "the Chump" about his "know nothing" postion on gun ownership in the face of surving a terrorist attack, the chances of the international community accepting Trump as the leader of the free world are close to zero.
 

Instead of making America great again, the idea of a Trump executive administraton might actually make our nation the laughing stock of the world. 

American media must stop enabling "Trump the Chump"; but, instead, they must report on the consequences of the unthinkable. Our nation's independent media must wake up and show journalistic leadership, by analyzing the damage a "Trump the Chump" candidacy is doing to the Republican party and the disaster his leadership will be if, God Forbid, he's ever nominated.

France is attacking ISIS in Raqqa

Al-Raqqah- City in Syria also called Rakka, Raqqa and Ar-Raqqah, is a city in Syria located on the north bank of the Euphrates River.

France isn't wasting time debating the response to evil ISIS following the November 13 attacks on Paris killing at least 128 innocent people with hundreds more injured.  I'm impressed to see how quickly the French responded; no ambiguity or political squabbling.

The Guardian reports France launches 'massive' airstrike on Isis stronghold in Syria after Paris attack

French fighter jets launched their biggest raids in Syria to date targeting the Islamic State’s (ISIS) stronghold in Raqqa, just two days after the group claimed coordinated attacks in Paris that killed possibly as many as130 people, the defence ministry said.

“The raid ... including 10 fighter jets, was launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. 

Twenty bombs were dropped,” the statement said, adding that the mission had taken place this evening.

Live Paris attacks: police hunt 'dangerous' suspect and brother of Isis attacker. Latest coverage as hunt continues for network behind Isis attack that left 129-130 people dead (several reports have given different fatality numbers.)

The operation, carried out in coordination with US forces, struck a command centre, recruitment centre for jihadists, a munitions depot and a training camp for fighters, it said.

A defence official was quoted by Associated Press as saying the strikes were ‘massive’ and had destroyed two jihadi sites in Raqqa.

“The first target destroyed was used by Daesh (another Arabic acronym for IS) as a command post, jihadist recruitment centre and arms and munitions depot. The second held a terrorist training camp,” a ministry statement said.

In the aftermath of the attacks on Paris, the French President, François Hollande, said terrorists strikes were an “act of war” on France, “organised and planned from the outside”.

He said the attackers wanted “to scare us and fill us with dread”, but warned France’s retribution would be swift and unflinching.

“We are going to lead a war which will be pitiless. Because when terrorists are capable of committing such atrocities they must be certain that they are facing a determined France, a united France, a France that is together and does not let itself be moved, even if today we express infinite sorrow.”

Information from inside Syria suggests the bombings had cut water and electricity supplies.

Activists in Raqqa have said the bombings have caused “panic” in the city.

ISIS is like invasive cancer cells - a systematic world response is required

Just at the time when President Obama and CNN writer Peter Bergen were trying to spread some solace about how ISIS was being "contained", the November 13th attack on innocent Parisians blew the concept of success into smithereens.  This morning, the Paris death toll is reported at 127 innocent civilians and at least 8 terrorists are dead.  Obviously, the reports of successes against ISIS were wrong.  In fact, nothing is working to prevent evil ISIS from spreading terrorism like malignant cancer cells, outside of the Middle East with the potential to infect anyplance in the world.

The civilized world must unite behind France and protect civilization as we know it

Young evil men who reportedly had granades and AKA 47 assault rifles, while wearing suicide vests, created an agonizing series of terror attacks during coordinated attacks. From reports at the secnes, they knew what they were doing during their assault.

It's impossible to understand how this widespread attack was coordinated against Parisian innocents without the terrorists betraying their barbaric intentions. Certainly, there had been several ominous warnings when several past incidents were apparently thwarted; so it seems obvious that Parisian security authorities were on alert for security threats. Yet, recent news of some triumphs in Syria against ISIS seemed to create the illusion of the group somehow being on the ropes. Tragically, the intention of ISIS is to create high profile carnage and being in Syria wasn't getting them much attention. Now, the cancer this diabolic group is causing is spreading beyond Syria. There's a potential for "metastatic" terrorism and "copy cat" combat training attacks, to erupt anyplace in the world. 

What are Americans to do now?  Our international friend and allies in France have been assaulted.  We must respond for two important reasons: (a) ISIS must be stopped because the world has no alternative but to destroy this movement and (b) like any infectious disease, the spread of ISIS will eventaully cause mahem throughout the civilized world. 

As Senator Diane Feinstein said on several news reports, "we're either going to fight them there or fight them here".

Leadership against ISIS can no longer be political. Destroying ISIS can't be accomplished like the line up of Republican presidential candidates suggest, by creating hot air rhetoric, but without a plan. 

Destroying ISIS will involve a coordinated world wide strategy with inspired leadership.  

Paris has experienced an assault on its people and its culture. As citizens of the civilized world, it is essential for Americans to lead and unite behind a strategy to eliminate ISIS and all terrorism from the world.  Otherwise, the ISIS cancer will continue to spread and tragically consume civilization as we know it.

Meanwhile, Bergen on CNN reported:

(CNN)In a speech in 1942, Winston Churchill said that a recent British victory against the Nazis in North Africa was "not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Might the coalition arrayed against ISIS also be at the end of the beginning of the campaign that eventually will destroy the organization?

Over the past 24 hours the coalition has scored two important tactical victories. The first is the reports of the assassination of "Jihadi John" the notorious British terrorist, who starred in many of ISIS' beheading videos. U.S. officials now say they are "reasonably certain" that he was killed in a drone strike. An investigation by the Washington Post found that he was Mohammed Emwazi, Kuwait-born and London-raised.

The second tactical victory against ISIS had a greater impact. It was the seizure of the town of Sinjar in Iraq by Kurdish forces. Sinjar sits along the road that connects Raqqa with ISIS' de facto capital in Iraq, the city of Mosul. The seizure of Sinjar helped to put pressure on ISIS in both Mosul and Raqqa, as ISIS forces in these cities can no longer easily reinforce each other.

Yet, while these two successes were newsworthy, another cell within the ISIS group  had gone "dark", aka "underground" to create the November 13th Paris assault.  

Like cancer, ISIS has learned to develop the ability to hide within plain site so the overriding immune system cannot recognize it while doing its systematic damage.  

World at war - terrorism attacks France and civilization as we know it

Our civilized world has tried and failed to destroy the root causes of terrorism.  We've tried military, humanitarian and diplomatic strategies. Additionally, civilized nations have tried to build coalitions with the Muslims whose civilizations are also at risk for being cosnumed by terrorism.

It's beyond ironic to realize how the French have been the victims of wars for centuries. In the 20th century, the French were the victims of World Wars I and II.  Now in the 21st century, the French were the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack on the free press.  On January 7, 2015, two Islamist gunmen forced their way into the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo and opened fire, killing twelve: staff cartoonists Charb, Cabu, Honoré, Tignous and Wolinski, economist Bernard Maris, editors Elsa Cayat and Mustapha Ourrad, guest Michel Renaud, maintenance worker Frédéric Boisseau and police officers Brinsolaro and Merabet, and wounding eleven, four of them seriously.  

On Friday, November 13, 2015, in the same year as the Charlie Hebdo attack, the terrorists struck again with even more vengence than the January 7th, assault.  

Early reports out of Paris being reported on international news sources are claiming over 100 and perpahs as many as 150 innocent people killed on Friday, by a band of terrorists who somehow had access to AK47 murderous guns.  (One question I have is how the band of murderous terrorists obtained the AK47s and the ammunition needed to kill so many innocent people in Paris. Witnesses have said during interviews that it seemed as though the murderers even reloaded their weapons.)

AK 47 weapons used in the assault on Paris oon November 7, 2015

This diabolic attack must bring the civilized world together for the purpose of eliminating international terrorism.  

Terrorism is clearly becoming immune to the failed strategies being used to fight the growing number of senseless attacks on innocent people. The purpose of these serial attacks is to continue to generate fear.  It's obviously working.

The world must work together to eliminate terrorist groups and this effort must include a Muslim response. Terrorism is threatening all civilization as we know it today. Therefore, Muslim nations must support an international response to end the root cause, and the networks where terrorists are recruited and trained.

A state of war  can no longer be ignored and is now evident. Ironically, the French victims of the Parisian attacks are again, as in the past, bringing urgency to fight the murderers who have evil intentions to change the world as we know it.  

France is an American ally. It's essential for Americans to support the French people by collaborating to destroy those who purpetrated violence against innocents. Otherwise, it's just a matter of time, the terrorism attacks will find their way to the US.

Heroism against terrorism

"By their courage, they saved lives," President François Hollande said. "They gave us an example of what is possible to do in these kinds of situations."

PARIS — President François Hollande of France on Monday awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award, to three Americans and a Briton for their role in stopping a gunman on a high-speed train traveling to Paris from Amsterdam on Friday.

The three Americans — Airman First Class Spencer Stone, 23; Alek Skarlatos, 22, a specialist in the Oregon National Guard; and their friend Anthony Sadler, 23 — received the honor in the gilded halls of the Élysée Palace, where they were joined by Chris Norman, 62, a British consultant.

“One need only know that Ayoub El Khazzani was in possession of 300 rounds of ammunition and firearms to understand what we narrowly avoided, a tragedy, a massacre,” Mr. Hollande said at the ceremony, referring to the Moroccan suspect in the attack, who is in police custody but denies plans to stage a terrorist attack.

Although the world of terrorism has proven nearly impossible to confront on any coordinated international level, the response by heroes who "see something-do something" may be another way of changing the dynamic of this ferociously heinous violence.

As Americans remember how heroes on Flight 96 took charge of terorist hyjackers on September 11, there have been multiple other occasions when alert citizens have averted impending disasters.  

In France, a team of responders who were on a high speed train from Paris to Amsterdam, subdued a heavily armed Muslim man who has now claimed he was only going to rob the train. Really? A lone Muslim wanted to rob a train?  Well, thankfully, he won't rob anymore lives in his delusional frenzies because he was prevented from using his arsenal of weapons because of citizen heroes.

France has already honored these heroic responders with the Legion of Honor Medal.

France honors 3 Americans, Briton for stopping train attack
By Faith Karimi and Nic Robertson, CNN

(CNN)They grew up together, fought off an attacker together and accepted a nation's honor together.

Three days after they pounced and subdued a gunman aboard a packed train, American childhood friends Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos got the Legion of Honor -- France's highest recognition. Fellow British passenger Chris Norman, who helped tackle the gunman, also received the award during Monday's ceremony at the Élysée Palace.

Americans are becoming more agressive in our ability to "see something-say something-do something", by becoming hyper vigilant to the threat of terorist attacks. We're also brave, in that we haven't deterred any activities due to threats of terrorism.

In fact, Americans are probably, unknowingly,  a "citizens" army, because it's likely many heroes have prevented carnage, as a result of our increased awareness.

Although the heroes who subdued the gunman on the high speed European train are rightly honored by the French, their actions are also a warning to other terrorists who lurk in the nefarious shadows. Citizens have role models of heroism, and they will take whatever actions are necessary to prevent terrorism from consuming our world.