Of course it’s not a “Clash of Civilizations.” No, no … it’s not blow-back for our participation in America’s War on Terror in Iraq. No, the colonial past of Western Europe in North Africa and the Middle-East can’t be part of a revenge. The planned attack was highly symbolic: Paris’ bolwark of satire and our freedom of speech. Yes, freedom of speech in the nation of enlightenment, the Revolution and liberalism. Well, not all freedom in speech is allowed of course, we have our rules.
We do lack understanding and harm done to other nations and people by acts of agression and so-called pre-emptive war. As I have written and said so often discussed, two decades ago the Western Hemisphere had think-tanks for Peace, all have been replaced by neocons, right-wing mouthpieces of corporate power. NATO states and Obama have helped spread the crisis amongst Arab states, aggravated militancy in North Africa, used military power for regime change in Libya, destroyed the state as Bush had done before in Iraq. Allowed arms and jihadists travel from North Africa to Syria, promoted the militias with intelligence, arms and munitions to overthrow Assad in Syria.
Last week the Obama administration made clear how it stands on the Palestinian issue: “Stand with Israel.” Of course Jerusalem and Palestinian statehood has nothing to do with Islamophobia promoted in the Western Hemisphere. Resolving a crisis? Hope for change is lacking in results. Who to put the blame on?
Charlie Hebdo: 12 morts, une traque sans précédent | Le Figaro |
Trois individus ont tué 12 personnes au siège parisien de Charlie Hebdo en blessant plusieurs autres très grièvement. Les tireurs ont pris la fuite, criant «Nous avons vengé le prophète». Le plan Vigipirate a été élevé à son niveau le plus élevé en Ile-de-France.
“Cet attentat doit libérer (la) parole face au fondamentalisme islamique” (Marine Le Pen)
La présidente du FN Marine Le Pen a estimé que l’attentat devait “libérer (la) parole face au fondamentalisme islamique”. “C’est ma responsabilité de dire que la peur doit être surmontée et de dire que cet attentat doit au contraire libérer notre parole face au fondamentalisme islamique, ne pas se taire, et commencer par oser nommer ce qui s’est passé. Ne pas craindre de dire les mots : il s’agit d’un attentat terroriste commis au nom de l’islamisme radical”, a affirmé Le Pen dans une vidéo diffusée sur le site internet du Front national.
« click for video report
«On a vengé le prophète Mohammed, on a tué Charlie Hebdo» {Le Figaro)Live: Deadly shooting at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo | France24 |
French President François Hollande spoke to the press at the scene and stated that the shooting was “undoubtedly a terrorist attack” [one needs to be an elected president to come forward with such wisdom – Oui], adding that “several terrorist attacks were thwarted in recent weeks”.
The gunmen were armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher, according to sources close to the investigation.The attackers fled the building and their whereabouts are unknown.
France raised its security alert to the highest level and reinforced security at places of worship, shops, media offices and transportation.
Obama on Paris shooting: “It’s a terrorist attack.”
In 2012, the White House criticized Charlie Hebdo’s publication of the caricatures as “deeply offensive to many.” During the September 19, 2012, press briefing, then-spokesman Jay Carney questioned “the judgment of publishing something like this.”
“We know that these images will be deeply offensive to many and have the potential to be inflammatory,” he added a week after the Benghazi consulate raid.
Alternative headline @MoA
Charlie Hebdo – The Chickens Come Home To Roost
Twelve people, including two police, were killed in France when unknown gunmen attacked the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo today.
Some forty people were killed in Saana, Yemen, today in a bomb attack on people who were hoping to enlist with the police. These forty people and the many more wounded in the attack will get much less headlines than those killed in France.
Videos (1, 2) from the attack in Paris show the attackers in black clothing and behaving as if they had at least some military training. They were armed with automatic weapons and, according to the police, with a rocket launcher. At least two attackers are still on the run. We do not yet know the motive of the attackers, but I consider the following more likely than a false flag attack.
In 2011 the magazine Charlie Hebdo was one of those that printed the Mohammed caricatures, a crude and insulting attempt to smear the prophet and all Muslim as terrorists. In 2012 the magazine continued the campaign depicting the prophet Mohammed as naked, attention seeking gnome.
Unlike U.S. “liberals” most of the world does not consider free speech as an absolute right. Indeed like screaming “fire” in a filled theater, insulting the believe of other people is likely to get you hurt in most parts of the world. To claim such insults should not matter is itself an insult in that it declares one culture, that of absolute free speech rights, to be superior to other values. It is indecent.
That the Charlie Hebdo satire was indecent and insulting does not justify the murderous attack, but explains the probable motivation of the attackers.
Great essay by Juan Cole @Informed Comment!
Basically, authoritarian extremists need each other. A Front National-led France, with all the racist baggage it would bring, would aid in al-Qaida-style terrorist groups.
○ CharlieHebdo satirical magazine
Nice act by Paris investigators …
○ Attentat à “Charlie Hebdo” : les trois suspects identifiés
They even found their ID cards in the abandoned Citroen C3.
Identité des terroristes:
Saïd Kouachi (né en 1980),
Chérif Kouachi (1982),
Hamyd Mourad (1996)
On previous thread, the names of all three suspects were aired. I understood the black Renault C3 escape car crashed so the men had to switch cars. Threatened an elderly driver and drove off, leaving their clothes [with IDs]. The 18 year-old Hamyd Mourad turned himself in when he heard his name was published, wisely accompanied by his parents to avoid being “accidentally” shot at the police station.
The position of France in the UN Security Council is quite crucial … the three terror suspects “lost” their ID cards in the abandoned Citroen C3. Sure. Let’s wait for real evidence. Sensing a false flag operation.
twitter # Hamyd Mourad Innocent – here.
It’s rather strange how often these kinds of events are considered to be false flag operations without any real evidence.
The 18 year-old has a family link to the older brother, Said Kouachi, it’s his brother-in-law. The police will keep Hamyd Mourad in custody for interrogation for up to 96 hours. Police have also searched a house in Charleville-Mézières, a border town with Belgium, where he had lived and went to high school. Police said he was “homeless” living in Paris at the time of the shooting.
○ Charlie Hebdo attack: several arrested but hunt for suspects continues | The Guardian |
○ Paris Terrorist was Radicalized by Bush’s Iraq War, Abu Ghraib Torture | Juan Cole’s Informed Comment |
Very similar in the motivation to murder Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam. Van Gogh was broadly satirical and more than once also anti-semitic. His killer was a lone-wolf radicalised Muslim who acted very much on his own and wished for a martyr’s death at the hands of Amsterdan police. Contrary to US police sharpshooters, the local police don’t shoot to kill even if the suspects has a gun. [Could be lack of training, of course – LOL]
The misfortune for Theo van Gogh is that he joined Islamophobes to send out a message in his film Submission which got him much publicity. He partnered with Hirsi Ali who did receive police protection due to death threats. The extremists always look for the soft targets, Charlie Hebdo was not defended well in his office. Adequate security and a safe room who have made quite a difference. The shooters weren’t professional at SAS level, perhaps have been to Syria for training in jihad combat. I see no link to AQAP as one shouted leaving the scene.
New French law represses freedom of speech, criticism of Israel and “anti-semitism” will be prosecuted. Due to the success of Marie LePen, both Sarkozy and Hollande have leaned toward the extreme far-right on immigration issues. Hypocrisy reigns in Europe.
How society reacts on the terror attack in Paris will tell much over the cohesion in Europe. I’ve already heard reports from journalists
the call for re-introducing the death sentence by guillotine. The Enlightenment in reverse : Constraint – Inequality – Oligarchy.
Enlightenment and Human Rights for Women too?
America In Distress: "Who is not with us, is against us." [G.W. Bush in WOT]
European suggestion to counteract Islamic Jihad
Let’s start by lifting the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679!
○ Live: Suspects in Charlie Hebdo shooting ‘spotted’ in north France | France 24 |
AFP reports that the Charlie Hebdo shooting suspects have been spotted near the small town of Villers-Cotterêts, which
is about an hour’s drive north-east of Paris, and that police and gendarmerie intervention teams have been deployed.
○ Spotted at AVIA petrol station on Rout Nacional N2 enroute south towards Paris
[Links added are mine – Oui]
○ AQAP Leader Anwar al-Awlaki Killed in Yemen | Sept. 30, 2011 |
○ Reportedly 120 Al-Awlaki Family Members Killed by US cruise missile strike | Dec. 26, 2009 |
○ Imam al Awlaki Killed in Yemen Raid After U.S. Intelligence | Dec. 24, 2009 |
I stand in the ‘I am NOT Charlie Hebdo’ camp. We are being played by so many forces that it seems silly to me to give these manipulators the time of day, let alone my precious light of consciousness.
As has happened often over the last year, I find the Saker’s discussion much food for deep thought.
With full attribution from the Saker’s blog post:
I Am Not Charlie
Okay, let’s be clear. I am not Muslim. I oppose terrorism. I don’t even support the death penalty. I loathe Takfirism. I oppose violence as a means to make a political or ethical point. I fully support freedom of speech, including critical speech and humor.
But this morning I am most definitely NOT Charlie.
In fact, I am disgusted and nauseated by the sick display of collective hypocrisy about the murders in France. Here is why:
Charlie Hebdo for the Darwin Awards
The folks at Charlie Hebdo had it coming. Here is what I wrote about them in September 2012 when they published their famous caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed: Worthy of the Darwin Awards, if you ask me. Excellent, the “gene pool” of the French “caviar-Left” badly needs some cleaning”. Today I fully stand by my words.
Just a stupid dare?
Let me ask you this: what would be the point of, say, taking a nap on train tracks? You don’t have to “agree” with the train which will run you over, but it still will, won’t it? What about taking a nap on train tracks specifically to make a point? To prove that the train is bad? To dare it? To make fun of it? Would that not be the height of stupidity? And yet, that is exactly what Charlie Hebdo did. I would even argue that that his how Charlie Hebdo made it’s money, daring the “Muslim train” to run them over. You think I am exaggerating? Check out the caricature which one of the folks who got murdered yesterday had just posted. The text reads: “Still no terrorist attacks in France – Wait, we have until the end of January to send you are best wishes”. The crazy person shown in the drawing is packing a Kalashnikov and wearing an Afghan “Pakol” – the typical “crazy Muslim” in Charlie Hebdo’s world. Talk about a stupid dare…
“Spitting in people’s souls”
There is an expression in Russian: spitting in somebody’s soul. It fully applies here. Muslims worldwide have be unambiguously clear about that. They take blasphemy very, very seriously, as they do the name of the Prophet and the Quran. If you want to really offend a Muslim, ridicule his Prophet or his Holy Book. That is not a secret at all. And when Charlie Hebdo published their caricatures of the Prophet and when they ridiculed him the a deliberately rude and provocative manner, they knew what they were doing: they were very deliberately deeply offending 1.6 billion Muslims world wide. Oh, and did I mention that in Islam blasphemy is a crime punishable by death? Well, it turns out that of 1.6 billion Muslims exactly three decided to take justice in their own hands and kill the very deliberately blaspheming Frenchmen. You don’t have to be Muslim or to approve of the death penalty for blasphemy to realize that this was inevitable and that this has nothing to do with Islam as a religion. Offend any group as large as 1.6 billion and sooner or later you will find 1-5 folks willing to use violence to make you pay for it. This is a statistical inevitability.
Are some victims more equal then others?
So 12 deliberately “soul spitting blasphemers” were murdered and all of France is in deep mourning. The media worldwide does such a good job presenting it all as a planetary disaster that many thousands people worldwide say “I am Charlie”, sob, light candles and take a “courageous” stance for freedom of speech.
Crocodile tears if you ask me.
The fact is that the AngloZionists have carefully and lovingly nurtured, organized, armed, financed, trained, equipped and even directed the Takfiri crazies for decades. From the war in Afghanistan to Syria today these murderous psychopaths have been the foot-soldiers of the AngloZionist Empire for decades. But, apparently, nobody cares about their victims in Afghanistan, in Bosnia, in Chechnia, in Kosovo, in Libya, in Kurdistan, in Iraq or elsewhere. There these liver-eating murderers are “freedom fighters” who get full support. Including from the very same media which today is in mourning over Charlie Hebdo. Apparently, in the western ethos some victims are more equal then others.
And when is the last time somebody in Europe shed a single tear over the daily murders of innocent people in the Donbass whose murder is paid for and directly directed by the western regimes?
How stupid do they think we are?
And then this. Even a drooling idiot knew that Charlie Hebdo was THE prime target for that kind of attack. And I promise you that French cops are not drooling idiots. Yet, for some reason, they were nowhere to be seen that day. Only a van with two (or one?) cop was parked nearby (hardly an anti-terrorist protection detail) and one poor cop was shot and then executed with an AK shot to the head while he was begging for mercy. Is this the best the French state can do?
Hardly.
So what is going on here? I will tell you what – the EU 1%ers are now capitalizing on these murders to crack down on their own population. Sarkozy already met Hollande and they both agreed that new levels of firmness and vigilance need to be implemented. Does that not reek of a French 9/11?
So no, I am most definitely NOT Charlie this morning and I am disgusted beyond words with the obscene display of doubleplusgoodthinking “solidarity” for a group of “caviar-lefties” who made their money spitting in the souls of billions of people and then dared them to do something about it. And I am under no illusion whatsoever about the fact that cui bono clearly indicates that the French regime either organized it all, or let it happen or, at the very least, makes maximal political use of it all.
But most of all, I am disgusted with all those who play along and studiously avoid asking the right questions about all this. I guess they really are “Charlies” all of them.
I am not.
The Saker
France24 – reports the Kouachi brothers were in Yemen and had met AQ operatives. Source from a group of 4/5 journalists who had met AQ leadership recently in Yemen.
French police have cornered the two suspects in the village of Dammartin-en-Goële, 40 km north from Paris, in a printshop in an industrial zone in a hostage situation. Journalists are nearby after they were escorted by police to the village.
Hostage situation in Paris-east @Kosher Market, two persons killed.
Julian Pain @JulianPain
French police publishes photos of suspect
in yesterday’s Montrouge shooting. Maybe
the same persons in Kosher market
○ LIVE report France24
Location of Hyper Carcher 23, Porte de Vincennes 75020 Paris – Google maps
Hostage crisis ends!
Three men suspects dead, hostages freed.
Police searching for woman involved in yesterday’s incident
Happy the hostages were freed, saddened the suspects are dead.
Also, sadly, apparently not true:
“Four critically wounded in Paris supermarket hostage drama, says security source”
Sad news from France24 …
LIVE : 4 dead in Paris grocery hostage crisis, including gunman
Shots were heard early in the afternoon, but no official statements were given, understandably so.
Go to the Guardian and watch this video on the front on-line page:
Don’t avenge Charlie Hebdo deaths, says victim’s family.
Marvel at the humanity of it. When will survivors of victims with other social and religious backgrounds come forward and try to heal? Don’t hold your breath.
Now on You Tube:
Don’t avenge Charlie Hebdo deaths, says victim’s family – video
This is the family of the Muslim policeman who was killed in front of the Charlie Hebdo office.
○ The Guardian
○ YouTube
○ Lassana Bathily, Muslim worker at Paris kosher shop, hid 5 people from gunman, incl. baby – BFMtv video
Kosher supermarket attack victims to be laid to rest in Israel
Thank you for link. I am deeply touched by the personal loss and grieving families.
Quite a difference with the reaction from the brother of Paris policeman Ahmed Merabet:
Don’t avenge Charlie Hebdo deaths, says victim’s family – video
A fluid terror and hostage situation with tiny bits of info to be analysed. My comment was 2 days ago! Israel is part of the 5-Eyes intelligence network and shares all top priority terror alerts. There were numerous lapses and we learn more every day. What Algeria shares with France is instantaneously forwarded to NSA, GCHQ, Unit 8200, etc.
These three French men stayed under the radar of the intelligence service as they prepared the deadly attacks that shook Paris and France. The two brothers had received training in Yemen with AQAP, collected heavy arms never seen before in a similar attack in Paris and the third hostage taker, without a mobile phone for years, managed to videotape his suicide message and linked his sympathy for the emir Al Baghdadi of the IS caliphate. Hayat Boumeddiene, the woman accused of being an accomplice in the killing of a police woman in Paris-South, had already left France and had triggered an ‘alarm’ when she entered Turkey on January 2 this year. Yes, the intelligence community is really adept in linking data!! Previously there was a miscommunication between Turkey and France when Syria jihadists returned to France arriving at a different airport and wondering where the DSGE intelligence welcoming party was.
Posted earlier @TikunOlam – Charlie Hebdo Massacre: a Tragic, Universal Failure.