I'm French and Juan Cole has left out some facts, like that of France's colonial history with Algeria (a major hot-button issue when considering race relations in our country) and the fact that people born in the cites (Paris's answer to council estates) are at a major disadvantage compared to the rest of the country (economically, professionally, socially, etc.) and that has not changed much in fifty years. His theory of divide and conquer may hold water but it is but the tip of the iceberg. These young idiots who unleashed this shit-storm of hatred upon the city of lights were not all that well-trained. One shouldn't confuse the aloofness on display during the CH massacres with professionalism. These miserable fools come from orphanages & stints in jail, the kind of pathetic existence that has "low self-esteem" written all over it. Al-Qaeda and their brethrens look for these easy targets and brain-wash them. And this week is the result of the wonderfully-effective brain-washing at the hand of those committed to a political-brand of Islam.
Where I go to my favorite couscous restaurant in Montparnasse, Paris, our host is an Algerian man in his mid-sixties. He plays music and plies us with alcohol. This is the Islam that I, a catholic-born agnostic can recognize and affirm as the only legitimate form of Islam, the one practiced by the last two generations in France. Those Muslims did not go to mosque (and certainly did not ask for new ones to be built), drank and ate pork and couldn't give two fucks about all this sharia bullshit.
For a variety of reasons, some which have been described earlier, the new generation has awakened to the sound of a collective catharsis, a poisonous primal scream their feeble mind somehow easily tethers to. And they are turning into remote-controlled robots. And no one will be able to do anything about it.
This is the sinister and dark time of our history that we need to get through. It's a historical cycle. This, too, shall pass.
I'm French and Juan Cole has left out some facts, like that of France's colonial history with Algeria (a major hot-button issue when considering race relations in our country) and the fact that people born in the cites (Paris's answer to council estates) are at a major disadvantage compared to the rest of the country (economically, professionally, socially, etc.) and that has not changed much in fifty years. His theory of divide and conquer may hold water but it is but the tip of the iceberg. These young idiots who unleashed this shit-storm of hatred upon the city of lights were not all that well-trained. One shouldn't confuse the aloofness on display during the CH massacres with professionalism. These miserable fools come from orphanages & stints in jail, the kind of pathetic existence that has "low self-esteem" written all over it. Al-Qaeda and their brethrens look for these easy targets and brain-wash them. And this week is the result of the wonderfully-effective brain-washing at the hand of those committed to a political-brand of Islam.
Where I go to my favorite couscous restaurant in Montparnasse, Paris, our host is an Algerian man in his mid-sixties. He plays music and plies us with alcohol. This is the Islam that I, a catholic-born agnostic can recognize and affirm as the only legitimate form of Islam, the one practiced by the last two generations in France. Those Muslims did not go to mosque (and certainly did not ask for new ones to be built), drank and ate pork and couldn't give two fucks about all this sharia bullshit.
For a variety of reasons, some which have been described earlier, the new generation has awakened to the sound of a collective catharsis, a poisonous primal scream their feeble mind somehow easily tethers to. And they are turning into remote-controlled robots. And no one will be able to do anything about it.
This is the sinister and dark time of our history that we need to get through. It's a historical cycle. This, too, shall pass.
thanks for a useful analysis