I suppose I should mention the terrorist attacks which happened in Paris last Friday (13th November). It was a pretty momentous event, where terrorists killed 129 French people who were just enjoying themselves in Paris on a Friday night.
I don't have any particular insights, in fact I can't imagine how an individual can get to the point where they want to commit mass murder and then kill themselves.
Events like the Paris attacks happen frequently in the Middle East, and those events are what is driving a lot of the current refugee crisis. But they're not reported in the western press, because normally there are no British involved or harmed, so they are discarded as possible news events. There's enough going on at home which affects us all that we don't need to be filling our heads with events going on in other far-off lands. That's not to say that I'm not an internationalist, I think I'm fairly up to speed with foreign news, comparatively, but I am aware that those who decide what news items are important discount those events.
Anyway, it was a dreadful thing to happen, and right on our doorstep too - geographically speaking. I've been to Paris a couple of times, not recently, but it is somewhere that I know, and not a city that I've only ever seen on a TV screen. It is much more immediate and close than attacks which have been reported in the Middle East. I even went to the extent of changing my avatar on Facebook, so that it looked like the Tricolor. Then I saw a few posts asking why people were changing their avatars for the Paris Attacks but not, for example, attacks in Beirut. I decided a few days later to remove the updated avatar, and not post political stuff on Facebook. As someone pointed out, it is a social website, to be used to keep in touch with family and friends. I don't think I've posted any seriously political stuff on FB, but I shall make sure and keep it out of posts in the future. And if anyone posts overtly political stuff, I shall probably hide them from my timeline, so I don't see it in future. If I wanted to change the world it would take more than a pithy update on Facebook.
It does seem that these attacks have come at a welcome time for those in government who want to bomb IS (Islamic State) in Syria. I'm not quite sure why, but it seems that they are feeling left out because France and the U.S. and even the Russians are now raining down explosives on identified targets belonging to IS in Syria. After interventions in Iraq and Libya, I am surprised that anyone would want to try again, but maybe it's a case of third time lucky? I will not be surprised, but I will be dismayed, if David Cameron calls for a vote in the Commons on military action in Syria.
We don't have to be involved, and I don't see any reason why we should be. I don't see how the fact that British bombs are falling on Syria, as well as Russian and French bombs, will change anything. But then I am only a mere citizen. I don't have access to the information which the govt does, but I can't see what benefit would come from another military intervention. I'm sure we will see what happens.
TTFN.
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