Listening to the radio last night, appalling news coming out of France. Coordinated terrorist attacks across Paris, many killed, ten o’clock 26 reported dead, midnight 36, early hours of the morning over one hundred, lunchtime today 126.
From eyewitness accounts, all the hallmarks of a commando style raid, only not against a military target but aimed at slaughtering ordinary innocent civilians.
France was already on heightened alert, due to host climate talks in a couple of weeks, and yet no warning, not even a whisper.
Not only well organised to carry out the attacks, well organised to have caches of weapons in place.
Where did they receive their training, where were they from?
We have had bombings in Turkey, in Lebanon, a Russian plane blasted out of the sky. Now coordinated attacks on Paris, and that follows on from the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January.
Last last night, France declared a State of Emergency, its borders were closed, roads in Paris were closed, people were advised to stay indoors.
The attack is seen as a declaration of war by ISIS. An attack on one Nato member is an attack on all. France could invoke Article 5.
The Schengen Agreement has to be suspended indefinitely, We cannot have the free flow of people, unchecked, across national borders.
We have to halt the flow of migrants into Europe, when we have not a clue who we are letting in. One of the Paris attackers is believed to be a Syrian who passed through Greece as a migrant. Isis in the past has said it will use migrants as a route into Europe.
The illegal migrant camps in France have to be broken up, breeding grounds for crime and terrorism.
For far too long we have been tolerant of Islamic extremists. We cannot allow women to wear the burka, with only their eyes visible through a narrow slit. We do not allow people to parade around wearing a Balaclava, so why a burka? If they do not like it they know what they can do they can head for Saudi Arabia.
There has to be military action against ISIS. Bombing is making the situation worse.
We have to cooperate with Russia.
We have to recognise we are in for the long haul. It could take ten years, it could take a generation.
Iraq, Libya, Syria, are failed states. We are dealing with the consequences of the break up of the Ottoman Empire, illegal wars by war criminals George W Bush and Tony Blair and climate change.
Post-WWII, we ran Germany, we had a programme of de-Nazification. This we will have to do in the Middle East. We have to give all a part in society, Kurds, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Shia, Sunni. This was the mistake we made in Iraq, and as a consequence the country fell apart.
We have Syrians, or at least they claim to be Syrian, literally fighting their way into and across Europe, fighting with border police, fighting with each other. Why are they not in their own country, fighting to recover it? Contrast with the Free French, Free Poles, who fought with the Allies to recover their countries.
Wealthy Arab countries should pay for the cost of recovering the Middle East, if they refuse, seize their assets in the West.
We have to move to renewables (we need to anyway to deal with climate change), to end the flow of money into the Middle East.
ISIS will not talk. Canon Andrew White invited ISIS to dinner. They offered to chop his head off.
Prior to Peal Harbour, Americans were opposed to entering WWII. After Pearl Harbour, they were queueing to enlist.
The attacks on Paris last night is a wake up call. We cannot let ISIS expand.
On facebook last night, a page to let people know you are safe. And yet no mention in the media.
This evening the London Eye and London Bridge are lit in the French colours to show we stand with the people of France. As are many other buildings around the world.
- Paris attacks put dagger through heart of liberal Europe
- Paris attacks ‘change everything’ on migrant crisis,warns senior German politician
- Paris Attacks: Suicide Bomber Was Blocked From Entering Stade de France
- Send in troops to defeat Islamic State says ‘vicar of Baghdad’ Andrew White
- The ‘vicar of Baghdad’ explains what happened when he invited Isis to dinner
- Sharm el-Sheikh luxury gulag for tourists
- Humanity washed ashore