Devils Attack Paris: Mother of Satan

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, ‘it is the quality which guarantees all others.’”
~ Winston Churchill, “Alfonso XIII” (in Great Contemporaries)

I make no pretensions to deep insight on international terrorism and a Middle East that has confounded just about every so-called expert for as long as I’ve been alive. So I’d rather just try to keep up with developments 
Still these terrorists are cowards ... And the world needs to treat them as such. The attacks in Paris are so singularly vile, so unprecedentedly deranged, it would be impossible to confuse the murders behind them with any other group ... Paris attack round up open thread

What will turn out to be the exact backgrounds and personal stories of the attacking cowards and criminals? Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said that the attackers in the co-ordinated, deadly assaults used the explosive TATP, which has been called the “mother of Satan” because of its volatility. According to Le Monde, the names of the two brothers were on rental contracts for a Volkswagen Polo and a Seat with Belgian numberplates, which used during the attacks. The third brother has not been named. Read more here ...

*A bullet-riddled body pulled from the rubble after yesterday's firefight in northern Paris has been formally identified as terror cell ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud Suspected 'mastermind' of Paris attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud died in police raid

Breaking Post Attack News: My cousins from Champagne region, Marie Cecil, Gerard, Jean Paul ... linked to this tweet:

The Charlie Hebdo cover nails it: "They have weapons. We don’t mind, we have champagne." #ParisAttacks#CharlieHebdo

— PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) November 17, 2015

AS EUROPE wakes after a night of horrors, newsstands are filling with horrified reactions to the Paris attacks. The front pages of French publications including Liberation, Le Figaro and Aujourd’hui decry the horror of the killings in the heart of their capital city
Le Parisien declares on its cover: “This time, it’s war.” This time it is war ...
— Thoughtful coverage via the BBC 


Breaking News focus on Victims:

Asta Diakite’s cousin called her “big sister.” Nohemi Gonzalezwas a “shining star.” Ludovic Boumbas was “one of life’s good people.” France 24 cameraman Mathieu Hoche had a 6-year-old son. Amine Ibnolmobarak was a newlywed.
If you haven’t yet heard the names or read something about the lives of the victims of Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, go to Twitter and click Mashable’s En mémoire, an account that’s tweeting once for each person who died in the attacks Mashable created an account that is tweeting once for each of the victims of the Paris attacks 

Paris attacks demonstrate the relevance of social media

#BREAKING Turkey foiled major Istanbul terror plot on same day as Paris attacks, official says

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 15, 2015

Hobart woman Emma Parkinson was among those injured. As every Sunday morning, this morning Ian Macca reflects the tennor of what Australians feel and think as he pays a genuine tribute to French people and the cradle of civilisation called France Australia All Over Indeed, we all stand with our French citizens against these acts of terror. We know that our French Slavic cousins in Reims, Champagne region appreciate the messages of sympathy and solidarity ...

Today is the funeral of René Girard, the renowned French theorist who taught us so much about violence (a larger memorial service will also be held in January at Stanford Memorial Church). It is also a day of national mourning in France, which yesterday suffered a terrorist attack of an unprecedented scale, the biggest attack on the nation since World War II. On the occasion of this atrocity, I am reprinting René’s prescient words from Battling to the End, which I had published on this blog after the Charlie Hebdo massacres of last January – the two events seem to be bookends of a very violent year Battling to the End
 

Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people called the Parisii, who gave the city its name. Flowers have been laid at sites in Paris to remember the dead, while thousands have gathered around the world at vigils.

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” 

“[It is] a threat in the name of God but is truthfully the work of the devil” 
~Malcolm Turnbull [G20 Leaders Shoulder to Shoulder with Paris]

As France closes the boder Deputy Speaker in NSW Parliament Andrew Fraser calls for Australia-to close border

Paris Attacks Kill at Least 120 as France Goes Into Lockdown Bloomberg
Paris: Simon Kuper in the Stade de France FT. “I don’t think this is a clash of civilisations. I see it as a clash of a couple of thousands jihadis with a great city. ”
Live: Paris rocked by string of deadly shootings France24
Attacks in Central Paris: Live Updates NYT
Context for Paris Terror Attack: U.S. and Its Allies C-R-E-A-T-E-D ISIS Washington’s Blog

Angela Merkel’s future under scrutiny for the first time as German asylum process criticised Telegraph
What’s Happening to My Country? Der Spiegel

 

In 1941 Winston Churchill delivered a speech to the students of Harrow School.

“…never give in, never give in, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.” 

PS: Odd thing about Robespierre: for almost all of his adult life, he opposed the death penalty. When he said “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” in 1790 (after the start of the French Revolution in 1789), he was still an opponent of executions. It wasn’t until around the time of the King’s trial in late 1792 that he changed his mind. After that, things snowballed…
Islam is a...peaceful religion but it's followers kill in the name of God ...