Paris, and a Sane Response--Paul Krugman

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Many analyses by Paul Krugman seem to be right on the mark, and this one is no exception.  People in the US and the UK and France and Germany, and Ireland, in short, all the countries that sometimes feel like making an overwhelming response to terrorism, should do some serious, rational thinking, to have their thoughts ready for such events as those of Paris.

Paul Krugman, a Left-Of-Center columnist and political writer, gave a very succinct analysis of the events of Paris, and all such acts of terrorism, those that have made it to our awareness, and the dozens that have not.

The intention of the terrorists is to provoke a more outrageous response from the highly-armed Western nations (US, UK, Russia, etc) than the random violence they caused.  They get more bang for their buck from the response, than from the senseless murders themselves.

For instance Donald Rumsfeld (Paul Krugman writes) capitalized on the indignation following 9/11 to do what he considered a clean sweep of the Middle East, and attacked Iraq, which was remarkable for being a nation in which there was a delicate balance between the Shia and Sunni sects of Islam, not to mention a small minority of Christians as well.  Now what do we have?  Not only have we killed thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, we have thrown the entire region out of balance.

Vast multitudes in the US find it tiresome to dwell on the subtleties of International politics.  Is the answer to simply blunder in and make grand gestures?  Those who find it unthinkable that direct action cannot solve the problem of terrorism must be sat upon.  Direct action can only put our children in even greater danger.  Only by no military action can the efforts of terrorists be eroded.  Political action: certainly.  Humanitarian action: yes.  Education.  Persistence.  Resolve.  But counterattack: not a good idea, says Paul Krugman, and after reading his article, I tend to agree.

Meanwhile, my immediate sympathetic response to the horror of the City of Paris seems to have only resulted in those from other parts of the world that suffered attacks both before and after Paris feeling slighted.  There is a constant undercurrent of terrorism out there, and there is a growing multitude of friends and families and compatriots of the victims of terrorism crying out for retaliation, feeding into the intentions of the terrorists for a grand conflagration.  A grand conflagration only helps the terrorists.