For years after the collapse of the Soviet Union collapsed it seemed like the west had won a permanent victory.... But Russia is back on its feet, and things are looking worryingly closer to the cold war again. Russia grabbed the Crimea back from the Ukraine while the west watched. Russia arms rebels in the east of Ukraine in retaliation for the Ukraine trying to move closer politically to the west and sanctions are the best we can do. The Russian airforce are regularly testing the patience of NATO by flyovers to the edge of its airspace.

As for Islam, what defeat are they seeking to avoid by striking targets in France? My worry with (funadmentalist) Islam is not so much that it retains its power in its current strongholds (though I do have major issues with the lack of human rights in some of these places), but in its relentless efforts to (a) expand and (b) its lack of tolerance for any opposing systems.

My condolences to the people of France.

My condolences to the families. 

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Fit of anger maybe ? I am so tired about Islam and all their demands my patience is wearing thin. I have witnessed several "religious fights" in subways in the past weeks, and even been called a racist by a woman wearing a full scarf because I sneezed when she was passing me (I had a cold, my bad !). 

As for Islam, what defeat are they seeking to avoid by striking targets in France?

That's a good question, Peter.  As a whole, the Islamist movement seems to be working two primary goals.  To expel, in the short to medium term, western influence from Islamist dominated territory, and to convert, in the long term, non-Muslim territory into Islamist dominated territory so that western values can never again threaten their unreformed religion.  They seek this because it's clear to even the most untrained eye that the walls of their values are surrounded, outdated and leaking, and they seek desperatly to avoid a full scale breach-- over here Les Revenats springs in through the cracks, over there Ross Geller bubbles up from the drains, across the way free women crash in waves over the ramparts and soon, behind their own walls, free people will choose to worship as they may, or not at all.  And as incomprehensible as it may seem to us, that is what they seek to avoid, because in the global marketplace of ideas, where people are free to choose their own destiny, their ideas can not compete with ours.

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France's involvement in African countries like Nigeria?