Paris Attacks

Islamic State claimed responsibility for attacks that killed 127 people in Paris.

In an official statement, the group said its fighters strapped with suicide bombing belts and carrying machine guns carried out the attacks in various locations in the heart of the capital which were carefully studied.

  Reuters

IS would be happy to take responsibility even if they didn't do it, but let's assume they did.

Despite the major beefing-up of surveillance of suspected jihadists within the continent and especially the monitoring of volunteers who had gone to fight for the Islamist groups in Syria, since the attacks on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Hyper Cacher supermarket in Paris in January, it seems that at least one terror group has succeeded in maintaining a significant presence and level of organization within France throughout this period. There are serious questions to be asked of all governments in Western Europe, as for what has been done so far to counter this threat and what can still be done. One main dilemma will be how to intensify security and intelligence efforts without curtailing vital democratic freedoms.

  Haaretz

I'm afraid that we are already approaching a point where the governments most closely allied in the "war on terror", and possibly the overwhelming majority of their citizens, will not care about "vital democratic freedoms."

From Judith Miller, the woman who was the loudspeaker for discredited Ahmed Chalabi in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, which arguably unleashed the level of terrorism in which the world is now immersed.   (Note her Twitter name "JMfreespeech" - free speech to spread utter bull, I guess.)

(See Five People Who Should Stop Tweeting About the Paris Attacks)

The Paris attacks came nearly two weeks after the crash of a Russian airliner in Sinai, killing 224 passengers and crewmembers. The near-consensus among intelligence services in the west is that the cause of the crash was a bomb planted on the plane by an ISIS affiliate in Sinai. If the night's attacks are connected to the Islamic State, it will mean a shift in strategy, away from focusing solely on building its Caliphate in the Levant and towards expanding their Jihad to the countries currently attacking its forces in Syria and Iraq. Russia two weeks ago, France last night.

[...]

For those, like Russia, and some in the west, who have been calling for a more forceful international campaign against ISIS, disregarding the original cause for chaos in Syria - the bloody mass-massacred by the Assad regime of civilians and rebel groups, last night in Paris will be a boost to their arguments. It will certainly have added an entirely new level of urgency to the talks scheduled to take place today (Saturday) in Vienna on attempts to arrange a ceasefire and political transition in Syria.

[...]

Another effect of the Paris attacks will be on the ongoing debate within Europe on how to respond to the massive influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees flowing in to the continent. There is no reason whatsoever at this moment to connect the attacks to the refugees, fleeing death and chaos themselves. But when dozens of civilians have just been gunned down in one of Europe's main capital cities, reason may be in short supply.

No doubt will be.

Poland cannot accept migrants under European Union (EU) quotas after Friday's attacks in Paris, Poland's European affairs minister designate Konrad Szymanski said on Saturday.

In a commentary published in the right-leaning news portal wPolityce.pl, Szymanski said his incoming government did not agree with Poland's commitment to accept its share of an EU-wide relocation of immigrants, and now, "in the face of the tragic acts in Paris, we do not see the political possibilities to implement (this)."

Szymanski will take up his position on Monday as part of a government formed by the last month's election winner, the conservative and eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party.

  Reuters