Make no mistake. The terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut are just the beginning. There is plenty more where they came from. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened, and it is only a matter of time before it happens again.
This is now the new normal for the world, and we need to recognise this fact, and take action accordingly.
What this latest round of brutal killings tells us, not that it should have needed to be said again, is that there can be no reasoning with nor appeasement of the forces behind such atrocities.
Searching for the root causes or reasons for the hatred that manifests itself in such remorseless slaughter is a fool’s errand. When parties are willing to descend to such brutality and delight in causing such carnage, the putative reasons behind their actions are immaterial and irrelevant.
There is nothing any government on Earth can do that will stay their hands or turn them from their path of destruction. There is no policy that would appease them and get them to live in peace with the rest of us. They seek to annihilate all opposition and they will not stop until they have achieved their aim.
They must be recognised for what they are: The barbarian hordes of the 21st century at war with the rest of the world. They seek nothing less than the complete and utter destruction of the world as we know it.
There can be no negotiation or compromise or co-existence with people like this. Their ideologies or grievances are not their defining feature. Their defining feature is their murderous contempt for human life, and it is this that we must all stand shoulder to shoulder to fight against.
This is what is at stake in the struggle against Islamist militancy: The future of the world. If we do not wish to live in a world ruled by fear and hatred, then we need to understand that this is a fight to the death that we cannot afford to lose.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
