China Retools Its Military With a First Overseas Outpost in Djibouti

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/world/asia/china-military-presence-djibouti-africa.html?_r=0

There were multiple chances to stop the men who attacked Paris

In January, Turkish authorities detained one of the suicide bombers at Turkey's border and deported him to Belgium. Brahim Abdeslam, Turkish authorities told Belgian police at the time, had been "radicalized" and was suspected of wanting to join Islamic State in Syria, a Turkish security source told Reuters.
Yet during questioning in Belgium, Abdeslam denied any involvement with militants and was set free. So was his brother Salah – a decision that Belgian authorities say was based on scant evidence that either man had terrorist intentions.
On Nov. 13, Abdeslam blew himself up at Le Comptoir Voltaire bar in Paris, killing himself and wounding one other. Salah is also a suspect in the attacks, claimed by the Islamic State, and is now on the run.
In France, an "S" (State Security) file for people suspected of being a threat to national security had been issued on Ismail Omar Mostefai, who would detonate his explosive vest inside Paris' Bataclan concert hall. Mostefai, a Frenchman of Algerian descent, was placed on the list in 2010, French police sources say.

Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/22/us-france-shooting-opportunities-insight-idUSKBN0TB09R20151122#fDtbzdX7L31Vbt01.99

Etat d’urgence : « une marge de manœuvre bien trop large est offerte aux autorités »

A cette loi de 1955, qui est certes datée, viennent s’ajouter les nombreuses normes adoptées pour renforcer les pouvoirs de la police dans la lutte contre le terrorisme, comme la loi sur le renseignement en juillet. L’arsenal juridique paraît donc suffisant pour travailler à la prévention des actes terroristes.

Si la lutte contre ces derniers révèle ses limites, ce n’est pas faute de textes mais faute de moyens, tout particulièrement humains. Il n’est nul besoin de révision constitutionnelle

En savoir plus sur http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2015/11/19/etat-d-urgence-une-marge-de-man-uvre-bien-trop-large-est-offerte-aux-autorites_4813627_823448.html#tioLYf6G3l40mMha.99

Outside Powers Must End Their Proxy Wars in Syria

Airstrikes, however, do not win wars. Warplanes drop bombs, meaning they function as airborne artillery. No military doctrine holds that artillery alone can conquer territory. That takes forces on the ground. The ground forces exist in both Syria and Iraq, and they are not from the Western world. The Syrian Army, though odious to many Syrians and to the Western powers, is the strongest of these and has weathered four-and-a-half years of war without breaking up. It lost territory to ISIS in northeast Syria and at Palmyra, and it has reclaimed some of it with Russian air support. The Kurds of Iraq, supported by Kurds from Turkey and Syria and by U.S. airstrikes, have clawed back most of the territory that ISIS seized from them last year. The Shiite militias in southern Iraq, which filled the vacuum left by mass desertions from the U.S.-created Iraqi Army, with Iranian support and American air cover saved Baghdad from ISIS conquest and regained lost ground. The war requires infantry, but not American, British, and French troops. Nothing would turn Iraqis and Syrians to the jihadis more quickly than a Western invasion.
 https://theintercept.com/2015/11/19/outside-powers-must-end-proxy-wars-in-syria/

Several Paris attackers were on U.S. watchlists: officials

At least four of the Paris attackers were listed in a central counter-terrorism database maintained by the U.S. intelligence community, five U.S. officials said on Thursday.
At least one and possibly more of the attackers was also on a more selective U.S. "no fly list", three of the officials said, though they would not provide a specific number.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/20/us-france-shooting-watchlists-idUSKCN0T900N20151120#mbwmEl6ZhevOohC2.97

EU agrees to French request for military help

Countries unanimously support move to provide aid and assistance in fight against ISIL.

 According to a source in the meeting, Le Drian explained that the French had asked to invoke the obscure EU provision instead of NATO’s Article 5 because some of the less hawkish members of Hollande’s cabinet did not want to put pressure on the U.S., and also did not want to further destabilize the Middle East with a NATO intervention.

 Another reason France invoked the EU treaty provision, known as Article 42.7, was that it can be implemented quickly. Putting it into action “does not require any formal decision or Council conclusions to be taken so we need no further formality,” Mogherini said.

http://www.politico.eu/article/eu-agrees-to-french-request-for-military-help/