ISIL And Paris

ISIL and Paris

It is impossible to ignore in this blog what happened in Paris last Friday but also difficult to know what to add to the widespread media coverage, other than a very personal view. So this is it. The many manifestations of only too understandable grief have been matched by expressions of similarly easily understandable anger and immediate threats and, indeed, actual acts of retaliation. And the attacks in Paris have clearly strengthened the hand of the extreme right-wing, anti-immigration Marie Le Penn.

Yet I can't help thinking that all the anger is exactly the reaction that ISIL wants. There is a saying that revenge is a dish best eaten cold and I believe that this is a classic case. If ISIL is to be defeated, not just now but into the forseeable future, then it cannot be done on the battlefield alone. ISIL is undoubtedly evil but not necessarily stupid. It is ISIL's objectives, chaos in Europe and a war between muslims and the rest of the world, that must be defeated. The attacks in Paris must therefore not be allowed to contribute to those. In the current situation, a defeat on the battlefield probably has to be achieved but that will by no means be the end of ISIL, nor can it be.

There will always be a small minority attracted to the idea of a glorious death in some cause or other: dulce et decorum est. But that does not explain the thousands who have flocked to support ISIL, the large majority being disaffected msulim young men. But, to counter this, making a preferential case for young muslim men in Europe does not make make much sense either; anyway, it is hardly realistic in the current climate of opinion. More understanding of the mindset of muslims in Europe would be welcome but that has to be two-way: the muslim community itself must adapt better to European ways and demonstrate not just in words but in deeds that it totally rejects ISILand is at least completely tolerant of European habits and traditions.

That may be asking for the moon right now but steps in that direction can certainly be taken. What must be abundantly clear is that the West should stay out of Arab affairs once the situation in Syria and Iraq is sorted (temporarily). Intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan undoubtedly played a big role in the rise of ISIL. It may offend western sensibilities to see citizens of other countries suffer subjugation and torture but what must also be understood is that a simple humanitarian reaction (easily understandable) may simply increase that suffering even in the short term. Democracy and freedom as we know it have never played much part in the Arab world and we in the West should not seek to impose them. We have to accept that a large part of the world is inhumane by our standards and adopt the greatest care and reflection before intervening in any way. The tyrant Assad will probably end up ruling Syria again, Afghanistan will probably fall once again under Taliban control and who knows what will happen in Iraq. We simply have to leave those countries to find their own destiny. As a corollary, aid programmes will also have to be significantly rethought.

Accepting this will be as hard for those of humanitarian bent who want to help the world as it will be for those whose only concerns are wealth or power. But that, I believe, is how it will have to be.

Footnote

None of my friends in the village have been directly affected by the events in Paris as far as I know. Most have contacted friends and relatives there to ensure they are safe. However, I have also noticed that the handful of muslims in the village have been keeping a very low profile, which is a pity as they are all decent people and their stance, though understandable (again) should not be necessary. Indeed, in a way, it is a small victory for ISIL's objectives.

Garden, Lunch And Sacred Cows

Autumn Garden

I'm used to a distinct lack of colour in my garden in the autumn but this year has been a pleasant surprise. The weather combination we have had of significant rain with also significant sun and mild temperatures seems to have given all the plants a boost. Yesterday afternoon, after a day of rain, the temperature was 28 degrees in the sun.

At the front the cyclamen are showing red and white, the plumbago, solanum are providing blue and the French marigolds that seemed to be sulking have woken up and are a mass of gold and red. And another (perennial) plant which I have front and back whose name I don't know and which I can't find in my RHS encyclopedia, though it would surely grow in England, is not only still full of blue flowers but its foliage is turning red and yellow.

At the back the red currant sage is a mass of bloom and and has taken up so much space that I will have to cut it back severely over the winter. Other blooms are dotted around: there's a white Japanese anemone, a couple of marigolds still going, a blue salvia, a honeysuckle and some gaura. But what has particularly pleased me are the roses. I have several David Austin bushes that have struggled to get established and the climbers only started to climb significantly last year, four years after they were planted. This year not only have they continued climbing but have decided to produce a second flush of bloom, as they should. In particular the Pilgim which I have growing up an arch has a dozen blooms on it. My Pat Austin has also decided to produce again. I know now that most plants take a considerable time to get established here but often overlook just how long that time can be. In addition, my small olive tree is covered in olives and the rock plants are all scrambling like mad, which promises a good show in the spring when they start bloomimg again. In short, everything is looking much better than I had anticipated.

In the background leaves are falling off the lime and plane trees and the vines are all turning colour. I wondered whether the grape harvest this year would be any good, given the summer drought, but the vignerons I have spoken too all claim that the harvest is good. The sugar content of the grapes should certainly be high but it seems the volume has been quite satisfactory too.

Reflections On A Lunch Conversation

This Sunday Steve and Jo invited me to lunch with friends Armelle, René, Alex and Pauline. As often when we are a mixture of English and French, and the more so since Steve and I have started our English conversation meetings, conversation focussed for a time on differences between our two countries and languages. The conversation was typical of those we have with French friends here which is why I recount it.

I asked if our French friends understood the significance of the date the 5^th of November in England; they didn't. So I explained that, somewhat paradoxically, although we prided ourselves (rightly or not) on being the cradle of democracy we also celebrated a historical attempt to blow the seat of it to smithereens in The 17^th century: Guy Fawkes Day Moreover, an effigy of some sort was burned on the traditional bonfire and, before it became politically unacceptable, this was often the Pope. We didn't burn Jeanne d'Arc anymore since we had already done that very successfully once. René countered that by asking whether we knew the origin of the famous busbies worn by British troops in formal costume. We didn't and René explained the origin in Napoleonic troops.

That got me thinking about conventions of war, which hardly exist today (pace the Geneva Convention, on the rare occasions when it is observed). Doing research for a talk at the English library here I had discovered the origin of the expression “to show one's true colours”. It dates from the 17th century when warships were allowed to get close to enemy ships by the ruse of flying false flags but weren't allowed to fire on them before showing their “true colours”. The convention was apparently normally observed, even by pirates. That reminded of criticisms I had read of American revolutionaries in their war of independence aganst Britain. The complaints at the time were that the revolutionaries didn't wear any brightly coloured uniforms, as the British did, so that they could easily be seen and identified, and they adopted the “cowardly” practice of hiding in woods and behind walls rather than “bravely” standing in the open to be shot at.

That in turn made me wonder what current sacred cows we had now that would be milked ad lib in the future. One, I suspect, may be an extreme preoccupation with hygiene. I asked René if he knew why Swiss cheeses had holes in them and he didn't. I recalled a story of a Swiss cheese enterprise that had created a totally hygienic, hermetically sealed factory and found that the resultant cheese was palatable but had no holes in it. It turned out that the holes in Swiss cheeses owe their presence to minute particles of hay or straw in the milk from which they are made. Ensure the milk is “pure” and you don't get holes. Another example that came to mind was my time in Senegal, when I had the inoculations necessary for entry to the country but nothing else; and I survived the year with just a few days of stomach upset. The American Peace corps were there and had a fully equipped field hospital in Dakar to which they all went every 6 months for check-ups and various inoculations and yet they went down like flies with all sorts of illnesses. I asked a doctor there why this could be so and he suggested that they had quite probably never been exposed to any germs in their lives and, being suddenly exposed to a multitude of them, had little protection against them. So cleanliness may be next to Godliness, as the Victorians liked to maintain, but moderatio in omnibus also applies. The political correctness currently infecting the UK will also, I suspect, be another sacred cow to be milked in the future.