The best analysis I’ve seen on the broader context of this terrorist attack comes from Nafeez Ahmed in the Middle East Eye. His key argument: «We must not fall into the trap of the terrorists themselves – the inability to recognize the suffering of the Other, their wholesale demonization, the acceptance of their indiscriminate destruction as a necessary means to a ‹greater good.›»

For more on possible motives, I recommend this following text. Key passage: «[This was] a strategic strike, aiming at polarizing the French and European public. The problem for a terrorist group like al-Qaeda is that its recruitment pool is Muslims, but most Muslims are not interested in terrorism.»

The very moment I heard of the attack in Paris, I had to think of this article published in December. It has been updated, as, unsurprisingly, the exact thing the article criticises is now happening again.

If you haven’t read it last week when I made it my top recommendation, read it now: Carolin Emcke’s 2010 essay that has lost none of its relevance, quite the contrary, sadly.