Allowing Armed Forces Run Businesses Too Dangerous

The following media statement issued by the Decent Lanka, a group of activists on Good Governance

( November 16, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) As reported in the media, on Wednesday (11 November) the President had held talks on the controversial Avant Garde Maritime Services Ltd. (AGMSL) with all heads of State Security Forces, AG’s department representatives, relevant ministry heads and parliamentarians. Following day (12 Nov) media quoted cabinet spokesman Minister Rajitha Senaratne as having said, the president had instructed relevant authorities to revoke all agreements with AGMSL and to hand over all operations back to the Navy.

Allowing Armed Forces Run Businesses Too Dangerous by Thavam Ratna

An Open Letter To No One & Everyone About Terrorism

By Hiyanthi Peiris –November 16, 2015

Hiyanthi Peiris

It’s Friday night in DC, and I had plans to meet up with some friends from college. I heard about what happened in Paris today, and immediately, I feel a familiar sense of doom and nausea. I tell myself it’s food poisoning, but I know it isn’t. Even today, more than six years after the war in Sri Lanka ended, hearing about suicide bomb explosions and terrorism is enough for me to cancel my plans and stay home. I am sad, hurt and exhausted.

Terrorism taints us in ways that you can’t understand if you have not been affected by it. I was born into and lived more than two thirds of my life in the middle of an ethnic conflict, where terrorism touched my life. I have heard too many explosions in my life, to the point that even now, my first instinct is to assume that a loud sound must be an explosion. I have cried while running around looking for my sister when an explosion took place right outside my school. This memory is the most vivid out of all the terrorism associated memories that I have tried hard to suppress over the years. And to this day, the nightmares of going home to a pile of dead bodies and my family lying in a blood bath still happen. Just last week I woke up from a nightmare at 3am and called home to make sure that they were alive. Terrorism eats at your sense of security in ways that you don’t even realize.

Terrorism takes different shapes and forms, and it affects more people and more countries than the ones we see on Twitter or Facebook. Social media is heavily skewed by West-centric media. As much as I feel a sense of solidarity and unity when seeing the multitude of posts supporting and praying for Paris, I can’t help but feel like (as much as I know that this is not a competition for who gets the most sympathy and the most prayers) when we Sri Lankans needed the world to care, they didn’t. The Empire State building did not change colors to reflect the colors of the Sri Lankan flag, and no one posted prayers for Sri Lanka. And that’s fine- because honestly, it’s tough as humans to know what’s going on all over the world, and it’s not practical for a single human to care about or know about so many countries. That responsibility falls on the media, and the media exhausts me with their unequal representation and unequal valuing of lives that are all affected equally by terrorism and hurt and torn apart in the same ways.                          Read More

Is Avant Garde probe turning to be a witch-hunt?

2015-11-16

aw and Order Minister Tilak Marapana resigned last week after an uproar in the Cabinet, over his perceived pussyfooting on the ongoing investigation into the floating armoury of the Avant Garde Maritime Service Limited (AGMSL).

Is Avant Garde Probe Turning to Be a Witch-hunt by Thavam Ratna

‘Good governance’ regime too, gives approval to Avant Garde

Nov 16, 2015

The ‘good governance’ regime has signed an agreement with Rakna Security Lanka firm to allow Avant Garde company to continue its services from 20 October 2015 to 2019.

This despite voices being raised against Avant Garde by ministers Rajitha Senaratne, Champika Ranawaka and Arjuna Ranatunga, and despite the ongoing investigations into the Avant Garde-owned floating armoury seized at Galle.

 

The agreement has given permission to Avant Garde to run its future operations centre project, fishing boat project, arsenal project in Galle, air and sea transportation of weapons project, unarmed marine security project and Rangala weapons project.

 

Permission has also been given for the Malacca Straits future operations centre, floating platforms project and the shooting range project for foreign marshals.

 

Illegal weapons belong to Navy?

 

Commenting on claims by ministers Senaratne, Ranawaka and Ranatunga that the Navy has taken custody of 3,500 illegal weapons from Avant Garde, a spokesman for Rakna Security Lanka questioned as to whether they become legal after they come under the Navy.

 

He maintained the weapons were legal, or else a gazette should have been issued once being taken over by the Navy to declare that they are legal.

 

Reports say the floating armoury at Galle had 40 Navy officers who were responsible for these weapons.

 

A spokesman for Avant Garde said they only rented out a ship.

 

The defence ministry has informed the company to hand over the weapons to the Navy and has not told the company to halt its operations, he said.

 

However, company chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi signed letters suspending the services of its 3,400 employees, said the spokesman.

 

He declined to give further information, saying he could not make statements that would inconvenience the president or the prime minister.

 

www.srilankamirror.com

Paris Carnage, ISIS & Western Hypocrisy

By Lukman Harees –November 16, 2015

Lukman Harees

“Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose.” Joseph Paul Goebbels- Nazi Propaganda Minister

‘Paris suicide bombing’ was certainly a tragedy of equal proportions. People all over the world saw on TV and heard within minutes of this disaster, how some delusional lunatics perpetrated horrific acts of violence in the name of religion, on hundreds of innocents without an iota of love and mercy for their own kind-the humans. No-one in their right minds will condone this carnage. Thus, our thoughts irrespective of our colour, racial, religious and geographical differences are with the affected families and the French nation. This sad episode signifies that the world do not basically understand that human dignity refers to the value of human life and its inherent preciousness and that threat to Human Dignity emanates not from aliens or non-humans, but through the machinations of the hypocritical ,weird and the wicked human mind. The unashamed trampling of human dignity and violating the sanctity of human life has been becoming a norm, rather than an exception in the current human life narrative.

As the world comes to terms of what actually transpired and who were actually responsible, it is however an imperative need for us as ordinary people to see and look at things in the proper light without allowing the global Western media to lead all of us up the garden path through senseless, hate-laden, selective, reporting and ‘sensational’ headlines attempting to exploit our emotional feelings towards this human tragedy. For, it is no secret that we tend to form our world views blindly based more on what news they dish out to us giving more weightage to some, than others ,rather without verifying them ourselves, in this fast-paced world.

As for now, ISIS has presumably accepted responsibility for this Paris carnage ( their similar ‘feats’ in recent times, such as Beirut, Baghdad, has been overlooked and ignored by the Western Media). The Western media, as usual , has already led the way to drum up the Islamaphobia beat and the world once again will expect the entire global Muslim community to offer an unqualified apology while the Muslims in the West are dreading another round of hate attacks in retaliation. However, if we do not sift through the symptoms and attempt to identify the actual causes and the strategists behind these trends, then this ‘across- the- board’ criminalization of the Muslim community will continue and the world will only get worse by the day. Another victory for the Islamphobia industry! Who then are these ISIS folks? Are they acting on their own to achieve their goals or they just a cat’s paw on a greater design?

ISIS is neither a State nor Islamic and the mainstream Muslims have been attempting to stress time and again in many a ways that they have no truck with this rogue outfit. It is therefore not fair to hold all of them to account or make them carry the burden of ‘collective guilt’ for the action of this fringe bunch of lunatics, in the same way Christian community is not responsible for the atrocities Crusaders did or what Anders Behring Breivik did in 2011 in Norway . However, as a result of the well-organized Western media strategy to portray ISIS as an Islamic creation hell-bent on establishing an ‘Islamic Caliphate’ killing all those who are opposing same, it is unfortunate that the world fails to see ISIS in its’ true light – as a political creation for a designated purpose of the US in the Middle East.                                                      Read More                        

Rule of Law: First step to invigorate democratic institutions and advance nation building 

By Kopalasingam Sritharan and Rajan Hoole, UTHR (Jaffna)-November 15, 2015

The government’s strategy of marketing the UNHRC resolution to the Sinhalese as a ‘victory’ by placing a spin on its contents is bound to backfire in the long run. While the UNHRC resolution’s recommendation of international participation in the judicial process divides Sinhalese opinion, there is little popular resistance to the idea that human rights abuses need addressing. Given this context, instead of trying to stage-manage the Sinhalese extremists, the government must convince its constituencies of the need for accountability and truth telling. Conflicting statements about the nature of the accountability process will undermine its credibility and victims’ confidence in it.

Rule of Law First Step to Invigorate Democratic Institutions and Advance Nation Building by Thavam Ratna

Standing up to the Age of Emotions

• by Sajeeva Samaranayake 
• - on 11/16/2015 

Featured image of Paris attack memorial courtesy Washington Post

We have left the Age of Reason behind. This is the Age of Emotions. Precisely at what point we made the crossover can be left to historians. Yet the moment the Al Qaeda manned jets crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York and drew the First World irrevocably into a protracted state of global warfare is as good as any. Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking work –Emotional Intelligence had only been published 6 years before 9/11 in 1995. Having celebrated the heights and achievements of human reason we are now revisiting our own emotions – and we don’t seem to like what we see.

Standing Up to the Age of Emotions by Thavam Ratna

Lessons Sri Lanka Can Learn From The Paris Attack

By Samal Vimukthi Hemachandra –November 16, 2015

Samal Vimukthi Hemachandra

LAnother terrorist attack has captured the attention of the world. More than 120 people are dead. ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has taken the responsibility for this barbaric attack. Eye witnesses say that gunmen shouted “Allahu Akbar”, before shooting. Unlike most terrorists’ attacks, in which ISIS killed hostages one by one. They did not demand anything. When they knew they were going to get captured, they killed themselves by using explosive vests. It was very clear that they came with a very clear idea that is to kill innocent people who were having a good time with their family and friends after a usual busy week. By killing these innocent people, they also wanted Europe to taste their brutal killings in Middle East which shocked the world. World leaders have issued customary statements using words like “state of war”, “evil of terrorism”, “shocked but resolute, in sorrow but unbowed”, “we are with you” etc. Many landmarks have been illuminated with French colors. Facebook created a new tool to show the solidarity with French people.

How can we understand all these ‘drama’? Talking to BBC Radio 4, Peter Neumann, Professor of Security Studies, King’s College London stated “[…] it is not only about people being killed it is about creating a political effect. What worries me the most is that we will see in France and other European countries a polarisation, with different extremists egging each other on. People on the far right trying to take advantage. It’s about dividing societies.” As he predicts, from here onwards, in France, every Muslim will be treated as a terrorist. Therefore even the most innocent Muslim will be contempt to conscious about his identity? Finally, the society will be divided into two camps. In other words, this will mark the boundaries between Us and Them. Extreme rights will attempt to mobilize the ‘us-ness’ and terrorists will operate on ‘other-ness’.

The main victims in this catastrophe are innocent people. ISIS killed 120 innocent people. (Un)surprisingly the largest refugee camp in Paris has been in flames. So far no one knows who caused it. May be it was a coincident or maybe it was a retaliation. Poland stopped taking migrants[1]. British Prime minister David Cameron has warned “We must recognise that however strong we are, however much we prepare, we in the UK face the same threat.”[2] To induce more fear, ISIS has claimed that they have sent their 4000 terrorists to Europe through refugees[3]. As it seems, both camps are acting quickly to strengthen their camps. This is where people who preach freedom through nonviolent actions, experience ambiguity. Both camps will ridicule them for being impracticable.                                                Read More

SIS juniors restricted from using mobile phones

 Nov 16, 2015

State intelligence reports confirm that junior officers of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) are restricted from taking mobile phones inside their office.

This ban has been enforced for the officers attached to the Cambridge Place in Colombo. This was informed to the junior officers in the SIS during a meeting held last week.

It is being revealed that it was the state intelligence officers who has provided vehicles, lodging and leaked information to killer group consisted with the army infantry, navy and Karuna and Pillayan faction which was activated by the instructions of the former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Intelligence reports further confirm that the reason for imposing this ban is to prevent these information getting leaked to the media.

Lanka News Web has been reported that Samapath Kumara who was attached to the SIS Indian branch has been called to that country and senior police officer and a Rajapaksa stooge Ramya Wickramasinghe has been appointed for the post.

Shot for flying a flag in Gaza

Muhammad al-Bhaisy is visited by his parents in Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital before being transferred to treatment in Israel.Ezz Zanoun

Charlotte Silver-15 November 2015
The Electronic Intifada

For the past six weeks, the boundary between Gaza and Israel has been a deadly place for Palestinians. Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians during protests in that area between 1 October and 6 November.

Shot for Flying a Flag in Gaza by Thavam Ratna

RSF LAUNCHES OPERATION “#OPENDOOR FOR REPORTERS”

Flowers and candles at the Place de la Republique square. Photograph: Corbis

MONDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2015.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is launching operation #opendoor for foreign reporters who come to Paris to cover the aftermath of last Friday’s tragic events. We are opening our doors to journalists who need an office (with phone and WiFi connection), logistic support or language assistance.

To the extent of our abilities, we will also help journalists who are seeking accommodation in Paris.

The operation is designed to assist journalists from media outlets with limited resources, so that they can operate in the French capital. Roving correspondents know how essential the help of fixers and local journalists can be in certain cities. RSF thinks it has a duty to show solidarity with reporters who have nowhere to turn in Paris.

RSF’s headquarters is located in the center of Paris where both the 7 January attack on Charlie Hebdo and last Friday’s attacks took place. Those who would like to benefit from operation #opendoor for reporters” can call us on +33 1 4483 8484 or email us at secretariat@rsf.org, providing evidence that they are journalists.

As a result of a grass-roots initiative called #porteouverte (#opendoor), launched at the suggestion of journalist Sylvain Lapoix, hundreds of Parisians offered their homes as a refuge during last Friday’s attacks to those who were injured or who were stranded near the sites of the attacks and needed a place to stay.

Paris terror attacks: who are the suspects?

MONDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2015

Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud is named by a French official as the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, while two brothers from Molenbeek are at the centre of the police investigation.

The official said Abaaoud has been linked to thwarted attacks on a Paris-bound high-speed train and a church in the Paris area.

A manhunt has been launched for Salah Abdeslam, pictured above, who is believed to have been involved in the attacks in which 129 people were killed. Abdeslam, 26, is suspected of renting a car in Belgium used by terrorists. He was a municipal employee in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek.

His brother Ibrahim Abdeslam, 31, used to live in Molenbeek and was one of the suicide bombers on Friday on Boulevard Voltaire. At the beginning of the 2000s, Ibrahim and his brothers were detained by Belgian police because of drug trafficking and robbery.

According to several Belgian newspapers, he spent time in Syria. He opened a cafe in Molenbeek, which closed last autumn, because of drug-related problems (picture below).

A third brorther, Mohammed Abdeslam, was arrested in Molenbeek on Saturday at his family's apartment, but according to his lawyer, was released today without charge.

Samy Amimour, 28, from Paris, was one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up at the Bataclan music hall, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

A 28-year-old Frenchman, he was known to French intelligence services. He was charged with terror offences in 2012 and was placed under judicial supervision. But he later disappeared and an international arrest warrant was issued for him. Three of his relatives were arrested early today, prosecutors said.

Syrian passport

A suicide bomber who blew himself up outside the Stade de France, the country's national sports stadium, was found with a Syrian passport bearing the name Ahmad Al Mohammad.

The 25-year-old was born in Idlib, a city in north-west Syria, and the Paris prosecutor's office said fingerprints from the attacker match those of a person who travelled through Greece last month.

Another suicide bomber was named as 20-year-old Bilal Hadfi, one of three who attacked the Stade de France. He is said to have fought with Islamic State in Syria.

Ismael Mostefai, 29, was identified as another attacker. Previously flagged for links to Islamist radicalism, he was named by police after being identified through remains found at the Bataclan music hall.

Syria's Nusra Front backs Paris attacks, despite opposition to Islamic State 

Main Syrian rebel groups have condemned the Paris attacks but Qaeda's affiliate has expressed support 
Nusra fighters carry a banner reading: "we fight in Syria ... and our eyes are on Jerusalem" (AFP) 

Alex MacDonald-Monday 16 November 2015

The Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, have broken with other Syrian opposition groups to express support for Friday's deadly attacks in Paris, despite the group's official hostility to the Islamic State (IS).

Syria's Nusra Front Backs Paris Attacks, Despite Opposition to Islamic State by Thavam Ratna

Will we see American boots on the ground in Syria after Paris attacks?

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter rides on a Chinook helicopter during his visit to Baghdad, Iraq, July 23, 2015. REUTERS/Carolyn Kaster/Pool

By Peter Van Buren-November 16, 2015

Pressure on the White House to escalate the Syria/Iraq war has no doubt intensified post-Paris. Should Islamic State strike an American civilian target, President Barack Obama would be all but forced to “do something more.” What might that “something” look like, and what would be the consequences?

For an Obama already wary of deeper involvement in Syria/Iraq, a ramping up of the air campaign may be enough to tamp down the current post-Paris pressure. France may also find the short and sharp set of revenge attacks already underway enough for the near term, as Jordan did at the beginning of this year, after the horrific burning alive of one its pilots by Islamic State. Things could then settle back into a more routine fight.

However, if Islamic State were to strike against Americans, Obama would almost be required to escalate, and more of the same air strikes would not satisfy demands for vengeance. Such gestures would not have been sufficient a year ago if an attack had come, and certainly will not be sufficient in the midst of a presidential campaign. Any perceived lack of resolve would hand the Republicans a red, white and blue issue to take them through the next 12 months, and Hillary Clinton would be forced to break with the White House.

America’s escalation could take only one form: American boots on the ground.

No one would call it an invasion, but that is what it would be, regardless of scale. The most likely paths into Syria would be through Jordan, and Turkey, if that government blessed it (but remember, Turkey refused to open its borders for the 2003 American invasion of Iraq), with a smaller American force entering from the northeast, across the Iraqi border.

The United States has notable infrastructure and a compliant host government in place in Jordan. In May of this year, thousands of soldiers took part in war games there, overseen by the American Army. The Jordanians themselves are already considering a militarized “humanitarian corridor” into Syria that could easily morph into an invasion route. Since 2013, the United States has been growing its military presence in Jordan, to include strike aircraft, missile defenses and strategic planners, lots of planners, the infrastructure of war.

An attack against Islamic State from the south might also help isolate Damascus, for follow-on action against Assad. From a military point of view, Israel and the Golan Heights it controls provide neat protection on the invasion’s left flank. Lastly, Jordanian involvement would help dress up the American invasion by giving it something of an Arab face.

Sending large numbers of troops into Syria from the northeast, via Iraq, would be risky, given Islamic State’s strongholds there. Foreign fighters could also find their way across the Turkish border, right into the American flanks. Still, quietly moving modest numbers of airborne and special operations troops through Kurdish-held areas would be possible and necessary to attack Islamic State from a second front.

It would surprising to see any significant American escalation in Iraq proper, absent perhaps inside the Kurdish confederacy. Americans dying once again in the Iraqi desert would be a tough sell domestically, and the Iraqi government in Baghdad and its Iranian partners would be less than receptive to large numbers of American combat forces. Militarily dividing Islamic State into a Syrian force and an Iraqi force would accomplish much on its own anyway, without re-inserting American troops into the tar pit of Iraqi civil war. Cut off from Syria, Islamic State in Iraq would be weakened enough to be crushed separately, perhaps by the Kurds, perhaps by Iraqi-Iranian forces.

The problem, however, with all this testosterone-fueled chess playing is the identical one that bred Islamic State into existence in the first place. As the United States saw in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, winning on the battlefield is the easy part.

Assuming Islamic State could be destroyed (a big assumption given its diffuse nature and political support among many Sunnis), and vengeance sated, what follows? Who will govern “liberated” areas? Will Russia simply stand aside? How much land will the Kurds seize for themselves in northern Syria and how will Turkey react to that?

Syria is a wrecked wasteland, flooded with internally displaced persons. Who will pay for reconstruction, and why would anyone think it would work any better in Syria than it did in Iraq and Afghanistan? Syria would become the breeding group for Islamic State’s successor, as Iraq beget Islamic State from al Qaeda.

Scenarios that put boots on the ground in Syria/Iraq are easy to foresee, and the possible strategies are clear enough to speculate on. But how to deal with the aftermath is what really matters, and what is the plan for that?

A Double-Edged Sword for Clinton on Foreign Policy

BY COLUM LYNCH, KEITH JOHNSON-NOVEMBER 15, 2015

Hillary Clinton's foreign-policy experience came to the fore in the second Democratic debate, but with Paris mourning, her years guiding Middle East policy are under fire.

Some 129 Parisian dead elbowed their way into the second Democratic presidential debate Saturday night, forcing a last-minute rewrite of the forum’s focus toward questions of terrorism and national security and drawing a moment of silence from the three remaining candidates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

But the candidates offered few specific remedies for battling the Islamic State, which early Saturday claimed responsibility for Friday’s terrorism spree in the French capital. All three said that the United States cannot battle Islamist extremism alone and must depend on cooperation from allies in Europe and the Middle East. Then they quickly tacked back toward more wheelhouse issues such as the economy, immigration, and health care.

When foreign-policy questions did rear their head, Clinton sought to parlay her experience while trying to sidestep self-laid land mines, from lingering questions over her email account (and the Benghazi consulate attack) to her hawkish stance on Libya and the ensuing chaos. Sanders tried to claw off a lee shore, apparently uncomfortable with the role of commander in chief. O’Malley said his experience as mayor of Baltimore and later as governor of Maryland did not prepare him for the kinds of crises a president might face.

All three candidates did seek to distinguish themselves from the Republican field by arguing that America should not build walls against the threat of terrorism, and they advocated for broad-based immigration reform.

Asked if she agreed with French President François Hollande’s declaration of war against the Islamic State, which he made in the wake of the Paris attacks, Clinton said she believes that the United States possesses sufficient legal scope to confront the extremist group without issuing a formal declaration of war. But she said the 14-year-old legal authority should be revised and expanded for what has become a wider war.

“This cannot be an American fight, although American leadership is essential,” Clinton said during the debate at Drake University, in Iowa.

The debate’s nominal focus on national security in some respects played to Clinton’s strengths, given her experience. But her service in President Barack Obama’s administration has left open flanks that Sanders, in particular, sought to exploit. Clinton’s vote for the 2003 Iraq invasion as a senator and her advocacy for armed intervention in Libya in 2011 as secretary of state, Sanders said, contributed to the rise of the Islamic State and the chaos today wracking the region.

“The invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now,” he charged. “I’m not a great fan of regime change.”

In response, Clinton ticked off decades of attacks on Americans, from the Beirut bombings of 1983 to the 1998 al Qaeda obliteration of the U.S. embassies in East Africa. But when pressed by John Dickerson, the CBS debate moderator, as to whether Clinton and the Obama administration hadn’t underestimated the Islamic State — Obama called it terrorism’s “JV team”– Clinton fingered former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as well as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“I don’t think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility,” she said, noting that early on she’d advocated arming moderate rebels in Syria.

All the candidates on the stage sought to distinguish themselves from Republican rivals with regard to Islam and the threat posed by radical jihadis. Speaking after the Paris terrorist attacks, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)characterized the fight against the Islamic State as “a clash of civilizations. And either they win, or we win.” Ben Carson has faced criticism for suggesting that a Muslim American would be unfit to serve as president of the United States. Donald Trump has railed against immigrants and the threat posed by the Islamic State.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R.-Texas) seized on the Paris attacks to denounce proposals to allow thousands of Syrian refugees into the United States. “President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s idea that we should bring tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees to America: It is nothing less than lunacy,” he told Fox News on Saturday.

“I don’t think we are at war with Islam,” said Clinton at the debate. “I don’t think we are at war with all Muslims. I think we are at war with jihadists.” She said she supports allowing properly vetted Syrian refugees into the country.

O’Malley voiced his support for resettling 65,000 vetted Syrian refugees and lashed out at “immigrant-bashing, carnival barker” Trump. America’s “symbol is the Statue of Liberty; it is not a barbed-wire fence,” he said.

Sanders, for his part, reiterated that he views climate change as potentially the greatest national security threat to the United States, fueling terrorism around the world. Climate-driven droughts have been linked to unrest in Syria, and many former U.S. military leaders agree that climate change exacerbates U.S. security challenges.

The debate, at the end, underscored that Democrats, even Clinton, are more comfortable talking about the minimum wage, health-care premiums, or college tuition than the nuts and bolts of confronting another decade in the seemingly never-ending war against Islamist terrorism. The extent to which pocketbook issues, rather than images of bloody concert halls, weigh on voters’ minds one year from now will go some way to determining whether the Islamic State’s massacre in Paris will ultimately mark a turning point in the American presidential election, or just another sad footnote.

Photo credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images