What we see in the killing of artists in Charlie Hebdo is different from the way Russian and Chinese interests have controlled their press, but the same in trying to control a press outside its own country. Who did it will determine who the radicals have determined will be their standard bearer in going up against external media they would like to silence. Putin, inside Russia, has killed enough reporters for them to get the message that they cannot say anything they want. Those jailed in China feel the same. Only the jihadists who lack the sophistication and intelligence to deal with the press through more subtle controls, break into an office building and kill innocents and martyrs alike. They have already seen the backlash and will come to see more of it as time goes on.
It is hard to get a million and a half people to agree on anything, let alone coming out in the cold to let the world know they are not going to bow to this kind of intimidation. They probably expected trouble, and could easily have gotten some, but they came anyway.
40 world leaders came to pay their respects to France but one country was notably absent. We are shamed by this. We should all apologize to the citizens of France for our government's response. We are supposed to be the leaders of the free world. Nothing lately has been more about freedom than a cold blooded murder of people speaking their mind in a way found offensive by some, but deserving of death by almost nobody. A small sliver of the world who professes to know better than the rest.
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