"We Shouldn't Play into the Hands of ISIS": Vijay Prashad on Danger of Military Escalation in Syria | Daily Digest 11/16/2015

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/11/16/we_shouldnt_play_into_the_hands?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=563b03affb-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-563b03affb-190254837

In retaliation for Friday’s attacks in Paris, France launched its heaviest airstrikes yet against the Syrian city of Raqqa, which has long served as the de facto capital of the so-called Islamic State. Friday’s attacks came just a day after the Islamic State claimed credit for a double attack in southern Beirut that killed at least 43 people, and two weeks after the group claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. Over the weekend, French President François Hollande described Friday’s attack as an act of war. Speaking in Turkey at the G20 summit, President Obama described the events in Paris as "an attack on the civilized world." We speak with Vijay Prashad, professor of international studies at Trinity College and columnist for the Indian magazine Frontline, for more on the response to the attacks.

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