And so it remains the sad and pathetic truth that the Algerian Conflict (see: The Algerian Conflict: A Savage War of Peace by Horne) has not been mentioned in the debate with regard to the latest tragedy in France. The current act–the killing of many civilians–by those that carried it out, and from a clinical perspective, is an asymmetrical tactic and a low-intensity war in a reaction to those that have been confronted by an Imperial power and are unable to utilize a ‘frontal conflict’ or force-on-force collision which could see them wiped out. Therefore,  they have moved in a different direction.

Let us not forget that the war the North Vietnamese (NV) executed in the South of Vietnam, in order to undermine American power, was to shoot American officers within the all-consuming elements of a carefree nightlife (eg. bars,entertainment etc), and with NV insurgents, dressed as ‘women’ and as pillion-passengers on motorcycles killed numerous US officers in a sophisticated move to instill fear in all US soldiers when they were ‘out and about’ on their rest and recreation. The core element being to undermine the power of the US ‘on the ground’ and shatter their ‘comfort zone.’

A core issue for ISIS (sympathizers) in this attack is to show that the asymmetrical, low-intensity war that ISIS has decided to carry out is now moving toward a ‘local telegraph’ of operations rather than using an electronic telegraph to monitor their movements–which in the past has allowed Western authorities to monitor their activities and movement/s. This is simply a shift in tactics by people who know they are being watched, which was also done by the Irish Republican Army in their waging of war against the British, so it is essentially not a new phenomenon. This catches government agencies off-guard and renders them reactive rather than proactive, and in doing so offers-up doubt in the mindset of the public sphere. This is where asymmetrical, low-intensity, ‘third type’ of war– a psychological war which is conducted in the villages, the streets and district–type of warfare comes to the fore.   The West has (currently) no answer for this type of communication.