One man with over 30 years of experience serving the United States as an ambassador and a state department employee in the Middle East is Mark Johnson, founder of the Montana World Affairs Council.

Johnson has been following the brutal attacks all evening in Paris, and said he was stunned by the bloody, violent attacks that have so far left well over 150 dead in the City of Lights.

"This is raw terror and barbarism, and I think by the time you and I wake up tomorrow morning, there will be thousands of people affected by this, victims and family members, and our hearts go out to all those who have been affected," Johnson said from his home outside Lolo. "This attack took a lot of planning and a lot of coordination to put this all together. This didn't just happen, it's been in the works for some time. And, it happened in Paris, where they have a very good anti-terrorism system in place."

Johnson said this attack may well change the way the mass migration of refugees coming out of the Middle East will be seen by Europeans.

"The fact that some countries may just say, 'enough', no more refugees, may indeed happen." he said. "That is a reaction that is unavoidable, and I think Europe, which is under a lot of pressure, is going to say enough is enough, and we don't want anything more to do with this (immigration)."

Johnson also sees the attacks as a goad by Isis and other radical Islamic militants to draw western nations into an all-out war.

"People have said that the only language these terrorist speak is violence, and I think the French are going to respond," Johnson continued. "Isis has a philosophy I call the management of savagery, and they want to create as much destruction and death as possible. It's their game-plan, if you will."

 

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