The world has been rightly shocked by the sickening murder of a French schoolteacher by a self-styled jihadist incensed that the educator allegedly displayed cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammed in classes about freedom of speech.
Samuel Paty was ambushed on his way home near Paris and decapitated by his knife-wielding attacker who was then shot dead by police officers. The jihadist was a Russian-born teenager of Chechen heritage.
French President reportedly held an urgent phone call this week with Russian leader Vladimir Putin urging Russia to redouble cooperative efforts to fight terrorism. Macron's appeal is besides the point, as the 18-year-old killer grew up most of his life residing in France. So what is Macron implying? That Russia somehow bears responsibility for the atrocity because the man was of Russian origin? That's ridiculous reasoning but, one surmises, it plays to the irrational Russophobia among Western governments and media.
Furthermore, Macron's insinuation that Russia needs to do more to combat terrorism is also absurdly misplaced. No country has done more to curb jihadist terrorism than Russia. The clearest achievement in that regard was Russia's military intervention in Syria to aid that allied state towards defeating a veritable proxy army of hardcore terrorists who went by all sorts of myriad organizational names.
If it wasn't for Russia's principled intervention in Syria…
