November 18, 2015
November 18, 2015
Mark Owen from French TV station France 24 asked Yan St-Pierre for his analysis (in French and English) of the raid in Saint-Denis after the attacks in Paris, whether it was the right way to proceed, and why the fight against terror is so complicated:
On Saint-Denis raid: After Friday they (the French security authorities) can’t take any risks anymore and to go directly and strongly and follow any and every possible lead is the proper course of action, and I expect many more of these raids in the next days to come.
On the united approach: It’s very complicated, the EU has grown and to develop a proper cooperation / collaboration between agencies, between different security services under those circumstances is very difficult.
On Russia: Russia has been the most forceful actor in Syria over the last year I would say. (…) Working closer with Russia is inevitable, regardless perhaps of the American reluctance on the subject.
On Saudia Arabia: Right now it seems as if the European powers and Russia are so united on this, it’s a united front, that it will be difficult for Saudi Arabia to play a larger role even if it wants to.
IS finance through oil: The people have needs to buy that oil. (…) Different people are buying it, for example there are some areas in Iraq and Syria where ISIS is the sole provider of oil. (…) The other aspect that is a lot more dangerous is greed. Business is where you find it, and a lot of people don’t have the moral compass, who they deal with and sell to the highest bidder, and this complicates things. This is a phenomenon that’s not only limited to Syria, we see it in other conflict areas, too. (…) Yes, you can target specific financial streams and ask people not to buy specific oil, but those on the ground, sometimes they have to. It is not a question of choice, it’s a question of needs.
As soon as we have the video recordings of the French and English interviews, we will post them here.