I think the west needs to think long and hard about nation-building, not just fighting wars. They also need to have frank discussions with their nominal &#x27;allies&#x27; in the ME who are driving a lot of the instability.<p>I have no doubts France has the capability to &quot;seriously damage&quot; Daesh, but what about Daesh&#x27;s successor - which is likely to be just as bad (or worse)? Unfortunately, it seems like democracy (with it&#x27;s 4-&#x2F;5-year election cycles) is incompatible with long term planning. It&#x27;s a mirror-image of the modern-day corporate world, with CxOs who damage the organisations they lead in the pursuit of short-term gains (and the resulting bonuses), except that election stakes are higher (keep&#x2F;lose the job).