The two are nonexclusive. If you are a disaffected&#x2F;disenfranchised third-generation Algerian immigrant, you have a predisposition to pick a fight with the old colonial power, and you just need an excuse. Same if you come from Syria or Egypt and are well-educated; you have no idea of the amount of propaganda and West-blaming people in these countries grew up with for generations, because of things like the never-ending problem with Israel&#x2F;Palestine, the Iranian coup against Mossadiq, the Iran&#x2F;Iraq war and all the other conflicts &quot;we&quot; had an active role in. In the &#x27;70s, a lot of violent action was justified with marxism or fascism; today they can be justified with wahabism. If a particular religion was so magic, we would have had &quot;islamic&quot; suicide bombers for 5 centuries, and we just hadn&#x27;t. You can&#x27;t make chocolate cake with just chocolate.<p><i>&gt; Of all western countries, we would not expect these attacks to be against France so many times. </i><p>And why not? They have been among the most brutal colonial powers, with shocking behaviour in Northern Africa and ongoing active military engagement across Africa -- in large part because of their ideological bent on absolutist superiority of the French republican model. They actively worked to blow up Lybia and actively support anti-islamic forces there. And of course they have now joined the anti-IS bombing campaign, because they hate to be left behind when there is to engage around the Mediterranean Sea. All the while, they have huge swaths of disenfranchised 2nd and 3rd generation-immigrant youth in their midst that they simply don&#x27;t know what to do with. They are the easiest target after the UK, but unlike Britain they are not an island, their borders are very porous, and their security services are clearly less effective than the Five Eyes axis. On top of that, this: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;2015&#x2F;nov&#x2F;14&#x2F;france-active-policy-syria-assad-isis-paris-attacks-air-strikes" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;2015&#x2F;nov&#x2F;14&#x2F;france-active-p...</a>