CNN's Fareed Zakaria nails the awful truth of the Paris attacks and the only effective response

Fareed Zakaria talks about the Paris terrorist attacks

(Image credit: CNN)

last updated 16 November 2015

The sheer barbarity of the Paris attacks "marks a new low in terror," said Fareed Zakaria on Sunday's GPS. They were designed only to kill innocent men, women, and children, and it's not clear France or the U.S. could have done much more to stop it. "We don't know the details yet, but the attacks appear to have been carried out by seven or eight people, some local, some outsiders, armed with weapons that are easily obtainable anywhere in the world, coordinated only in the sense that they all attacked at about the same time," he said. "This didn't require vast sums of money, complex logistics, or great cunning. It just required barbarity and a willingness to die."

Still, it's not hard to guess how the West will respond: More airstrikes, more surveillance at home, more distrust between Muslims and non-Muslims, maybe even U.S. and French troops entering into battle with ISIS, Zakaria said. "By most accounts," he added, ISIS "wants all of this." Ideally, the West would "act but not overreact," respect its core values, and "strive to restore normalcy in the face of brutality," he added. "To do this would be to understand that terrorism is unique in that it depends for its effectiveness on the response of the onlooker. If we are not terrorized, then it doesn't really work." Watch Zakaria's whole analysis below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.