The thing is, we do have Daesh on the back foot, they have been losing ground in Iraq and in Syria.
Will this last? Probably not, there will be counter-attacks and there will be victories and defeats ahead.
The reason that the US has been so reluctant to go all in is because such a conflict would last for decades and cost trillions of dollars. Obama doesn't want to be remembered as the man who committed America to that, especially not after George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq.
No, in any operation in Iraq and Syria it will have to be a multi-national operation under the leadership of the United Nations. Of course, there are some tricky legal loopholes to get through first, for example, declaring war on 'Islamic State' is tricky because hardly anyone actually recognises them as a state.
Then, of course, there's the question of Assad, Iran would want him to stay in power, Russia is moving into a position where they'd accept him leaving power but would probably want to able to choose his successor, Saudi Arabia would want a Saudi leaning person in charge of Syria and the US just wants Assad gone and preferably a democratic leadership in place.
Getting rid of Daesh is just the first problem in Syria and Iraq, and any mission in these nations has got to prepare for the victory just as much as the operation itself, because any victory is going to leave a brief vacuum that's going to be filled by someone or something, perhaps even worse than Daesh. :o
So, it's not easy, but I think the first steps really need to begin at the UN, and that we also need to think about what we need to do in Europe at the same time as our actions in Syria and Iraq, taking on the jihadist hot-spots, cracking down on jihadi recruitment but at the same time making sure that we don't alienate the Muslims who just want a peaceful life in Europe and don't want to be attacked because of their choice of religion. In this fight, the likes of Front National and PEGIDA might also need attacking at the same time we take on Daesh. :hmmm:
Ignorance, fear and anger are our enemies here.

Meeting on the topic of the downed airliner has concluded:
- that it was a terrorist attack.
- Putin says that those responsible would be punished, whatever place they use for hiding.
- the air operation in Syria would be expanded.
- Putin invokes article 51 of the UN charter.
- Putin says that those sheltering and aiding the criminals should know the consequences of doing so.

Are you talking about the liner that went down awhile ago?
I thought they concluded that it was a terrorist attack about a week ago.

Send in the bear so they can hear death coming.
And send them round the clock so the only thing they'll know is the thunder above and when they finaly snap they'll run outside to meet the bombs just to stop the thunder.

:har: :yeah:

They did but Russia wasn't 'officially' convinced.....they are now.

They better be. They can't keep denying a terrorist attack just because it took place on one of their aircraft.

Other news:

Netherlands - Germany match cancelled, stadium evacuated amid security concerns:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34849263

Multiple US states reject Syrian refugees, despite none of the attackers in Paris actually being named as Syrian refugees at this time:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34835353

http://liveactionnews.org/wp-content...a-Facepalm.jpg

From your article:

The passport was a fake as far as I'm aware.

Indeed, although there are definitely concerns about border security because of the taunts from the Paris mastermind that he was able to enter and exit the EU at will. I can't say I'm surprised, although our border security is getting better after the refugee crisis, it's still very difficult to make it definite between the EU and non-EU nations.

Meanwhile in Germany, a concert has also been evacuated and rumour has it that a bomb has been found in an ambulance parked outside the football stadium that the Germany vs Netherlands match was due to be played in.

In the UK one of the most heavily defended football matches is about to begin, with Wembley stadium lit up in red, white and blue as France are about to play against England (and likely kick us into next century).

Heard something interesting on Danish TV earlier today

A political commentator said

It was not so clever for Soeren Espersen to say these thing(he said we should start hitting women and children to get these terrorist) but we have to ask our self, do we really want to get rid of Daesh or not ?

If we really want beat them, then we also must expect civilian causality meaning sometime our pilotes have to drop bombs where there could be civilians

The question is, how much of this can the people in the west handle ?
If we daily get pictures of dead children and/or women

Markus

A fake it was, I have read that it was his, something about fingerprints/DNA. He had sad he was born in 1990 but he was born 1987 somewhere in Syria.

Markus

Well, we've been collecting collateral for a while, I mean you can do your best to avoid civilian collateral but sometimes it will happen no matter what you do. Hellfire missiles and laser guided bombs have a blast radius which will not only kill the jihadi but anyone within a good few feet of him or her.
The Jihadis know that we try to avoid collateral so they will use civilians as shields, it's a classic trick, one of the oldest...heck, Saddam did it often enough.

That's why I put a lot of hope on the ARSS and the possibility of guided bullets and micro-missiles. If we can increase the lethality and accuracy of our shots while decreasing the lethal radius, then we can cut down on collateral and the negative side-effects that it has.
Of course, the down-side of stand-off warfare is that you need good intel, and I think that's where we've struggled a fair bit. :hmmm:

Yes, there is the fingerprint clue, it is possible that he did enter through Greece, that can't be ruled out that this time, that is assuming that the severed finger was from the bomber. So far though, that is the only non-EU possibility, the rest are EU natives.