Why France?

[JumpandScore]

Why, particularly, does France get targeted for these attacks? As I understand it there are plenty of other countries just as (more?) involved in Syria than they are. That seems to be the assumption ATM, that this was is all about the intervention in Syria.

I read Andrew Hussey's "the french intifada" this summer. In a nutshell, his thesis is that 130 years of colonisation of North Africa, with an uncompromising emphasis on the supremacy of french culture and values, left the Algerians especially with a feeling of yearning to be french, while never managing it or being accepted as such by the french. in psychiatric terms this is known as the "double bind" and leads to mental illness, when the child feels the parent makes ambiguous and impossible demands.
I grew up in Algeria (form age 6 to 15, left just before things got bloody in the late 80s/90s) i recognise a lot of the anger he describes. My childhood was marked by local kids throwing stones at me because I was western. (then came the sexual harrasment, but that's another matter).
Many of the terrorist attacks come from young men of Algerian origin. whatever self serving ideology they use to justify the act, i think Hussey is on to something when he talks of a sense of frustrated yearning to be accepted. And finally, let us not forget that a lot of them are in france because Algerians especially royally stuffed up their own country after independence. So they don't really have a comfortable home anywhere. many have been coming to London since the 90s.

this is what i read

have no idea if its true

In a statement ISIS militants said its 'Soldiers of the Caliphate' attacked Paris because it is the 'capital of prostitution and vice'.

French warplanes have been bombing ISIS in Syria since September last year and claimed to have destroyed one of the terror group's training bases two months ago.

Paris the capital of prostitution and vice? hmmm. Why not bomb las vegas then, or bangkok, or Dubai while they're at it? No ,they hate France for other reasons.
And how do they describe their own behaviour, kidnapping, selling and raping women? Probably as OK, as long as they are not Sunni muslims.

i think the French warplanes bombing ISIS in syria may have some truth

I think its a combination of things. This is some of them:

1. 6m Muslims in France - many of whom are poor, marginalised and vulnerable to radicalisation;
2. France's laws, which are a mish-mash of increased personal privacy, strong free speech, and banning of Muslim dress in public;
3. France's support of American bombing campaign in Syria;
4. France being part of mainland Europe, which makes its borders more porous;
5. More jihadists from France are fighting with IS than from any other European nation (probably because they also have the largest Muslim population). The security services admit that they can't keep track of everybody or know for sure which ones have been fighting and which haven't - so some are managing to slip back into France undetected with their ideology and weapons training;
6. France's bloody history with its former north African colonies, most notably Algeria;
7. Ease of getting hold of serious weapons in mainland Europe and open borders makes moving them around easy.

French planes started bombing ISIS in Syria in September. That's why.

thats what i said

To that I would add Algeria's failure despite huge wealth to create a stable, safe and functional state for its people (I'm not even talking democracy here).

Also DP pointed out that here we have a long history of defending ourselves against domestic terrorism - I remember from my childhood in the 80s and 90s the ever present threat of IRA bombings. So in the UK we are set up to be on high alert in a way that maybe France isn't?

So maybe in the UK we are better protected to some degree but tbh its only a matter of time isn't it

Obviously that ^^ being just one factor alongside what everyone else has mentioned.

There is a lot of french history in the region Sykes (uk) picot (fr) divided up great swathes of territory, giving the french the northern parts of iraq/syria as a french mandate. If you look at a map you can see how false the border lines are - straight lines for thousands of km. Isil is in part a return to pre1920 territorial boundaries

Jump, guns and bombs and jihadis have moved freely from belgium to paris from germany to paris etc.

Without a doubt every country needs to bring back border checks, if anything this should reassure people that the refugees they have are genuine.

what Merkel has done and other places has fueled fear.

With proper checks, finger printing done, papers properly processed etc, will only lead to reassurance. People in Germanys processing have told Merkel isis is infiltrating and they do not have the man power to check each person. Everyone in their department wrote her an open letter.