The Paris attacks will change nothing less than the lives, perceptions, ways of living, and moral and economic goals of the peoples of a whole continent.

The calculus of the attacks puts to rest the notion of multiculturalism.

Most of the jihadists responsible come from Belgium — they were born and raised in the French-speaking cultural and language background.

They are in many ways just like the jihadists born or raised in England or Tunisian boys
who go fighting in al Baghdadi’s caliphate.

We refused to believe that this was a likelihood or even a remote possibility, that jihadists could be groomed in free societies, though deep inside we knew of this time bomb  — and Paris is the result.

Political correctness dictates that we should not speak of a “clash of civilizations”; however, the stark reality in Paris speaks for itself.

And it is worth noting that the "Clash of Civilization," by Samuel Huntington, did not
contemplate the possibility of waging and fighting an actual war, but focused on the
permanence of cultural, and political models, yet blood has now been drawn and we are left with funerals.

There is a hierarchy,  a jihadist “general staff” in any European country that houses radicals, and coordinated actions were necessarily controlled and scrupulously tested before. It is well-defined and capable.

The coordinated attack that set fire to Paris is daunting in its logistics: given the results, at least eight covert logistical bases were needed, 30 to 40 invisible operators to sustain radicals' movements, and certainly at least a month's preparation and training as well as  safe, areas to conduct training.

Then there is the mountain of money that is necessary, a careful network of coverage and management of a wide pro-jihadist environment between Salafist mosques, shops and Islamic city centers.

The fact that all of this had not been noticed by the French intelligence services makes
people everywhere shudder.

It is true that there had been an alert “report” some time ago, but its contents were not well understood.

The problem is that both in France and Italy the intelligence services have two serious
limits and shortcomings: the excessive bureaucracy and regulation, and the
relationship with an intellectually mediocre ruling class, having no experience at all in
foreign policy and the correct use of intelligence services.

The well-informed Iraqi intelligence services, have been warning of the real scope and size of jihadism.

According to the way jihadists interpret the Koran, there will be widespread jihad, a rallying call of the Islamists present in Europe, to spread terror through the military use of these masses and the political and economic subjugation of the “infidels.”

Europe should waste no time — as the United States does — in separating the “moderate” Islamists from the jihadists.

It is clear that the moderate Islamists, though they do exist, is a strategically irrelevant minority.

The United States, regardless of the political complexion of the next president, no longer intends, or is incapable of projecting its influence onto global affairs as it has in the past.

The P5+1 agreement with Iran and the link to the Saudis render the nation incapable of being a threat to radical Islam.

NATO seems powerless but may come to play an increasing role.

Each country has its own interests: Turkey, the nation that coiuld play a huge role, is transfixed on curtailing Iranian power along its borders and this is the reason why it fights Bashar al-Assad’s Syria.

Central Asia will firmly be in the hands of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which will be for China and Russia what the Atlantic Alliance was for the United States in the 1960s: the tool for controlling its allies.

These machinations have led to the current ramp-up of the “sword jihad,” the terrible force multiplier of Sunni Islam, which is used to control the business cycle of the Western importers of OPEC oil; and to manage the great mass of Islamic immigration in Europe and the rest of the West.

It also has become adept at reach, managing proxy wars in Russia, Africa and Central Asia.

This is the reason why the jihad has always been richly funded: to oust the Baathist
regime in Syria and isolate Iran, as well as to control the internal lines of the Arab-
Islamic world and to bring about the progressive weakening of the Maghreb region.

Here is where the world currently finds itself; and if left unchecked, will find itself at the mercy of unrestrained jihadist attacks.

Giancarlo Elia Valori is professor of economics and international politics at Peking University, and is president of "La Centrale Finanziaria Generale Spa."