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| For France, an Alliance Against ISIS May Be Easier Said Than Done | For France, an Alliance Against ISIS May Be Easier Said Than Done |
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| PARIS — By attacking both France and Russia through terrorism, the Islamic State has consolidated minds, bringing the United States, Russia and France into a closer alliance against it. | PARIS — By attacking both France and Russia through terrorism, the Islamic State has consolidated minds, bringing the United States, Russia and France into a closer alliance against it. |
| But so far that alliance is largely aspirational, given the competing interests of the United States and Russia, and the active dislike between President Obama and President Vladimir V. Putin, analysts and diplomats said. | But so far that alliance is largely aspirational, given the competing interests of the United States and Russia, and the active dislike between President Obama and President Vladimir V. Putin, analysts and diplomats said. |
| Mr. Putin and Mr. Obama disagree on much: Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its meddling in eastern Ukraine, its efforts to demonize Washington and undermine confidence in NATO’s commitment to collective defense and its support for the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. | |
| But at recent diplomatic meetings in Austria, Turkey and now at a Asia-Pacific summit meeting in Manila, Mr. Obama has had what he called “repeated discussions” with Mr. Putin about the possibility of the Russian and American militaries actually working together to defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. | But at recent diplomatic meetings in Austria, Turkey and now at a Asia-Pacific summit meeting in Manila, Mr. Obama has had what he called “repeated discussions” with Mr. Putin about the possibility of the Russian and American militaries actually working together to defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. |
| On Wednesday in Manila, Mr. Obama said Russia had been “a constructive partner” in talks in Vienna last week to draw a road map for a cease-fire in Syria. But for further cooperation to take place, he said, Mr. Putin must first direct more firepower at the Islamic State and less at the Syrian rebels that the United States supports. | On Wednesday in Manila, Mr. Obama said Russia had been “a constructive partner” in talks in Vienna last week to draw a road map for a cease-fire in Syria. But for further cooperation to take place, he said, Mr. Putin must first direct more firepower at the Islamic State and less at the Syrian rebels that the United States supports. |
| “The problem has been in their initial military incursion into Syria. They have been more focused on propping up President Assad,” Mr. Obama said, adding that if Mr. Putin “shifts his focus and the focus of his military to what is the principal threat, which is ISIL, then that is what we want to see.” | “The problem has been in their initial military incursion into Syria. They have been more focused on propping up President Assad,” Mr. Obama said, adding that if Mr. Putin “shifts his focus and the focus of his military to what is the principal threat, which is ISIL, then that is what we want to see.” |
| Mr. Obama added, “Those differences have not prevented us at looking at how we could set up a cease-fire.” | Mr. Obama added, “Those differences have not prevented us at looking at how we could set up a cease-fire.” |
| President François Hollande of France, is trying to show diplomatic efforts although he is under enormous pressure at home in the wake of Friday’s bloody attacks in Paris. Those attacks came only 10 months after Islamist militants attacked the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. | President François Hollande of France, is trying to show diplomatic efforts although he is under enormous pressure at home in the wake of Friday’s bloody attacks in Paris. Those attacks came only 10 months after Islamist militants attacked the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. |
| Sensing the edgy new rapprochement between Washington and Moscow, Mr. Hollande said Wednesday that he would travel to Washington next week to meet with Mr. Obama. He said he would then travel to Moscow to meet with Mr. Putin. Speaking only hours after a major police raid on some of the suspects in Friday’s massacre, Mr. Hollande said that France was “at war” and wanted to create “a large coalition” to act “decisively” against the Islamic State. | Sensing the edgy new rapprochement between Washington and Moscow, Mr. Hollande said Wednesday that he would travel to Washington next week to meet with Mr. Obama. He said he would then travel to Moscow to meet with Mr. Putin. Speaking only hours after a major police raid on some of the suspects in Friday’s massacre, Mr. Hollande said that France was “at war” and wanted to create “a large coalition” to act “decisively” against the Islamic State. |
| But it is unlikely that Mr. Obama, who has been resisting pressure for an immediate escalation of the fight against the Islamic State, wants to move quite as decisively as Mr. Hollande, who clearly cannot act on his own but is trying to stoke more urgency in the international response to the Paris attacks and the broader threat from the Islamic State. | But it is unlikely that Mr. Obama, who has been resisting pressure for an immediate escalation of the fight against the Islamic State, wants to move quite as decisively as Mr. Hollande, who clearly cannot act on his own but is trying to stoke more urgency in the international response to the Paris attacks and the broader threat from the Islamic State. |
| While France sees itself at war, the way the United States did after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Hollande has been careful not to ask NATO to come to France’s defense under Article 5, which commits all members of the alliance to collective defense if any one of them is attacked. The article has only been invoked once, after Sept. 11, when NATO agreed to go after Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban in defense of the United States | |
| The French certainly know that Mr. Obama is not going to suddenly decide to put American infantry on the ground in Syria, and they are unwilling, a French diplomat said on Wednesday, to embarrass Mr. Obama, whose support they need, let alone themselves, by “asking for the impossible.” | The French certainly know that Mr. Obama is not going to suddenly decide to put American infantry on the ground in Syria, and they are unwilling, a French diplomat said on Wednesday, to embarrass Mr. Obama, whose support they need, let alone themselves, by “asking for the impossible.” |
| Still, to broaden France’s diplomatic support, Mr. Hollande invoked an unusual article in the Lisbon Treaty that governs the European Union. Article 42.7 states that if a member of the European Union is the victim of “armed aggression on its territory,” other member states have an “obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power” consistent with their obligations to NATO. | Still, to broaden France’s diplomatic support, Mr. Hollande invoked an unusual article in the Lisbon Treaty that governs the European Union. Article 42.7 states that if a member of the European Union is the victim of “armed aggression on its territory,” other member states have an “obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power” consistent with their obligations to NATO. |
| Europe unanimously voted to support France, but what that support might mean is unclear. The clause does not commit any European state to military action and the sharing of intelligence is already well-developed, if not infallible. | Europe unanimously voted to support France, but what that support might mean is unclear. The clause does not commit any European state to military action and the sharing of intelligence is already well-developed, if not infallible. |
| But Europe was shaken badly this summer by an influx of refugees and migrants, which Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, has called “an avalanche.” As a result, Europe has slowly understood that the flow of migrant will continue unless there is a settlement of some kind in the Syrian civil war. | But Europe was shaken badly this summer by an influx of refugees and migrants, which Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, has called “an avalanche.” As a result, Europe has slowly understood that the flow of migrant will continue unless there is a settlement of some kind in the Syrian civil war. |
| No other European country has been willing to confront Islamic radicalism as France has, in Mali, in Iraq and Syria, and at home. France is the only European country bombing Islamic State targets in Syria as well as in Iraq, doing so despite lacking a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force in Syria. | No other European country has been willing to confront Islamic radicalism as France has, in Mali, in Iraq and Syria, and at home. France is the only European country bombing Islamic State targets in Syria as well as in Iraq, doing so despite lacking a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force in Syria. |
| Even the British, the other main European military power, have been unwilling to strike at the Islamic State heartland in Syria. After the British alliance with the United States in the last Iraq war, when it turned out that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain has been unable to get parliamentary support for military action over Syria. | Even the British, the other main European military power, have been unwilling to strike at the Islamic State heartland in Syria. After the British alliance with the United States in the last Iraq war, when it turned out that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain has been unable to get parliamentary support for military action over Syria. |
| Britain has talked tough about going after the Islamic State, but unlike France, its actions have not matched its words. British defense and foreign secretaries have said they want British forces to be able to fight the Islamic State in Syria as well as in Iraq, and that it is absurd to honor a border Islamic State does not recognize. | Britain has talked tough about going after the Islamic State, but unlike France, its actions have not matched its words. British defense and foreign secretaries have said they want British forces to be able to fight the Islamic State in Syria as well as in Iraq, and that it is absurd to honor a border Islamic State does not recognize. |
| But stung by British experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan in support of American wars, Mr. Cameron has promised to seek approval of Parliament before taking any military action in Syria. He has said that he will only press for such a vote if he has “a clear majority” in Parliament in favor. So far, he has failed to create one. | But stung by British experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan in support of American wars, Mr. Cameron has promised to seek approval of Parliament before taking any military action in Syria. He has said that he will only press for such a vote if he has “a clear majority” in Parliament in favor. So far, he has failed to create one. |
| The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party leader, who is on the far left wing of his party and has consistently taken pacifist positions, combined with Russia’s military intervention in Syria, has made it harder for Mr. Cameron. | The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party leader, who is on the far left wing of his party and has consistently taken pacifist positions, combined with Russia’s military intervention in Syria, has made it harder for Mr. Cameron. |
| In 2013, Mr. Cameron lost a vote to authorize British military strikes on Syria alongside the United States over Mr. Assad’s use of chemical weapons. While the issue now is a different one, with the Islamic State as the target, Mr. Cameron is unwilling to take a chance at losing a second such vote. | In 2013, Mr. Cameron lost a vote to authorize British military strikes on Syria alongside the United States over Mr. Assad’s use of chemical weapons. While the issue now is a different one, with the Islamic State as the target, Mr. Cameron is unwilling to take a chance at losing a second such vote. |
| Mr. Cameron, after the massacres in France, has said that he intends to press Parliament even harder to authorize action in Syria. But even if he finally succeeds, Britain’s role will be relatively minor. | Mr. Cameron, after the massacres in France, has said that he intends to press Parliament even harder to authorize action in Syria. But even if he finally succeeds, Britain’s role will be relatively minor. |
| If Mr. Hollande is going to win his war with the Islamic State, he will have to depend on stronger action from Washington, in coordination with Moscow, and even that is unlikely to be enough. | If Mr. Hollande is going to win his war with the Islamic State, he will have to depend on stronger action from Washington, in coordination with Moscow, and even that is unlikely to be enough. |
| In Israel on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the fight was analogous to that against the Nazis, and that ground troops would have to be used. | In Israel on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the fight was analogous to that against the Nazis, and that ground troops would have to be used. |
| “You’re not going to change them, you will not win them over, you will not pacify them,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “The only way to defeat this is the way Nazism was defeated: first you defeat, then you de-Nazify; that’s the order, that’s the priority.” | “You’re not going to change them, you will not win them over, you will not pacify them,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “The only way to defeat this is the way Nazism was defeated: first you defeat, then you de-Nazify; that’s the order, that’s the priority.” |
| Naftali Bennett, a hawkish minister in Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet, was more explicit, telling the same audience that “drones and tough words just won’t cut it.” He held up as a model Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, laying siege to Palestinian cities in the West Bank to stop suicide bombings during the second intifada, where “we went house-to-house and door-to-door to hunt down terror suspects.” | Naftali Bennett, a hawkish minister in Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet, was more explicit, telling the same audience that “drones and tough words just won’t cut it.” He held up as a model Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, laying siege to Palestinian cities in the West Bank to stop suicide bombings during the second intifada, where “we went house-to-house and door-to-door to hunt down terror suspects.” |
| But first Western governments must make some tough commitments, Mr. Bennett said. | But first Western governments must make some tough commitments, Mr. Bennett said. |
| “The first and biggest thing is to simply make the decision — make the decision that we’re going to fight. Europe has to set the goal of winning this war,” Mr. Bennett said. “This goal has not been set yet.” | “The first and biggest thing is to simply make the decision — make the decision that we’re going to fight. Europe has to set the goal of winning this war,” Mr. Bennett said. “This goal has not been set yet.” |