Islam urgently needs to find its moderate voice

The horrifying attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed was manifestly an Islamist attack on a magazine which had in the gunmen's view, committed a blasphemy that therefore deserved violent retribution. The attackers’ reported shouts of “God is Great” and “We have avenged the Prophet Mohammed” rounded out another episode in what has become an all too familiar pattern of horrors where violence is placed in an Islamic frame. Yet it is easy to miss the underlying purpose of such an attack, which was far wider than an attack on freedom of expression. It aimed to provoke an increase in global tensions and the likelihood of further and wider conflict, as well as to intimidate journalists in respect of