Brace yourselves. There is a new wave of terrorism, as the Friday night tragedy in Paris, coming to some G20 countries. It will have many roots, but a principal one, regardless of the ideological cause, will be the cynicism of the great powers toward the civil war in Syria.

A secondary source will be the impunity with which the Islamic State is now operating.

And a third source will be the moral confusion in the West about the role of the state in upholding a defensible view of what constitutes right and wrong.