While we were grieving Paris . . .

. . . even more were being massacred in northern Nigeria.

Boko Haram was systematically murdering all those who could not flee in and around Baga, which means women and children and the elderly.

Not scores but several thousand were murdered just last week in this attack on a northeastern region of Nigeria.  Boko Haram, every bit as cruel as ISIS, has captured territory as large as the state of Belgium.

Nigerian Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama says the West has expressed solidarity but has given little or no concrete help.  We have tweeted about the hundreds of Christian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram, but have not sent any military help.  Yet we are committing hundreds of millions of dollars, probably more, to fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

Why the difference?

Some critics say it is because we no longer get oil from Nigeria.

Others point to Boko Haram’s growing success in Nigeria, and ISIS’ success in the Middle East, and say it is deja vu.  In 1938 and most of 1939, many in England and the United States pooh-poohed voices like Winston Churchill’s who insisted war was coming, that Hitler was rearming while Britain and the U.S. were reducing their militaries.