This is the best article I've seen on the political significance of the latest terrorist event in Paris. Flounders surveys media coverage of killings and finds capitalist class interests consistently inform the kinds of coverage given by their corporate media.
Imperialism needs hatred of targeted peoples. Western politicians have cynically used Islamophobia to advance right-wing political agendas and curtail freedoms.
Who benefits? Regardless of whether a police conspiracy is ever exposed, we do know that the French ruling class and the corporate media are always primed to take full advantage of such acts to reinforce the repressive state apparatus and sow division among the working class.