On Sunday (Nov. 15), the French government launched airstrikes in the city of Raqqa, Syria, two days after six separate attacks carried out by radical Islamic terrorists killed 129 people in Paris.

The following University of North Texas faculty member is available to discuss the Paris attacks and terrorism:

James Meernik, professor of political science, directs UNT's Castleberry Peace Institute. He researches post-conflict security, transitional justice, U.S. foreign policy and international criminal tribunals. He is the author of The Political Use of Military Force in U.S. Foreign Policy and U.S. Foreign Policy and Regime Instability and co-editor of Conflict Prevention and Peace Building in Post-War Societies: Sustaining the Peace. Meernik is a former associate editor of International Studies Quarterly and has published extensively in that journal and in Foreign Policy Analysis, Journal of Conflict Resolution and other professional journals.

Meernik is available today (Monday) through noon Wednesday (Nov. 18).

Cell phone: 940-367-3727

E-mail: james.meernik@unt.edu

Geoffrey Wawro, director of UNT's Military History Center and a professor of history, is the author of Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East from the Balfour Declaration to the Bush Doctrine. He has written on Middle East security for The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast. Wawro was also a host and anchor of the History Channel and History International programs Global View, Hardcover History, Hard Target, History's Business and History versus Hollywood, and has been a commentator on Spike TV's The Deadliest Warrior.

Cell phone: 214-514-7224