"Youths" riot in Paris, Chirac fiddles

Paris remains under siege for the 10th day by "rioters" and "youths", with no end in sight:

"French rioters torch cars and schools in fresh violence"[Reuters]:

PARIS (Reuters) - Schools were torched and more than 600 cars set on fire in cities across France in a tenth night of rioting in poor suburban areas that went into the early hours of Sunday, the Interior Ministry said. Police ranks were beefed up across France and in several Paris suburbs as the continuing violence put added pressure on the government to act quickly. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin also summoned eight key ministers and a top Muslim official to his offices on Saturday as he sought to chart an end to the violence.

"Unrest Reaches Paris; 28 Cars Torched"

At least 918 vehicles _ including those in Paris _ were burned during the 10th night of violence, said the Interior Ministry's operational center tracking the violence. There was no word yet on damage in Paris to shops, gymnasiums, nursery schools and other targets which have been attacked around the country.

Police made 186 arrests nationwide overnight.

Rambix asks: Why would Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin summon a top Muslim official to his office? We've been told the criminals are "youths". Is the media suppressing some important information?

Government officials have held a series of meetings with Muslim religious leaders, local officials and youths from poor suburbs to try to calm the violence. The director of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, one of the country's leading Muslim figures, met Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Saturday and urged the government to choose its words carefully and send a message of peace. "In such difficult circumstances, every word counts," Boubakeur said.

How's that working out for you?

Let's take a look at France. From the US State Department web site:

Traditionally, France has had a high level of immigration. More than 1 million Muslims immigrated in the 1960s and early 1970s from North Africa, especially Algeria. About 90% of the population is Roman Catholic, 7% Muslim, less than 2% Protestant, and about 1% Jewish. In 2004, there were over 5 million Muslims, largely of North African descent, living in France.

France has allowed explosive immigration to go unabated for so long that nearly one in ten Frenchmen is a Muslim. France has effectively ceded their country to the underclass. The numbers are bad enough, but here's more distrubing news: there is an unending supply waiting on your doorstep.

In other troubling news for our French friends, we learn that the majority of economic activity in France comes from...the government.

Despite significant reform and privatization over the past 15 years, the government continues to control a large share of economic activity: Government spending, at 54.7% of GDP in 2003, is among the highest in the G-7. Regulation of labor and product markets is pervasive. The government continues to own shares in corporations in a range of sectors, including banking, energy production and distribution, automobiles, transportation, and telecommunications.

So an essentially unstable, one-dimensional economy combined with non-assimilating Muslims, and weak leadership brings France to the position it is in today.

Good luck with your negotiations, Mssr. de Villepin. What you don't realize is that those folks don't appreciate words and other niceties. They do understand force, which, by the way, is why the U.S. is cracking down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sorry you had to learn the hard way.