The Francefada: How Long Until Surrender?

The French infitada provides yet another unfortunate example of the failure of Socialism. Sacre bleu!

New York Post Online Edition: commentary: How did it all start? The accepted account is that sometime last week, a group of young boys in Clichy engaged in one of their favorite sports: stealing parts of parked cars.

Normally, nothing dramatic would have happened, as the police have not been present in that suburb for years. The problem came when one of the inhabitants, a female busybody, telephoned the police and reported the thieving spree taking place just opposite her building. The police were thus obliged to do something which meant entering a city that, as noted, had been a no-go area for them.

Once the police arrived on the scene, the youths, who had been reigning over Clichy pretty unmolested for years, got really angry. A brief chase took place in the street, and two of the youths, who were not actually chased by the police, sought refuge in a cordoned-off area housing a power pylon. Both were electrocuted.

Once news of their deaths was out, Clichy was all up in arms.
With cries of 'God is great,' bands of youths armed with whatever they could get hold of went on a rampage and forced the police to flee.

The French authorities could not allow a band of youths to expel the police from French territory. So they hit back, sending in Special Forces, known as the CRS, with armored cars and tough rules of engagement.

Within hours, the original cause of the incidents was forgotten and the issue jelled around a demand by the representatives of the rioters that the French police leave the 'occupied territories.' By midweek, the riots had spread to three of the provinces neighboring Paris, with a population of 5.5 million.

But who lives in the affected areas? In Clichy itself, more than 80 percent of the inhabitants are Muslim immigrants or their children, mostly from Arab and black Africa. In other affected towns, the Muslim immigrant community accounts for 30 percent to 60 percent of the population. But these are not the only figures that matter. Average unemployment in the affected areas is estimated at around 30 percent and, when it comes to young would-be workers, reaches 60 percent.

In these suburban towns, built in the 1950s in imitation of the Soviet social housing of the Stalinist era, people live in crammed conditions, sometimes several generations in a tiny apartment, and see "real French life" only on television.

The French used to flatter themselves for the success of their policy of assimilation, which was supposed to turn immigrants from any background into "proper Frenchmen" within a generation at most.

Read the whole piece here.

French Fight Puts American Left in a Bind

This whole episode is really going to turn the screws on the moonbat meters running in lefty land. After all, they've embraced the French for their courageous stand in opposing the U.S. led war in Iraq. France is also the kinder/gentler version of socialism that many lefties would impose on the United States.

But what do you do when "freedom fighters" such as those currently setting fires all over France call for an "end to the occupation" of Moslem neighborhoods and independence to set up Sharia governed zones inside France?

No doubt, Muther Sheehan will have the answer, so expect a prounouncement from her soon. Also, expect Rev. Jesse "Shakedown" Jackson to lead a delegation to France and offer to mediate.

Or perhaps John Kerry can issue another "global test" and ask the United Nations to send in peacekeepers.