PARIS INTIFADA - DAY 17: RIOTING ERUPTS IN A MAJOR CITY CENTER: LYON

BBC: "Police in the French city of Lyon have fired tear gas to break up groups of youths who hurled stones and bins hours before a curfew was due to begin. Police on the city's famous Place Bellecour square made two arrests in what state news agency AFP says is the first rioting in a major city centre. "

When things ACTUALLY GET WORSE - as this story indicates - the Left and the MSM they still dominate CANNOT keep the BAD NEWS entirely quashed; (besides, in this age of Citizen Journalism, WE WON'T LET THEM!).

This riot ramps things up. The response of the french government shouhold get ramped up, too. But perhaps Chirac and Villepin are not capable of doing what's necessary. If they do nothing more, then they should RESIGN IMMEDIATELY.

Ultimately, though, it's up to the French people: The French people will either surrender or fight. THERE IS NO THIRD WAY. The only question is: HOW they will fight, and for HOW LONG? Will they surrender AFTER a short fight (due to a lack of resolve and/or the inability to muster the courage to battle PCness let alone a determined enemy) - or will they hang in there. Time will tell . Stay tuned...

More links HERE. And other views HERE and HERE. AP:

Paris Tightens Security Around Landmarks -- Thousands of Parisian police guarded the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees and train stations on Saturday, as part of emergency measures enacted in response to text messages and Internet postings that called for "violent actions" in the capital. In Lyon, France's third largest city, police fired tear gas to disperse stone-hurling youths at the historic Place Bellecour. It was the first time in 17 days of unrest that youths clashed with police in a major city.

THE UK GUARDIAN:

Paris alert for 'biggest riot ever' -- Intercepted text messages lead police chief to draft in 3,000 men and ban gatherings. Central Paris was under siege yesterday as thousands of police guarded key tourist sites such as the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysées and enforced emergency laws, including a ban on groups of people gathering. The capital's prefect of police, Pierre Mutz, said the record deployment of some 3,000 officers was in response to a barrage of text messages and weblogs thought to have come from youths linked to the previous 16 nights of unrest in the city's suburbs. They called for 'the biggest riot ever seen'.

Things are GETTING WORSE there, not better... stay tuned...

[ASIDE: The same UK GUARDIAN article closed with this:

"Today, the National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is due to appear on RTL radio in advance of a demonstration in central Paris by his supporters tomorrow. Many believe the riots have played into the hands of extremists such as Le Pen."

To the Left, the rioters are the aggrieved party, and those who have predicted this intifada - like Le Pen - are extremists. Maybe what Le Pen has been proposing regarding immigration all these years ONLY SEEMED EXTREME at the time!? Maybe now many of his proposals are APT - if they're not too late!

REMEMBER: from 1930-1939 most Brits thought Winston Churchill was a jingoist and warmonger unecessarily ramping up fear of tyrants on the continent, like Herr Hitler. In fact, Churchill was one of the lone critics of the Munich Agreement which ceded the Sudatenland to Nazism. Now we see that he was right the whole time. Hindsight is like that.

While it is certainly true that Le Pen proposes many abhorrent policies, he was 99% right on immigration. To call him an extremist in this context is wrong - just as it is wrong to color the politics of the situation as clearly benefitting Le Pen.

Sarkozy is just as tough on the immigrant problem - (PLUS: he's the son of immigrants himself!) - without the obvious and abhorrent Le Pen "baggage" - and, in fact, he is the frontrunner for 2007.

So, why didn't the Left-wing Guardian write that ther riots benefits him!? Could it be that the Leftist Guardian doesn't want to promote a right-of-center candidate WHO CAN ACTUALLY WIN!? Could it be that they would like a Le Pen versus Villepin race in 2007 (because that's the only way (a) Villepin can win! and (b) Sarkozy can lose!)!?

DAMN STRAIGHT. AND THIS IS EXACLTY HOW THE MSM WILL SPIN THES PARIS INTIFADA AND THE EFFORTS TO QUELL IT: TO HURT SARKOZY AND HELP VILLEPIN.]

RICE KEEPS HEAT ON SYRIA

"REUTERS":

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took aim at Syria on Saturday over its human rights record, stepping up Washington's bid to isolate Damascus internationally. The top U.S. diplomat used a conference in Bahrain attended by Arab leaders trying to promote economic and political reform, to criticize what she said was Syria's "arbitrary detention" of human rights activists. "We continue to support the Syrian people's aspirations for liberty, democracy, and justice under the rule of law," said Rice in a sideways swipe at the government in Damascus. "We would like to see an end to the arbitrary detentions of democratic and human rights activists -- including Kamal Labwani and all the prisoners of conscience from the Damascus Spring," she added. The Damascus Spring was a period of intense political and social debate in Syria which started after the death of President Hafez al-Assad in June 2000. Opposition activist Labwani was arrested in Syria on November 8 on his return from a visit to the United States where he had met senior U.S. officials.

The Bush Adminstration is adeptly cranking up the pressure on the murderous Assad regime - on MANY fronts. Including a joint statement with the Iraqi PM demanding that Syria control its borders:

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, appearing on Friday with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said it was no secret that foreign fighters were using Syrian territory to enter Iraq and the government had implored the Syrians to crack down on such movements. "We ask why the Syrians are not responding to our people's demands," al-Jaafari said. "We demand that they control their borders, prevent infiltration and terrorism. We want good relations with Syria, but this cannot be achieved when such violations exist."

Assad is really cornered and his time is running out. The sooner he realizes this and chooses exile, the better. I expect - however - that he and his murderous regime will FIRST attempt to divert the pressure and our attention from him by getting their comrades in the Axis of Evil - the Iranians - and their joint jihadoproxies to widen and intensify the conflict in the region; they will attempt to accomplish this by stepping up terror attacks in Jordan and Israel and Lebanon. When these fail to ignite a new Arab--Israeli War, Assad will flee - to Tehran. I predict by March.

BUSH TO LEFTIST WAR CRITICS: "YOU'RE STUCK ON STUPID!"

Well, that's what he should have said! Professor Reynolds (tipped off by POWERLINE) points to an article in the WASH POST by arch Bush foes Milbank and Pincus which ADMITS that Bush is right and the Left is wrong. MONEY GRAF:

The administration's overarching point is true: Intelligence agencies overwhelmingly believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and very few members of Congress from either party were skeptical about this belief before the war began in 2003. Indeed, top lawmakers in both parties were emphatic and certain in their public statements.

Yet the anti-war Left - led by Kennedy and Dean and Reid and Durbin and Pelosi, and other Democrats afflicted with McGovernitis - continue to charge that "Bush Lied" and/or hyped/manipulated/distorted the intel. They are stuck on stupid!

This level/breadth/degree of denial and misinformation is TYPICAL of the Left, who continue to propose statist and isolationist remedies for social ills even thought they have been completely discredited by recent history. The desire to prop up their long held MISBELIEFS is a central motivating factor: Rather than admit that they were wrong about Vietnam, welfare, the Cold War, disarmament, OSLO/Arafat, Free Trade, low taxes -- in short: nearly EVERYTHING Hayek proved and which Reagan and Thatcher accomplished -- they respond defensively with false, hypocritical, irrational and hostile attacks - this is classical psychological DISPLACEMENT, fueled by reaction formations, and cognitive dissonance.

This flailing-out and scapegoating (of their own failure) is typical of people who know deep down that they're hitched up to a worthless ideology, and ideology which the marketplace of ideas is rapidly driving toward a well-deserved extinction. Good riddance. The sooner the better.

More HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And also many good links HERE and HERE.

A THOROUGH PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF "BDS" - BY A PRO - HERE.
More professional analysis HERE.

UPDATE: Many Left-wing readers of the blog are ALSO STUCK ON STUPID. For their benefit, here are a few more incontrovertible disputations of the "Bush Lied" meme:

JUST ONE MINUTE provides us with quotes/links of what the Dem/left said then - HINT: THEY AGREED WITH BUSH!

WHITE HOUSE WEIGHS IN HERE (hat tip Professor Reynolds - for this and J.O.M.):

Setting the Record Straight: The Washington Post On Pre-War Intelligence

The Washington Post Implies That The Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) Was Superior To The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) Given To Congress. "But Bush does not share his most sensitive intelligence, such as the President's Daily Brief, with lawmakers. Also, the National Intelligence Estimate summarizing the intelligence community's views about the threat from Iraq was given to Congress just days before the vote to authorize the use of force in that country." (Dana Milbank And Walter Pincus, "Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument," The Washington Post, 11/12/05)

But The PDB Was The Focus Of Intelligence Reform And Was More "Problematic" Than The NIE Given To Congress.

* The Robb-Silberman Commission Found The PDB To Contain Similar Intelligence In "More Alarmist" And "Less Nuanced" Language. "As problematic as the October 2002 NIE was, it was not the Community's biggest analytic failure on Iraq. Even more misleading was the river of intelligence that flowed from the CIA to top policymakers over long periods of time--in the President's Daily Brief (PDB) and in its more widely distributed companion, the Senior Executive Intelligence Brief (SEIB). These daily reports were, if anything, more alarmist and less nuanced than the NIE." (Charles S. Robb And Laurence H. Silberman, The Commission On The Intelligence Capabilities Of The United States Regarding Weapons Of Mass Destruction, 3/31/05, Pg. 14)

* The Robb-Silberman Commission Reported That The Intelligence In The PDB Was Not "Markedly Different" Than The Intelligence Given To Congress In The NIE. "It was not that the intelligence was markedly different. Rather, it was that the PDBs and SEIBs, with their attention-grabbing headlines and drumbeat of repetition, left an impression of many corroborating reports where in fact there were very few sources. And in other instances, intelligence suggesting the existence of weapons programs was conveyed to senior policymakers, but later information casting doubt upon the validity of that intelligence was not." (Charles S. Robb And Laurence H. Silberman, The Commission On The Intelligence Capabilities Of The United States Regarding Weapons Of Mass Destruction, 3/31/05, Pg. 14)

The Washington Post Implies That There Have Been No Findings On The Use Of Intelligence. "But the only committee investigating the matter in Congress, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has not yet done its inquiry into whether officials mischaracterized intelligence by omitting caveats and dissenting opinions. And Judge Laurence H. Silberman, chairman of Bush's commission on weapons of mass destruction, said in releasing his report on March 31, 2005: 'Our executive order did not direct us to deal with the use of intelligence by policymakers, and all of us were agreed that that was not part of our inquiry.'" (Dana Milbank And Walter Pincus, "Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument," The Washington Post, 11/12/05)

But Congressional And Independent Committees Have Repeatedly Reported No Distortion Of Intelligence

* The Bipartisan Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Report "Did Not Find Any Evidence" Of Attempts To Influence Analysts To Change Intelligence. "Conclusion 83. The Committee did not find any evidence that Administration officials attempted to coerce, influence or pressure analysts to change their judgments related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities. Conclusion 84. The Committee found no evidence that the Vice President's visits to the Central Intelligence Agency were attempts to pressure analysts, were perceived as intended to pressure analysts by those who participated in the briefings on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, or did pressure analysts to change their assessments." ("Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq," U.S. Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, 7/7/04, Pg. 284-285)

* The Robb-Silberman Commission Finds "No Evidence Of Political Pressure." "These are errors serious errors. But these errors stem from poor tradecraft and poor management. The Commission found no evidence of political pressure to influence the Intelligence Community's pre-war assessments of Iraq's weapons programs. As we discuss in detail in the body of our report, analysts universally asserted that in no instance did political pressure cause them to skew or alter any of their analytical judgments. We conclude that it was the paucity of intelligence and poor analytical tradecraft, rather than political pressure, that produced the inaccurate pre-war intelligence assessments." (Charles S. Robb And Laurence H. Silberman, The Commission On The Intelligence Capabilities Of The United States Regarding Weapons Of Mass Destruction, 3/31/05, Pg. 50-51)

* The British Butler Report Finds "No Evidence" Of Intelligence Distortion. "In general, we found that the original intelligence material was correctly reported in [Joint Intelligence Committee] assessments. An exception was the '45 minute' report. But this sort of example was rare in the several hundred JIC assessments we read on Iraq. In general, we also found that the reliability of the original intelligence reports was fairly represented by the use of accompanying quali cations. We should record in particular that we have found no evidence of deliberate distortion or of culpable negligence. We examined JIC assessments to see whether there was evidence that the judgements inside them were systematically distorted by non-intelligence factors, in particular the in uence of the policy positions of departments. We found no evidence of JIC assessments and the judgements inside them being pulled in any particular direction to meet the policy concerns of senior of cials on the JIC." ("Review Of Intelligence On Weapons Of Mass Destruction," Report Of A Committee Of Privy Counsellors, 7/14/04, Pg. 110)

Links/footnotes for all the assertions in this article are available at the White House website (link above).

GADZOOKS: "MIT STUDY SHOWS TINFOIL HATS WORK"

MIT (Hat tip Winds of Change)

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study - Abstract:

Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.

No wonder Leftists are UNHINGED! The complete study has been published and now available online. And it's got photos. AND IT'S HILARIOUS! RTWT!

MOTHER OF ISLAMOTHUGS COMPLAINS: "TOO MUCH FREEDOM"

CUANAS nabbed a very VERY REVEALING article from YAHOO. It reveals how absolutely EFFED UP the families of the islamothugs in the Parisian banlieues are. Here's an excerpt:

"France is a democratic country. It gives rights to women and children," said Abderrahman Bouhout, director of the Bilal Mosque in Clichy-Sous-Bois. "Now parents cannot do anything — if they hit their 12-year-old, police will come to their door. There's a hot line the kids can call to report parental abuse." Children have "too much freedom," complained Abdelhalim Salah, 68, arguing that government policy has undermined parents. Sabrine, a 41-year-old mother of four who came from Tunisia 20 years ago, said police shouldn't blame parents for failing to stop the violence. "We cannot bring up our kids the way we want, to teach them Islam," said Sabrine, adding that France encourages children to choose how they want to practice religion.

They regret not being able TO HIT their children, and not being able to get them deeper into Islam. Well I say, if they don't like freakin democracy, then why don't they freakin move to Saudi Arabia - where they freakin belong!!? (Or do they think Chirac will repeal democracy!? ) People like this don't belong in the West, let alone France! RTWT.

JORDAN ARRESTS DOZENS

BBC:

"Dozens of people have been arrested in Jordan following the suicide bombings that killed at least 57 people and wounded nearly 100 in the capital. The arrests came as al-Qaeda in Iraq allegedly named the four bombers - all Iraqis, including a husband and wife."

Why are the Jordanian authorities arresting dozens of people if all the bombers are dead!? Are they just rounding up the usual suspects? QUICK, SOMEBODY CALL THE ACLU!

AFRAID OF VIOLENCE, FRENCH BAN ALL PUBLIC GATHERINGS THIS WEEKEND

BBC:

All public meetings likely to provoke disturbances are to be banned in the French capital, police have announced. The ban will begin at 0900 GMT on Saturday and end at 0700 GMT on Sunday. ... Rioting that erupted two weeks ago is now less intense across France, but unrest persists in impoverished immigrant communities around Paris.

MSNBC:

"... late Friday afternoon Paris police warned that internet and mobile telephone text messages suggested violent troublemakers were aiming to target Paris on Saturday. ... The number of police on the streets will also be reinforced. Violators of the ban will be liable to imprisonment of up to two months, and/or a fine of €3,750 ($4,400, £2,500). Police said that what constituted gatherings likely to "provoke" disorder would vary according to circumstances. On Thursday, Paris police banned the sale of petrol in jerrycans at service stations.

Typical of Leftists: rather than counter-attack the perpetrators, they use the coercive powers of the state to punish ALL, as if everyone was responsible. What they should do is put barricades and checkpoints around the banlieues, and begin to weed out the islamothugs.

HOW DO YOU SAY "DENIAL" IN FRENCH?

You say: "Things aren't really so bad." WHICH IS EXACTLY what two of my Parisian friends (Lefties) said. They are not alone; most of the French media have STOPPED reporting the riots. SO HAS THE AMERICAN MSM. When the truth doesn't fit their story-template, they just don't report the truth! Truth HERE and HERE. EXCERPTS:

463 vehicles burned, 201 arrests, 7 police injured, and 8 police suspended for doing their job. In Lyon, 4 police were hurt by thrown rocks. Violence in the greater Paris area ticked up a bit. 12,000 police are being kept on duty through the weekend (including the holiday of 11 November). Calls to riot continue to circulate via SMS, blogs, and Internet bulletin boards.

And this:

Overnight, a 15th consecutive night of violence saw fewer skirmishes and fewer cars burned - 463, down from 482 the previous night, police said. “We have seen a continued drop beyond Paris, but persistence near the capital,” said national police spokesman Patrick Hamon. “We cannot yet claim victory, the drop remains fragile.”

MY ADVICE TO THE FRENCH: The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. THE PROBLEM: Denying that there is an islamofascist rebellion, and thinking that you can appease your way to safety, and believing that more welfare (you can't afford to handout!) will make the islamothugs more likely to assimilate. IT WILL NOT! PRESCRIPTION: CHIRAC AND VILLEPIN MUST RESIGN.

INSTAPUNDIT: "And yes, he should question their patriotism."

That's a quote from Professor Reynolds commenting on Bush's speech today - VETERAN'S DAY. Bush FINALLY came out swinging at the Dem/Left, and their disgusting attacks aginst him for misleading the nation into war against Saddam.

BRAVO GLENN. More HERE.

I have long held that the history-revising, Zarqawi-loving, Assad-kissing, ally-abandoning Dem/Left are traitors. YEAH: "ZARQAWI-LOVING!" Or as Michael Moore (honored guest of the DNC at the Kerry Convention; he sat next to Jimmy Carter!) said: "Iraqi MINUTE MEN."

Leftists and Leftism disgust me. Scum.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER 55 MILLION YEAR OLD SUV!

NOT!

Well, if there were NO SUV's around 55 million years ago - and if nobody burned fossil fuels and since there was no man-made "greenhouse effect," then what caused this (hat tip Drudge):

"...research by vertebrate paleontologist Jonathan Bloch and colleagues suggests land plants changed drastically during a period of sudden global warming 55 million years ago."

Could periodic global warming and cooling - AKA CLIMATE CHANGE - be NATURALLY OCCURING?! GEE: Whooodathunkit.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: ZARQAWI, ASSAD, KENNEDY, KERRY LEVIN, DEAN

ALL THESE JERKS - ZARQAWI, ASSAD, KENNEDY, KERRY, LEVIN, DEAN (AND BOXER AND THE REST OF THE DEM/LEFT) - WANT THE IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL OF U.S. TROOPS FROM IRAQ.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER. ALLIES. CALL THEM WHAT YOU WILL. EITHER THE DEM/LEFT IS CONSCIOUSLY AIDING THE ENEMY, OR THEY DO IT STUPIDLY.

A DIFFERENCE WITHOUT A DISTICTION.

DANISH JIHADOTERRORISTS - (EXPOSED BY ARRESTS IN BOSNIA) - MAY ALSO HAVE LINKS TO BRITAIN

IRISH SUN:

Danish police are investigating a possible link between a group of young Muslims arrested in Denmark in a terror probe and three people detained in a similar case in Britain, an official said today. Seven suspects were arrested last month in Denmark on suspicion of belonging to or helping a network planning a terror attack in Europe. ... Danish police have confirmed their investigation was linked to a raid in Bosnia, where local police arrested a Swede and a Turk on suspicion of preparing terrorist activities.

Let's count up the European nations DIRECTLY involved in this one case: Denmark; Bosnia; Great Britain; Sweden; and Turkey. (More BACKGROUND HERE and HERE and HERE.)

It seems obvious to me that the islamofascists have an extensive multi-national network in Europe. And that they are VERY active.

Which makes me all the more puzzled that the Brits balked at giving the cops more tools to stop terror attacks. I think the reason is that the Left (and the MSM they still dominate - the BBC there and the NYTIMES here, for example -- each agenda-setters for their domestic MSM) have been relentlessly attacking Blair and Bush - and disinforming and dissembling about the Paris Intifada. Too many people fear Blair and Bush more than Zarqawi. They're in for a rude awakening... sadly...

ARE TIM RUSSERT AND ANDREA MITCHELL LYING AND TRYING TO COVER UP THEIR LIES?

It seems so to me. It seems INCONTROVERTIBLE to me that Russert and Mitchell ARE BOTH LYING when they say NOW - (and presumably, when Russert said to the "PLAMEGATE" Grand Jury) - that they did not know Ms. Plame-Wilson worked at the CIA.

This is IMPORTANT. Russert's VERSION of the story is CENTRAL to the Libby indictment.

READ THIS, and decide for yourselves. (HAT TIP MEMEORANDUM.)

FRENCH MEDIA EXEC ADMITS MANIPULATION OF NEWS TO BENEFIT THE LEFT

SEVERAL BLOGGERS ARE ALL OVER THIS. TAKE YOUR PICK.

My opinion: the Left are a lying scum Fifth Column who'd rather help the enemy (if it means hurting the Right) than save the West. BTW: you WON'T read about this in the MSM. I wonder why!?

PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS AMONG THOSE MURDERED IN AMMAN

TIMES UK:

Bashir Nafeh, director of military intelligence chief in the West Bank, was named as being among the dead. He had stopped in Amman with Colonel Abed Allun, a high-ranking security official, and Rawhi Futtah, the commercial attache at the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt and brother of the speaker in the Palestinian parliament. All three were staying in the Grand Hyatt.

WERE THESE MEN TARGETED?

AND HERE'S A CORRECTION TO AN EARLIER REPORT:

No truth to report of Israeli evacuations before Amman bombs -- By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent:
There is no truth to reports that Israelis staying at the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman on Wednesday were evacuated by Jordanian security forces before the bombing that took place there. The Israelis were escorted back to Israel by Jordanian security personnel only after the attacks had taken place, contrary to earlier reports.

UNFORTUNATELY, this correction will NEVER gain as much currency as the earlier, false, anti-Semitic report. WHY? Because lies which reinforce irrational stereotypes are more appealing to those with the prejudices than the simple truth which undermines their prejudices. And, as Churchill said:

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

MORE HERE.

"BUSH LIED!" - THE HEIGHT OF LEFTIST HYPOCRISY

The post-modern Left is often arguing that there is "no single truth," that culture and personality inexorably effect perception, and that a person's socio-politico-economic status distorts their interpretation of events and influences their narrative of events. This is where their concept of "competing narratives" originates. There is no objective truth, just versions of it, they argue.

Despite this, the Left has no problem arguing that "BUSH LIED!" This is obviously and simply and indisputably PURE HYPOCRISY. Doubly so because Left-leaning politicians who said the same things about Saddam and WMD escape similar condemnation. TRIPLY SO - because some of these very same Lefties who once said EXACTLY what Bush said about Saddam and WMD are making the charges now against Bush.

THE LEFT: they have no shame. Scum.

FRANCE'S SO-CALLED "IMMIGRANT" PROBLEM

Many in France, and on the Left elsewhere - (and in the MSM the Left still dominates), are blaming the recent Paris Intifada on entrenched poverty, discrimination and unemployment within the IMMIGRANT community. They say this in spite of the fact that MOST of the youths rioting are 2nd-3rd GENERATION FRENCHMEN! And in spite of the fact that many - if not most - of the great "Frenchmen" of recent times - true contributors of French culture, if not ICONS of France - were IMMIGRANTS or 1st generation French! IN OTHER WORDS: France DOESN'T have an "immigrant problem"; the "immigrants in the banlieues" (most of whom were BORN IN FRANCE) have a France problem! Here are a few of the icons of French culture who were NOT ETHNICALLY FRENCH:

Jean Luc Godard is Swiss. Jacques Tati was Ukrainian. Yves Montand was Italian. Charles Aznavour was Armenian. Albert Camus was Algerian. Jacques Brel was Belgian. Napoleon was Italian. Le Corbusier was Swiss. Sarah Bernhardt was Dutch-Jewish. Josephine Baker was African-American. Isabelle Adjani is German-Turkish/Algerian. Irene Jacob is Swiss. Paul Gaugin was Peruvian. Eugène Ionesco was Romanian. UPDATE --- AND OF COURSE: Zinedine Zidane - is a French-ALGERIAN, a man who led the French "soccer" team to victory in the World Cup in 1998, (when I was studying in Paris) - a team IDOLIZED AND CELEBRATED for its multi-ethnicity. UPDATE #2: NICHOLAS SARKOZY - chief of the UMP (Chirac's party) and Interior Minister IS THE SON OF HUNGARIAN IMMIGRANTS - his parents were refugees from communist Hungary.

And this list is incomplete! So what does this list prove? That assimilation HAS BEEN A BIG part of French culture - recent culture, too. And that immigrants (and the children of immigrants) have made HUGE contributions to what Frenchmen call "French Culture." This reinforces my view that the problem is NOT with France, French culture or the French bureaucracy. The problem IS NOT that France doesn't want immigrants or mistreats immigrants, or that it doesn't lavish enough welfare on immigrants.

The problem is with these particular immigrants. REPEAT: The problem is with THESE immigrants - the problem is that the islamothugs of the banlieues DON'T WANT TO ASSIMILATE.

If they did then they would - AT THE VERY LEAST - attend and graduate from highschool, and they wouldn't terrorize their sisters for NOT wearing hijabs. What these islamothugs DO want is to carve out a private fiefdom - PARISTAN - for themselves and their islamogangs. A fiefdom where THEY are the authority and French cops are not allowed.

These islamothugs of France must be defeated - and with them, the idea that immigrants ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE (from England to Denmark to Sweden to Italy --- EVERYWHERE!) don't have to assimilate. IOW: My motto is: "No immigration without assimilation!" Not here. Not in France. Not anywhere. And if they don't like it, then they can GO HOME!

ISRAELI LEFT: A VIRTUAL FIFTH COLUMN ENDANGERING NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE COALTION GOVERNMENT

The Left everywhere always seems to aid the enemy. NYTIMES:

A trade union leader won a surprise victory over Shimon Peres in an election for leader of the Labor Party, party officials announced early on Thursday. The development greatly increases the possibility that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition government could collapse.

Amir Peretz, the union leader and a member of Parliament who pulled off the upset in the internal Labor Party election, said during the campaign that he would withdraw the party from Mr. Sharon's coalition. ... Mr. Peres, who is Israel's deputy prime minister, favored remaining in the government for now. He led Labor into Mr. Sharon's coalition earlier this year, and the party supported the Gaza withdrawal, taking the place of right-wing members who quit or were fired.

In contrast, Mr. Peretz, 53, built his campaign around economic issues. Israel's economy has been growing at around 4 percent for the past two years, but Mr. Peretz has argued that poor and working-class Israelis have seen few benefits. ... Mr. Peretz made his name as leader of the Histadrut, the country's largest labor federation. Members hold frequent strikes and are often in conflict with management in various industries. He wants Israel to return to its socialist roots, while Mr. Sharon has moved toward a market-oriented economy.

TYPICAL: the socialists put statism and nationalizing industry ahead of national security. That's why the Left is a virtual FIFTH COLUMN - EVEN IN ISRAEL! Scum.

ISLAMOGANGS ATTEMPT TO RE-IGNITE INTIFADA IN AARHUS, DENMARK

From my Danish correspondent,"Frederiksvaerk":

POLITIKKEN: "Late last night, police in Aarhus sent a large force into the Rosenhøj neighborhood in Viby because there was again tumult in that part of town. 20-25 youths set fire to a container and tried to burn a kiosk on Søndervangs Allé by breaking a window and casting a torch into the location..."

My correspondent comments:The rioting near Aarhus initially occurred before the rioting in France exploded onto the international media. When it happened I perceived it as "one night stand" - the media here did not clearly describe the rioters as muslim, as they usually do whenever possible. In terms of the scale of the damage, and the coverage in the press, the events in Denmark are exponentially smaller in scale than the chaos that prevails in the dark hours in France.

The rampage in Aabyhoj remains in the news today because right wing parties refer to it in the context of international terror - the left would prefer to ignore it. I get sick to the stomach when left wing sympathisers try to point to socio-economic causes for this asocial behaviour. These arguments are fallacious - if they were true we would have a 1000 times more rioting and terror - and these arguments harmonise with the racists who claim that "all muslims are (potential) terrorists". These rioters may in fact have valid complaints against the societies they live in - but as soon as they abandon democratic processes and choose to threaten life and property then they are criminals.

The Danish police have a great deal of experience clashing with anarchists, neo-nazi's, and rowdy and often drunk football hooligans (from other countries, or Brøndby!). Let's not forget the Danish police fired live ammunition at a rowdy crowd of danes celebrating the defeat of the Maastricht treaty! They subscibe to the philosophy of the iron fist and the velvet glove. That is to say they will avoid a direct conflict, but they will be present in overwhelming force if possible. The velvet glove will certainly come off much faster here than in France.

The fact that rioting in Denmark did happen concommitantly to events in France could point to the existence of some sort of command and control throughout Europe. It does reveal a general vulnerability if and when the poorly integrated Muslim youth of Europe choose to be the 5th column for terror. The real danger is if the rioters succeed in creating a diffuse pattern of action which will distract the security forces of Europe from destroying the twin snakes-head of terror: the ideologues who promote terror, and recruit the footsoldiers of terror; and the operatives who plan and execute terror. They are the virus that infects the Muslim people.

ASSAD LASHES OUT, BUT CLAIMS HE WILL COOPERATE

Assad spoke on Syrian TV today. He agreed to cooperate with the UN - but in DEFIANT tones. Assad is trying to have his cake and eat it, too. Unfortunately for him, Bush (and a UNSC that SEEMS untied on this issue - including France!) will NOT let him to have any wiggle room.

I think his tough words are intended for domestic consumption - to make him SEEM strong, so as to discourage anyone from interpreting his increasingly teetering predicament as meaning his hold on power is precarious and that the time is ripe for an insurrection or coup. When he CLAIMS he will cooperate with the UN, he is playing for the international crowd - but the prof will be when push comes to shove. STAY TUNED!

More HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE, and HERE.

BERNARD LEWIS ON SCOWCROFT

A few weeks ago, THE NEW YORKER did a pice on uber "realist" and ultimate "status quoist" Brent Scowcroft. It was an exercise in hagiography about Scowcroft. Scowcroft was in the past a foe of the liberals, but now - because he opposes Bush - he's the new liberal foreign policy icon. Regardless, he is totlally UNWORTHY of even minor respect let alone hagiography. In fact, Scowcroft is and always has been a worthless piece of crap, wrong on just about EVERYTHING and responsible for some of the WORST foreign policy decisions in our nation's history. Scowcroft is surpassed in this regard only by his new buddy Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski - that piece of crap who was Carter's foreign policy advisor!

Scowcroft gave us the unfinished Gulf War, and allowed the atrocities of Tienamen Square to go completely unanswered, and he allowed Saddam to commit genocide against the Shias and the Kurds. I'd go on, but KRAUTHAMMER DEMOLISHED HIM and the idiotic piece about him in the NEW YORKER already. I can add ONLY THIS: what the esteemed Arabic scholar Bernard Lewis (Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University) wrote to THE NEW YORKER - in response to a slur which Scowcroft directed at him:

In Jeffrey Goldberg's article... Scowcroft quotes me as saying," I believe that one of the things you've got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power." Scowcroft is entitled to disagree with me - I would be surprised if he did not. But he should disagree with what I really think and say. Yes, I do think that Arabs respect power, as most people do, and that they despise meek acquiescence in tyranny and aggression. But the pseudo-quotation he used is a grotesque caricature, equally alien to me in language and content. In its place, let me offer a quotation from the great Arabic thinker and writer Ibn Hazm, who died in 1064: "He who treats friend and foe alike will only arouse distaste for his friendship and contempt for his emnity."

The Dem/Left should listen to these words carefully: they advise against moral relativism and false equivalencies - which are the hallmak of post-modern Leftism. Moral clarity is an important part of the arsenal of democracy. It strengthens out resolve and sends the correct signal to our enemies.

Meanwhile, the Dem/Left sends the opposite signal, one of vacillation and self-doubt, of nuances which become recipes for inaction and self-flagellation. And we know where that leads: to withdrawal and abandonment of our principles and our allies - as in the case of Souht Vietnam and the Contras.

If we adhere to our principles - and help our allies and attack our enemies, as Ibn Hazm proffered - WW4 will be won with fewer casualties and at lower cost.

PARIS INTIFADA: ARE THE PERPS IN GANGS OR IN CELLS?

GANGS OR CELLS? This question makes a distinction without a difference - because in reality, islamothugs ARE no different than Jihadoterrorists; in fact, they are IDENTICAL. They're ALL gangsters.

Arafat - THE ULTIMATE ISLAMOTERRORIST - was thug, a murderer, and an extortionist; in other words, he was a gangster - a grandiose Arab Capone. A gangster who turned Gaza and the West Bank (which were from 1968-1992 one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with per capita GDP rising every year!) into Arafatistan - an evermore impoverished feifdom absolutely rife with corruption.

Arafat used violence to intimidate EVERYONE HE COULD: Israelis of the Left; Euroweenies, and his fellow Arabs. The intifdada he ordered was carried out by his gangs - Fatah and al Aksa, and by MANY other gangs - PFLP, IJ, and HAMAS, etc. These gangs included many teens who loved to throw stones and molotov cocktails, - and who could be coerced into becoming suicide murderers, too. And these gangs were NOT under a single unified formal, top-down centrally directed organization with a single rigid ideology; just the general aegis of islamogangsterism.

The ONLY difference between Arafat's thug-filled gangs and those in Paris are the external trappings. Their goals are the same: carving out an islamofascist fiefdom by using TERROR, by using violence and the threats of against innocent civilians. Arafat wanted to carve his feifdom out of Israel. The thugs in Paris want to carve their feifdom out of Paris.

The Paris intifada is as much an intifada as Arafat's gangs were gangs.

AS I PREDICTED: JIHADOTERROR STRIKES IN JORDAN

On September 25th, I predicted that the jihadoterrorists would SOON try to expand their attacks into Jordan. I said this because it is my belief that as we put more pressure on Zarqawi -- and Assad & Iran: THE TWO MAIN NATIONAL BACKERS OF JIHADOTERROR -- that they would get their jihadoproxies to try to widen the "battlefield" from the Sunni sections of Iraq and eastern/southeastern Afghanistan to Jordan and Israel.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT'S HAPPENING (hat tip NRO/THE CORNER):

AP: Explosions Hit Hotels in Jordan; 7 Dead -- Nov 09 -- AMMAN, Jordan

Explosions rocked two hotels in the Jordanian capital late Wednesday, killing at least seven people and sending ambulances screaming across downtown. The cause of the explosions was unclear. The first bomb, at 8:50 local time (1:50 p.m. EST), struck the Grand Hyatt, completely shattering the stone entrance. An AP reporter saw at least seven bodies removed from the hotel, and many more wounded carried out on stretchers. Police said a second explosion hit a wedding hall at the nearby Radisson SAS hotel, and there were believed to be casualties. Both hotels, in the commercial Jebel Amman district, are frequented by American and European businessmen and diplomats.

The ball is in King Abdullah's court. He must respond ruthlessly, or risk being overthrown by the jihadoterrorists - just like his father nearly was in "Black September."

MORE HERE. More HERE. MORE HERE.
More HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

STAY TUNED... especially to Assad's RARE scheduled live television address to his nation on Thursday night...

PARIS INTIFADA DAY 14: ISLAMOTHUGS WIN; FRENCH REACTION TO INTIFADA EPITOMIZES DHIMMITUDE

In response to the intifada, de Villepin proposes to pay money to the rioters -- not their victims:

PARIS (AFX) - Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin unveiled a raft of social and economic measures designed to improve conditions in France's tough, low-income neighbourhoods that have spawned unrest raging across the country. ... [including but not limited to]

- 20,000 job contracts with local government bodies or associations paid a minimum wage would be reserved for those in the suburbs struggling to find work; an extra 100 million euros (120 million dollars) for associations that work in the neighbourhoods; 5,000 more teaching assistant posts in the 1,200 schools in districts designated as troublespots; the creation of 15 more special economic zones that provide tax breaks to companies that set up inside them as an incentive to boost local employment.

If this action by Chirac and Villepin is not dhimmitude, then what is?

SARKOZY ON THE OTHER HAND GETS IT:

AFX News Limited: France's Sarkozy orders deportation of non-French rioters

PARIS (AFX) - Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy today issued orders for non-French rioters convicted in the wave of urban violence to be deported -- a measure directed at youths of Arab and African background living in the high-immigrant neighbourhoods involved in the unrest.

Sarkozy told prefects, or regional governors, to apply the order to foreigners including those who have valid French residency visas.

CHIRAC MUST RESIGN. VILLEPIN MUST RESIGN.SARKOZY RULES!

More on the deportation order HERE.

SYRIAN CRISIS COMING TO A HEAD; ASSAD TO ADDRESS NATION ON THURSDAY

AP:

Syrian president to deliver key speech -- Syrian President Bashar Assad will deliver a "political speech" Thursday touching on current political issues and the internal situation, the official news agency reported in a rare advance announcement of a presidential speech

XINHUA:

According to the report, Assad's speech is expected to be aired live by state-run television, which "will tackle current affairs and political issues and aspects of the internal situation". The last public speech Assad delivered was in March in the People's Assembly (parliament), during which he declared the withdrawal of Syrian troops from neighboring Lebanon among widespread anti-Syrian protests there and growing international pressure sparked by Hariri's killing.

Damascus dived into another round of mounting international pressure following a report by Chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis on Oct. 20, which said there was "converging evidence" of Syrian and Lebanese involvement in the killing of Hariri in a car bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14. Syria has denied any involvement and dismissed the report as politically motivated, but it has promised to cooperate with the international investigation. The UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1636 on Oct. 31, demanding Syria cooperate fully with the UN probe in Hariri's killing, or face possible "further action".

AP:

Insurgent Entry Point From Syria Taken By U.S., Iraqi Forces -- BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi forces say they've secured a strategically important town on the border with Syria after four days of fighting.

These news items reveal what's behind the move by Assad: The retreat of Syria from Lebanon; the UNSCR demanding that Assad's regime cooperate with the Hariri investigation, and the fighting near ther Syrian border act as a hammer and anvil - and in between is Assad. SMASH! Will Assad abdicate? I doubt it. But something big will be announced. STAY TUNED!

LONDON POLICE CHIEF STEPS UP TERROR WARNING

BBC:

"Met chief steps up terror warning -- Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner. The UK's most senior police chief said there was "chilling" evidence of new terrorist plots..."

SCOTSMAN:

[Sir Ian BlaIr:] "I have never seen anything like what's happening at the moment. There are people out there in the UK plotting mass murder without warning." ... "I do believe the state has a duty to its citizens to give the greatest level of protection it can." ... "This is different. It is chilling and what we are saying is we are very, very worried and alarmed about it..."

A major attack was just foiled in Australia. There is a WIDESPREAD intifada throughout France. And now this. I don't think all this was MERELY intended to coincide - more or less - with Ramadan and Eid. I think that as the Iraqi election gets closer, and as we put MORE AND MORE pressure on Syria - and ESPECIALLY as we put more pressure on Iran - that the jihadoterrorist threat INCREASES. WHY?! We are cornering the enemy and they know it, and they are getting more desperate.

CIA REFERS "BLACK PRISON" LEAK TO DOJ

The WASHPOST's frontpage LEAK of the existence of top secret extra-national CIA detention centers has been officially referred to the DOJ for investigation - BY THE CIA. More HERE. (Earlier in the day GOP Congressional leaders announced that they were going to launch a probe themselves.) [More here and HERE.]

PLAMEGATE REDUX. YUCH. Like Plamegate, this info was leaked to HURT BUSH AND OUR EFFORTS TO WIN WW4.

According to REUTERS/ABC, TRENT LOTT said the leaker was a GOP SENATOR! (Or someone on his staff) [More HERE.]

ANY GUESSES? Could it be a certain Senator who wants to pass an inane anti-torture amendment/bill with his name on it? There IS a connection between the common perceptions about torture and about "Black Prisons" - and it is a fact that the Veep has specifically lobbied Congressman NOT to pass the McCain amendment UNLESS it EXEMPTS THE CIA. McCain might have believed that LEAKING THE SECRET could've helped advance his bill. AFTER ALL, THE AMENDMENT'S/BILL'S passage was CO-INCIDENTAL WIT THE LEAK.

If it wasn't McCain - or someone in his office, it might have been an ally of his - on EITHER aisle. Senator DICK "Gitmo = Gulag" Durbin, perhaps. He's my bet if it turns out to be a Donk.

SO WHODUNNIT? Leave your guess in the comments.

UPDATE: fallout in Europe: Romanian president denies reports; EU to investigate. Sheesh: this leak is already damaging our intel gathering efforts and damaging KEY ALLIANCES. Just what the enemy wants. Whoever leaked this info is a traitor guilty of TREASON.

WHAT CHIRAC MUST DO TO SAVE FRANCE

RESIGN. SERIOUSLY. IMMEDIATELY.

Here's what solidified this in my mind: a great post by PUBLIUS PUNDIT. PP feels that French government INACTION might lead to a far-right backlash which would engulf France in a crude xenophobic crackdown - AND that this might prevent them from making REAL REFORM. Publus Pundit wrote:

"Even more possible than that, this crisis will force the moderate center-right, which has shown itself now to be entirely too weak, to move farther to the right, therefore culminating in a greater consensus on simply cracking down on the immigrant population instead of addressing the the fundamental problem of the lack of opportunity created by the French social model."

This is a straw man. WHY!? Because Sarkozy GETS IT. He can capture the votes of the dismayed and fed up French and prevent Le Pen's NF from gaining election. And Sarkozy WOULD adddress the fundamentals. Sarkozy has called for France using the Anglo-American economic/tax model.

The "primary" between Sarkozy and Villepin will decide the next presidential race. The Left is completely discredited and unimportant - in disarray and IRRELEVANT. If the Right nominates Villepin, then Le Pen's NF might win the presidency and the PM. That might take France down too extreme a path - as Publius Pundit warns. BUT, if the Right nominates Sarkozy, then he will win HANDILY - with a huge mandate. And he will be able to transform France.

The REAL PROBLEM IS: what happens between now and 2007, REPEAT 2007! THAT'S when the race is SCHEDULED to happen. That's TOO FAR IN THE FUTURE. FRANCE NEEDS CHANGE NOW.

What France DESPERATELY NEEDS... IS... FOR CHIRAC TO RESIGN!

Chirac has been an abysmal failure. De Gaulle resigned. For the Republique. Chirac should do the same. AT ONCE. And call immediate elections. Then Sarkozy can be elected and make a COUP DE TORCHON - a clean slate.

C'mon Jacques baby: take one for the team!

ANCHORESS EMAIL FROM PARISTAN: "Pray for us in France."

THE ANCHORESS has a must read post - and email from one of her readers in France. GO THERE AND READ IT!

PARIS INTIFADA - DAY 13: MSM DENIAL CONTINUES DESPITE PROOF THAT ISLAMISM IS CENTRAL TO THE FRENCH INSURGENCY

(1) MORE DENIAL/MSNBC/FINANCIAL TIMES: By Roula Khalaf and Martin Arnold -

Despite attempts by some French government officials to play up the Muslim background of many of the youth rioting during the past two weeks, community leaders and analysts say the troubles should not be confused with a crisis of religious identity. "These events and these actions did not come out of mosques," says Lhaj Thami Breze, chairman of the Union of French Islamic Organisations, a group that has links with the Muslim Brotherhood, the international Islamist movement. ... Linking the unrest to a potentially intensifying terrorist threat, as some officials have sought to do in recent days, thus appears to be an exaggeration. ... "But this isn't the Palestinian intifada, there's no Middle Eastern connotation to the riots. The rioters aren't defining an identity, except that of their neighborhoods," he says. "It's a revolt of youth, of young men, an anti-police and anti-society movement, in a very French tradition of anarchism," argues Olivier Roy, French expert on Islamist groups. "It's an expression of a youth sub-culture, not tied to Islam. And not all the rioters are Muslims." ... "Many Muslims are surprised and regret that ...some Muslim organisations such as the UFIO think they can invoke God's name in a call for calm," said Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris and head of the Muslim Council, which is close to the government.

D'ya think that the denial has ANYTHING to do with the one of the reporter's ethnicity and their sourcing!? DUH.

(2) MORE PROOF/NZ HERALD: Leading Arab cleric calls for calm in France

DOHA - Influential Muslim cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi has called for calm in French riots led by disaffected immigrants, many of them Muslims of North African origin. Qaradawi, dean of an Islamic college in Qatar known to millions of Arabic speakers through a weekly show on the Al Jazeera television, also called on the French government to address the root causes of the violence. "As Arabs and Muslims we wish for security, safety and peace for France and its friendly people, not least because France has an attitude towards Arab and Islamic issues which is just and free from American domination," the agency quoted him as saying late on Monday. "He (Qaradawi) called on Muslim religious and political leaders in France to intensify their efforts and their calls for calm," the agency said. ... Qaradawi often addresses the situation of Muslim communities living in Western countries in his Al Jazeera appearances. Though seen as a moderate in the Arab world, pro-Israeli groups in the West have attacked him for backing Palestinian suicide bombings and attacks on Israeli civilian targets.

SO NOW TELL ME "MSM GENIUSES": Why for the effin' love of life would a goshdarn bigshot mullah from the "banlieues of Arabia" (Qatar) open his mouth to ask for calm if the perps were NOT mostly Muslim and mostly the kind of Muslims who would respond to a Qatari mullahs appeal!? Or is this mullah directing his appeal to the CATHOLIC rioters!?

Sheesh.

BESIDES (as Brit Hume pointed out last night on FOX - [PARAPHRASING!]): Wouldn't these islamothugs have a better chance at getting jobs in France if they went to school instead of dropping out, and if they chose to assimilate instead of choosing to go nativistic!? And who's to blame for that? Can anyone reasonably blame the French government because a sub-group has refused for 20 years to dilligently attempt to assimiliate and to attempt to better their own friggin' lives, and who have instead chosen a life of religious fanaticism, crime and subversiveness?

THE PARIS INTIFADA CRISIS: CONTINENTAL EUROPEANS HAVE A CHOICE: JOIN THE COUNTER-ATTACK AGAINST JIHADISM OR CAVE-INTO MORE APPEASEMENT

There's a MUST READ POST over at JIHAD WATCH: an article on the Paris Intifada by Daniel Pipes - and a must read comment there, too. Here's the comment - by ELIYAHU:

There is a solution for the Paristinian uprising: Give them a state! After all, if it's good for Israel, then why not for France?

Seriously, it seems that everyone has forgotten that the major, mob-scale anti-social violence of Arab/Muslim youth in France started back in 2000 with attacks on Jews. These attacks on Jews were encouraged by the French media [TV, press, radio]--as well as by some politicians-- that at that time were presenting a very one-sided, pro-Arab view of events in Israel, going so far as to collaborate in the invention of the alleged death of an Arab boy, Muhammad al-Dura at the hands of Israeli troops. One year ago, Pres. Chirac fawned over yasser arafat, a notorious murderer of Jews.

For a long time, this anti-Jewish violence was overlooked or minimized by official France. Now the violence is striking at the French state itself, at French sovereignty in France. It was said years ago that outbursts of barbarism and brutality start by attacking Jews, then move on to others. This was put in another way by saying that Jews are like the canary in the coal mine. The canary is affected by the fumes before the miners are, hence, the canary is their early warning system. But France didn't learn that.

Now, France should be encouraged to quell the violence which is so often falsely interpreted by the media. BBC world affairs editor, John Simpson, went so far as to incite violence against France in an editorial on the bbc website.

http://telchaination.blogspot.com/2005/11/bbcs-anti-french-bias.html

This mad statement by Simpson should not merely be criticized but condemned. The man ought to be dismissed, if only in the name of EU solidarity. The madness of the bbc is fully the equal of anything on France2.

As long as I'm posting comments by blog readers of other blogs, I'd might as well post one from one of my readers, Gandalin:

I saw the videotape to which Reliapundit refers, and the rioters are clearly shouting "Allahu Akbar!" I've read their comments to the press, and on internet pages, in which they proclaim that "this" is their territory. I'm not sure if "this" means the immigrant zone, or the whole of Europe.

It is I think clear, whether we like or not, that whatever its character during the first night or two of violence in Clichy, the riots that now involve all of metropolitain France are taking on the character of jihad -- a struggle of Muslims against non-Muslims, in which an appeal is made to Divine right.

I don't claim that 100% of the rioters are jihadists or even Muslims. Undoubtedly, non-Muslims and non-jihadists are being swept up in the rioting, perhaps merely from excitement and frustration, but perhaps also out of a desire to fit in with their surroundings. But I think that the "vanguard" of the rioters, if you will permit me to use a Leninist phrase, is composed of committed jihadists. And they are the ones who seem to be giving leadership to the mobs.

To say that jihad is "against America" and that the anti-American French should therefore expect to be spared, is I think missing the point as to the significance of jihad. Jihad didn't begin in 2005, or 2003, or 2001, or even 1776. The jihad began 1300 years ago. Jihad raids into France began in the eighth century, I think, and were not even finally ended by Charles Martel's victory at Poitiers. The fight of the Algerians against the French in the 1830s had the character of a jihad. Abd el Kader was unless I am mistaken a Sufi religoious leader as well as a military commander.

By the way, France conquered most of North Africa in the 19th century, making colonies or protectorates of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Mali. And after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, France assumed hegemony over Syria and Lebanon. France has a long history of intervening in Middle Eastern affairs.

Since 1970 or so, the French government decided to throw its lot in with the Arab countries, and has pursued a pro-Arab policy. This policy has not helped them. Their failure to join the US and the UK in overthrowing Saddam Hussein was not greeted with gratitude in the Arab world, but seen as a weak willingness to accept their proper role as dhimmis. Part of the reason the ritoing is os widespread is that the rioters do not fear the French police or the French state. The rioters feel that they have already won. If they can force Chirac to fire Sarkozy, something that Chirac would probably like to do anyway, they will have won a significant battle. Imagine that -- they will have shown that the position is not filled by elections in France, but by the militant actions of the mob. Of the jihadist mob, as it happens. They will prove to themselves, and to the rest of the militant, jihadist world, that France is at their mercy.

Certainly the jihadists do NOT represent all Muslims. In Algeria, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat has been conducting a war against the Algerian government in which over 100,000 people, perhaps as many as 200,000 people have been killed. The Algerian jihadists have beheaded entire villages.

And they just recently proclaimed that France was their "enemy number one." Undoubtedly they have sympathizers and supporters, perhaps even hardened cadres, in the "hexagone" as well.

That the riots have been sustained for 12 nights is remarkable. That the riots have spread to over 300 French communities is remarkable. This may very well be a critical turning point. Nothing we have seen to date suggests that the French government is remotely prepared, capable, or willing to confront the problem of a widespread jihadist revolt. If that's the direction in which this phenomenon grows, you are going to be very surprised by what you see.

Contnental Europe has long been a front in WW4, maybe now they will act as if they know it - and FIGHT BACK WITH ALL THEY'VE GOT.

BIGGEST INTIFADA CASUALTY: THE EU IS DEAD

First the EU failed to ratify a constitution. Second, after weeks and weeks, the Germans have failed to form a new government. Now, France is in flames and its government seems incapable of mounting any meaningful response. YES: the "Old Orders" in France and Germany are in tatters - and France and Germany were the heart of the Old EU. They led the EU - but now: NONE of the other EU nations will give a hoot what France and Germany (the two largest economies in the EU) have to say.

YUP: These three events have killed the EU. The EU is DEAD.

SO: WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

Germany can and MUST form a new solidly right-of-center government, and the sooner the better. France must do the same ASAP, too! But Chirac's term goes until 2007, and Germany is dithering, seemingly unable to form any coalition government after a tight election.

HOW IS THIS TO BE DONE?

To best accomplish new leadership for the heart of continental Europe, Germany and France should call elections ASAP: France could do this if Chirac resigned. He should; he's been an abysmal failure. Germany could do this if the major parties agree that no one can form a government - which seems obvious; (BTW: this is due to the squabbles on the vestigial Left!).

Elections held in the current atmosphere (which has exposed the utter bankruptcy of decades of well-intentioned but totally misguided socialist policies), right-of-center parties would do better than ever. This turnover will be good for Europe: the continent has needed a Thatcherian Revolution for a long long time.

After this turnover, the other nations of the EU WILL pay attention to what France and Germany have to say, and with their right-of-center leadeship a NEW EU - based on Thatcherian priciples, and led by Blair, Merkel, and Sarkozy - would come into being! This new EU might be capable of PASSING a constitution, and OF FIGHTING ISLAMISM - AT HOME AND ABROAD.

[IRONIC ASIDE: Both Bush nemeses - Schroeder and Chirac - are, for all intents and purposes, KAPUT! Good riddance.]

ANOTHER GAZA/PARIS CONVERGENCE

TARANTO/BOTW:

When They Get Done, Gaza Will Be as Peaceful as Paris:

"The EU plans to announce on Monday that it will launch a three-year mission, starting January 1, to help the Palestinians build up a credible police force, EU officials said."--Jerusalem Post, Nov. 6

As the poet once said: "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?"

PARIS INTIFADA - DAY 12: SYNAGOGUES TORCHED; MUSLIM OWNED BUSINESSES SPARED; MSM - (AND CHIRAC/VILLEPIN) - IN DENIAL

(1) SYNAGOGUES TORCHED - from JIHAD WATCH/Ynet (hat tip CUANAS):

Arsonists threw at least two Molotov cocktails at synagogues in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine and Garges, leaving worshippers unhurt. Elsewhere, near the synagogue of Stains about 40 rioters confronted police forces who were braced for an attack.... Jacki Brami, Garges’s rabbi, and his sons have been, "as usual", insulted, according to the anti-Semitism vigilance bureau ... “It’s business as usual,” Samy Ghozlan, head of the anti-Semitism vigilance bureau told EJP. “These communities are used to these daily assaults. It’s worrisome, but we fear the worst is still to come.”

(2) MUSLIM BUSINESSES SPARED - JIHAD WATCH/Telegraph (hat tip CUANAS):

But - and this is the crucial difference between the different generations of rioters - most of those living in the French ghettoes are Muslims and have grown up during a period of Islamic radicalisation. Many of the youths hurling petrol bombs on Parisian estates look up to a slightly older group of mosque stalwarts. These men are capable of being forces for both good and mischief; there have been examples from the past fortnight of situations calmed, but also of attackers acting under their direction, so that Muslim-owned businesses, a halal butcher's shop and a kebab joint, for example, are spared

These articles further PROVE that this is an islamicst intifada.

(3) IMPORTANTLY: I just did a word search at BBC, on synagogue, and it turned up ZERO relevant responses. DITTO GOOGLE NEWS and DITTO THE NYTIMES and DITTO NEWSNOW.CO.UK (another news search engine). This further proves a deliberate attempt to censor the truth by the MSM.

(4) ALSO: The recent PIRATE ATTACK on the cruise ship off the coast of Somalia... NOT ONE MSM outlet said that these pirates are Muslim. (In general they avoid this truth.) Well: piracy has long been a Muslim specialty - REMEMBER THE BARBARY COAST, ANYONE?!

WHY DOES THE MSM DO THIS? For the same reason that Chirac and Villepin think that throwing more money at the islamothugs will work: The MSM - (and France and the Left) - are captives of multiculturalism; therefore they deny that we are fighting another culture, one which has declared a religious war against us - and all the other "non-believers."

No matter what we say or don't say, no matter what we do, or don't do, because our enemies have initiated - and are waging - a religous war, IT IS ONE - whether we like it or not.

The sooner we accept that and target the REAL enemy, the sooner we will win.

Bush gets this. In his last big speech on the wear he used the term islamofascist. When Chirac does he will have become a true ally. Until then he - and his cronies - are nothing more than cowardly appeasing surrender monkies. Whether they eat cheese or not.

PARIS INTIFADA - DAY 11: SPREADS TO GERMANY; CLAIMS FIRST FATALITY --- AND PROOF OF THE ISLAMIST CONNECTION!

EXPRESSINDIA: Berlin, November 7: Five cars were set alight in a working-class area of the German capital Berlin, with police saying it was a possible attempt to copy the violence currently sweeping French cities.

BBC: At least 1,400 vehicles have been burnt out and 395 people arrested in France's latest rioting, while the unrest has apparently claimed its first fatality. Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, who fell into a coma after being beaten by a hooded man last week, has died. The announcement followed the worst night of violence since the unrest began 11 days ago.

And then there's this brilliant post - with links - over at CAPT'S QUARTERS:

American and French media sources warned of coordinated Islamist action against France in the weeks before the riot. Agence France Presse even had a quote from the maligned Nicolas Sarkozy noting the imminent nature of the threat in its 9/27 dispatch:

An Algerian Islamist organisation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), has issued a call for action against France which it describes as "enemy number one", intelligence officials said Tuesday.

"The only way to teach France to behave is jihad and the Islamic martyr," the group's leader Abu Mossab Abdelwadoud, also own as Abdelmalek Dourkdal, was quoted as saying in an Internet message earlier this month.

"France is our enemy number one, the enemy of our religion, the enemy of our community," he was quoted as saying. ... Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that the risk of terrorist attack in France is "at a very high level... There are cells operating on our territory."

The French government took that warning seriously enough to make a sweep of Paris for GSPC operatives. It didn't make a dent, however, according to the Washington Post. On October 19th, John Ward Anderson reported to American readers that the Islamists had recruited French citizens for Middle East training in jihad, with the intention of having them initiate warfare within France:

French police investigating plans by a group of Islamic extremists to attack targets in Paris discovered last month that the group was recruiting French citizens to train in the Middle East and return home to carry out terrorist attacks, sources familiar with the investigation said.

One French official said the extremists were using a virtual "underground railroad" through Syria to spirit European and Middle Eastern citizens into and out of Iraq. A senior French law enforcement official, who declined to be quoted by name because he was speaking about classified information, said French citizens had undergone terrorist training at camps in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

"There's always been an enormous jihad zone to train people to fight in their country of origin," the official said. "We saw it Afghanistan, in Bosnia, in Kosovo, and now we're seeing it in Iraq."

That prelude certainly seems more than a mere coincidence to me. Within six weeks of the GSPC announcement, we see a massive and coordinated uprising originating from the ghettoes in which Algerian and other Muslim refugees and their families live. The "riots' have sophisticated coordination between cell leaders, using the Internet and instant messaging as well as cell phones -- an odd tool for a spontaneous demonstration where one neighborhood would hardly have those phone numbers at the ready. Those who say this unrest is unrelated to Islamism are wrong. Islamism is the ideological core fueling it - just as Leftism was in the late 1960's.

RELIAPUNDIT: Any response which doesn't address the islamofascist foundation of the insurrection is bound to fail.

More HERE. And HERE.