Let's get this straight

Let's get this straight, we are seeing the fruits of more than 50 years of French foreign and domestic policy. Ever wonder why the French were (and are) so craven when it comes to appeasement of the Arab world? Voila.

But let us not forget that France has always prided itself as the pro-Arab European power. The Arab world was a primary market for French goods, and French was always the second language among the Arab elite. Nouveau riche Arabs went to London. The old elite always had the Cote d'Azur and Paris. And the Arabs always bought French arms and weapons. Fat lot of good that did for Saddam.

Back to the plot: we have a zillion out of work Arabs (they might have French passports, but let's not mistake the heritage) who are also unemployable. Anecdotal evidence has the unemployment rate among the muslim youth of the French ghettos at over 80% (between 18 and 30 years of age). Not the paltry 30% that the French government like to cite as the figure for poor youth in France: it is more convenient to lump them all together rather than cite the reality that faces a muslim teen in France. They are unemployable, poorly educated as compared to their ethnic French counterparts, and once employed, they are not easy to fire due to the ludicrous effect of French employment restrictions. So no employer is willing to take the risk of hiring them. Then there is also a very real sense of prejudice and racism in France. Was not the wife of the Prime Minister overheard to be complaining about those "troublesome Jews" referring to Israel? But at least the Jews are in Israel, the Pied Noir are on their doorstep. Dark, speaking a different language, defiant in their reglious affiliations ... better to ignore or keep cooped up in Saint Denis or Clichy. Good forbid they should sully Neuilly or the 16th!!!

So the youth (European newspapers have an inverted prejudice -- they cannot label them as muslim youth, even though overwhelmingly they are) rampage to protest their lot in life. Use SMS to text/flash the next site of an attack, ride their motos and cars (paid for with the taxes forked over to keep them quiet) to the designated target and "bombs away." But be careful not to burn down muslim-owned businesses. Burn some more cars, "yes, that is what you get for ignoring us." We will burn your symbols of Western Imperialism and our enslavement.... Never mind that the government stipend that houses and feeds them is far better than the destitute misery that they would endure in their homeland of origin. Never mind that if they were back in Algeria or Morocco, the local governments would simply shoot them: in Islamic law, they would risk far worse than arrest and detention at the Sante prison. But I digress....

France is witnessing its very own Intifada. It is the opening shots of what I will dub the "Great Struggle to Come." Europe has a demographic problem: in a few short years, maybe 20 maybe 40, many European countries will be in a position that Islam will be the dominant religion. Even absolute majority of the population. Stick that in your eye, Pierre. Damn. Worried about Iran getting the bomb? Within two generations (short ones, the Muslim sector breeds fast and often), Islam will have "la bombe." And an aircraft carrier, a few very good nuclear submarines, some excellent passenger aircraft and a "force de frappe." If that population is radicalized, we may yet see a last battle on the fields of Europe.

And of course, Europe is far too tolerant to ever get serious about rooting out sectarian violence. If you can't even label the perps of the recent wave of arson for what they are, how can you get serious about addressing the problem? And what can you do anyway? Deport them? They're French now. A great many born and bred in France. Their parents legal immigrants who came to work in the factories that supported the lavish socialist lifestyle that the French have come to expect. And have derided the US is not following -- the evils of US style capitalism. Yup. But we don't need a 35 hour week to ensure some semblance of reasonable unemployment levels.

I reckon that things will gradually simmer down as Winter set in, then, in the great French tradition of urban unrest, the Spring will be showtime. By then the young radicals (Lenin's useful idiots, adapted to the needs of the Imams) will have achieved a greater sense of coordination and prupose. I will not be sorry to be elsewhere.

Before you take me as a bigot, I have lived in Paris (three years), learned Arabic, worked in the Middle East and count many Arabs as close and dear friends. I am very sympathetic to the plight of Arabs across the Sharq'il Awsat. But I am a foe of jihadis and their corrupt perversion of the culture. Terrorism and destruction is never the way.

I must have one more snigger about the effect that the socialist safety net may have had in creating this nightmare: you can't fire someone (you would then be a capitalist oppressor or an American), so just in case, you don't hire anybody in the first place and make your current employees do overtime. Then the government comes along and says that you must only work 35 hours per week, so you have to hire more people to meet production goals. Your choice as an employer? Only hire those that you are absolutely sure are the best educated, job-portable, hardworking (as possible at any rate after the vin rouge at lunch), and resemble you and your ethics. That pretty much cuts out the marginalized sector of society completely. Far from enforcing integration, socialism has spawned a massive, restive underclass which is easily identifiable and prone to insularism in the first place. After all, we are the infidel.

Tomorrow, let's talk about torture and detention.