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November 14, 2005
Good News From France
Posted by Dave Blount at November 14, 2005 9:19 PM
Muslim rioters set fire to only 284 vehicles in France last night. One of them was set ablaze after being rammed through the front of a primary school. Still, this is a big improvement over the four-digit nightly totals we were seeing last week.
Chirac's take-charge attitude must be having an effect. AP reports:
President Jacques Chirac said Monday that more than two weeks of violence in the poor suburbs of France is the sign of a "profound malaise" and he ordered new measures to reach out to troubled youths and fight the discrimination believed to be at the root of it.
Malaise. Now where have I heard that word before?
Congrats, Chirac. You've become the French Jimmy Carter. Now there is nothing to fear, because you have reached the bottom and cannot sink any lower. Plus, your Nobel Prize is assured.
You have to admire the way Chirac takes the bull by the horns and addresses the cause of the violence: "discrimination." Fortunately this is nothing that throwing money and favors at the rioters in an attempt to appease them won't cure — or at least, that's what some would like to think. I wonder if it was discrimination against Germans that caused the Nazis to invade.
There are a few in France who would like to get tough. Sarkozy has even suggested deporting foreigners who take part in the riots. But Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy (no I didn't make up that name) was quick to point out that this could only be applied to illegal immigrants.
Hat tip: Wiggins
