So how long has France been burning?

I don't know what took them so long. The longer they allowed the streets to be taken over the more they are encouraging future problems. A living rock thrower teen today will be a gun toting man tomorrow and the boy who watches both will be the future bomber.

 

I have taken notice of the France thing and I am officially worried.

 

Right. Problem is, this emergency law (that the curfews etc. are based on) was made 50 years ago, to fight the independence movement in Algeria, and has hardly ever been applied since then. From what I have read, one of the concerns was that, had it been used at a very early stage now, the reaction among people from Northern Africa living in these suburbs would have been something like "they used that law against our fathers, and now they are using it against us".

That could have caused some currently peaceful immigrants to join the rioters. Now this "risk" is still there, but as the situation went out of control to such a degree, there were hardly any other short term options left ...

Christian

 

We finished a curfew here in Collier county a week or so ago. It was put into effect a day before hurricane Wilma hit and stayed in effect during the evenings for about a week or so. I live in a "conservative area" of Florida that also has alot of liberial views on various subjects based upon the schools and helping the needy, etc. However, no one thought a think about the curfew for it was needed to ensure safety for so many reasons. We seem to have a curfew once a year with the hurricane blowing by and all and it is no biggie. If people buy into the system and understand the system and are the system then the system works.

 

No easy solution for France. No hard solution for France.

 

There is one hard solution to the problem they turn the Legion Loose

De Orc

 

Froggies do things differently that's for sure. Takes a while to get wound and headed in the right direction I guess.

Bone

 

By popular request:

"Be aware that the French government announced yesterday that it has raised it's terror alert level from Run to Hide. The only two higher levels in France are Surrender and Collaborate.

The rise was precipitated by a recent fire which destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing their military."

 

LOL, hey Midas wasn't the French Royal flag white?

Over two weeks to call for a curfew and when I read about it it was limited at that. No teens allowed on the street without their parents. Geeze, down here no one was allowed period, end of subject. Nurses slept in hospitals until the curfew was relaxed to allow for factors like that but it was still a curfew and we all have guns here yet none of them were shot in anger. I am afraid that the best of France was killed off with Napoleon and WWI and what was left to breed for later generations were the run and hides.

Last I look, France said proudly that less cars were burning but they did lose two large shopping centers and oh, a subway station was firebombed but less cars were burning!

 

Paris riots

Hello
Even i have not followed it very well but i think it is going on since a week
And i know that the riots are going on in Paris due to some political reason but i dont know what it is
Will have to read a little bit about it and i hope it stops soon

 

Ahhhhh Midas. Did my heart good to read those fine words again!! Good thing the croissant factory wasn't hit, they will need them for fund-raisers to help rebuild.

 

Fewer vehicles being burned each night. They are getting it under control? Hmmmm. I am guessing that the French must be running out of fuel, either that or cars. You know, the law of diminishing returns.

Maybe the punks and creeps are only torching ugly cars, and they can't find anymore Renaults. Do they still make them? Citrons?

 

Now that is a thought that has not been presented by anyone else but quickdog that I could speak of. "If the riots are being kept on a car burning scorecard and the cars are being burnt in the same neighborhoods, wouldn't they have less cars to burn after awhile?

This is a better place to get the news from then CNN anyway, at least people think here.

 

Wow. Thanks Andy. What about the corollary theory about burning ugly cars? Maybe Paris and these other European towns are competing with various urban beautification projects. You know, "Burn the Blight".

 

Quickdog it just amazes me how the west makes excuses for the crimes done against it. Maybe the west got to weak from living good for the past 40 or so years and the fat are often consumed by the skinny.

I wonder how many non-muslim cars were burned vs muslim cars in these neighborhoods.
Meanwhile taken from the news is the following:
Overnight, vandalism at two power stations caused blackouts in parts of Lyon, France's second-largest city, police said.
"Vandals set 11 cars ablaze and rammed a burning car into a primary school in the southern city of Toulouse, damaging its entrance, police said. Another school was set on fire in the eastern city of Belfort."
Now why would they be burning schools? I think we know that reason even if the left refuses to open their eyes to it and this was in the bottom of an article that was stating that the riots were over. Blackouts, ramming burning cars into schools. If the French don't get serious then they are going to have Beruits happening all over there nation 10 years from now.

 

As with every "news worthy" event reported in the US Media, I always have to wonder how much is truth and how much is sensationalist hyped designed for the sole purpose of selling newspapers and ad spots? Time and time again, I have seen first hand gross exagerations of the truth. The scariest was a major news station advertising "We not only bring you the news, we tell you what it means." Any wonder why I have a fundamental distrust of the media.

It is generally true in the world that the peoples of any nation are not bad or evil. Most in fact are kind, polite and more welcoming that folks here in the US. However, things change dramatically as soon as government and religion get involved.

I have seen it asked in this thread more than once, "Why the animosity toward the French?" Again, government and business policies step up to the plate. For decades it is extrodinarily difficult for US businesses to set up shop in France. Time and time again, the French make it needlessly difficult, but cry if the same prejudice is excercised on French buisnesses in the US. Need an example, research how long it took Compaq to get a footprint in France. Not alot of trust building in those actions.

The recent gulf war is another inflamitory agent. The French (government) strongly opposed the war, slammed the US for going there, and then not so mysteriously completely shut up when thier $4.4 billion + in oil deals with SODAMN INSANE was discovered. Much of which was deamed illegal according to UN Security investigations. Now when the UN actually bothers to take a stance AND says what your doing is illegal, you must REALLY be doing something wrong. And to think people run around screaming the gulf is all about oil for the US.

On the more humerous side:
Its common knowledge that the French and wine are extremely intertwined. So, the next time a Frenchman gets upity about the superiourity of French wine, calmly ask, in a correcting way, "You mean American wine?" French wine vineyards were all but wiped out in the mid-19th century by a blight (phylloxera). American vines, resistant to the blight, were imported and saved the entire industry. So every drop of so called "French" wine, is in effect "American"

They may have helped start our country, we helped keep theirs together. I'd say we're pretty well even on the wine issue alone.

Lastly, I do hope the riots end without further loss of life, but its going to take a lot more backbone from the French govt to do it. The first step will be the hardests, the stepping past of its arrogent pride.

 

Lawdogct thank you for a rather good answer let me just say, It is incredably difficult for anyone to set up a buisness in France not just you LOL (even the French complain) and yes the French Goverment will do anything for a buck, hell they sold Exocets missiles to Argentina during the Falklands War (And we are in Nato & the EEC with them) but it makes no difference which party gets into power over there the only thing that changes is the name
By all means have a go at there Goverment I know I do but the everyday people of France are very warm and Friendly and they do not forget the sacrifices made by US service men during 2 World Wars.
As for French Wine well some of it is ok but a lot of it is overpriced (I like the grape story and know it is true) I do like Calvados though

De Orc

 

France did not get contol over the rioters yet. This has gone on for so long now the Muslims know that France is theirs for the taking. A few more generations of baby making and north africa arrivals and all of those great French Churches will be bull dozed down or converted to mosques. May allah be praised for allah is god.

 

Does this mean the great French chefs will have to quit cooking with pork??