"Is Paris Burning?"

My post headline, "Is Paris Burning?," is not only the title of a 1965 best-selling book by Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre, but is also a useful question to ask as the riots in nearly 30 suburbs of Paris continue to burn. Another 100-500 cars were burned last night and, worst of all, an invalided woman on a bus had gasoline poured on her and was then set on fire. She did survive but with 3rd degree burns over 20% of her body.

The serious and possibly long-term nature of this uprising by 2nd generation immigrant Muslim youths (mostly from North Africa; ie Algeria) has already been dubbed "The French Intifada" by the New York Sun and the "Euroarabian War" by Mark Steyn.

It is as yet unclear as to whether this is simply an opportunistic riot by disenfranchised, impoverished and culturaly marginalized immigrant youths (who just "happen" to be Muslim) as most MSN sources are reporting, or whether the riots are being fueled and encouraged and even coordinated by radical Islamists using the pent-up anger in Muslim youth to further their own cause of terror.

Back on April 6, 2005, I predicted that the present unrest in France was inevitible and explained the sociological reasons for it.

I wish I had been wrong.