Paris is Burning, and even the French don't care

The characteristic aloofness of the French is on traumatic display after nearly two straight weeks of rioting by Muslim youths in scattered areas around the country. Thousands of automobiles have been burned, police have been attacked, and now someone has died. Yet it wasn't until yesterday that President Jacques Chirac made any public comment on the situation, promising stern punishments. Surely that doesn't mean a thing to France's Muslim population, which is Europe's largest. Now other European Muslims are becoming emboldened by France's complete lack of action, and unrest is starting to break out in other cities.

The French, and the Europeans in general, have no one to blame but themselves for allowing the radical Muslim problem to fester like an open sore for so many years. The signs of unrest among the Muslims have been obvious even from all the way across the Atlantic - a total refusal to assimilate into the indigenous European cultures, rejection of authority, threats, and, oh yes, those dozens of pesky terrorist attacks that keep waking all those placid Europeans from their afternoon siestas.

The question now is how willing are the French to clamp down on the rioters before they end up burning down half the country. If history is any guide, they'll have an answer to that just a couple of days after it is too late.