riots and terrorism

Riots Spread in France
This situation in France is pretty bad and deteriorating rapidly. Now the French authorities are imposing curfews and calling out police reservists. Meanwhile, the rioting, intially confined to a couple of Parisian suburbs, have spread to over 250 towns.

I was watching a little CNN and Jack McCaffrey was reading a bunch of viewer email about this (for Jack, that passes as reporting). Most emailers were advising the French to shoot first and ask questions later. Now, that'll calm down an iffy situation, why didn't the French government think of that? The fact that most of the North African rioters are Muslim is incidental; these are no more "Muslim" riots than the urban riots after Dr. King's assassination in 1968 were "Christian." These are riots by people who are marginalized economically and socially and have little to lose, and is part of the ongoing messy aftermath of European colonialism.

Hope the French can pull this together. Mayors in other European cities with disaffected youths are getting nervous.

Terror Down Under?
Australian authorities held a press conference reporting on their overnight raids. Police said they found explosives similar to that used in London in July at the raided locations in Sydney and Melbourne, and that they have thwarted a "large scale" terrorist action.

Crikey. This was apparently a plot by Australian Muslim immigrants opposed to Australia's participation in Afghanistan and Iraq.