Saturday, 19 May 2007
 

Are the French thinking of giving up their cheese?

Below the fold:

• A Surprising Choice for France’s Foreign Minister
• Sarkozy appoints pro-American foreign minister
• Profile: Bernard Kouchner

*** *** *** Fold (but please don't spindle or mutilate) *** *** ***

A Surprising Choice for France’s Foreign Minister

PARIS, May 18 — Bernard Kouchner, France’s new top diplomat, would never describe himself as diplomatic.

In many ways he is the political opposite of his new boss, President Nicolas Sarkozy, who named Mr. Kouchner today to be his foreign minister.

Both are pro-American in outlook, but Mr. Sarkozy is a political conservative while Mr. Kouchner is a man of the left. Mr. Sarkozy opposed the American invasion of Iraq while Mr. Kouchner, unlike most French people anywhere on the spectrum, supported it. Mr. Sarkozy opposes admitting Turkey into the European Union, while Mr. Kouchner is in favor.

“It’s an amazing appointment, a stunning event in French foreign policy,” said Richard C. Holbrooke, the former American ambassador to the United Nations and one of Mr. Kouchner’s closest friends. “He’s motivated by an antitotalitarian drive whether he sees injustice from the left or the right. It will be very positive for U.S.-French relations, because he does not come with a visceral anger towards the American ‘hyperpower.’ ”

Mr. Koucher, a 67-year-old gastroenterologist, earned his reputation as the rock star of humanitarian relief by challenging authority, destroying convention, insulting opponents and making up rules along the way.

“To change the law, you sometimes have to break the law,” he likes to say.

“An unguided missile,” is how Boutros Boutros Ghali, the former United Nations Secretary General, once described him. ...

I hate to say it about an al-NYT piece, but do read the whole thing. 

***

Whew: Sarkozy appoints pro-American foreign minister
Allahpundit

You’ll recall he had reportedly offered the job to notorious anti-American Hubert Vedrine earlier this week, but for whatever reason, it fell through. His second choice: a pro-American, pro-Israel, pro-Iraq war socialist whose grandparents perished at Auschwitz.

Interesting times.

[...]

A source in Sarkozy’s party tells the JPost that Kouchner has good relations with Palestinians and the Lebanese, so he might be able to help win the release of the three Israeli soldiers being held hostage.

Update: ...

***

Profile: Bernard Kouchner
By Caroline Wyatt, BBC News, Paris

The humanitarian activist and former Health Minister Bernard Kouchner is widely admired in France, not least for his passionate, often outspoken declarations on human rights and the need to intervene to protect them.

A doctor by training, he co-founded the Nobel prize-winning Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in 1971 to put his beliefs into action, after working as a young doctor for the Red Cross in Biafra in 1968 during Nigeria's civil war.

Seeing children there starve to death fired in him a lifetime's commitment to the cause of preventing humanitarian crises and bearing witness.

By creating MSF, "we were establishing the moral right to interfere inside someone else's country", he once told an interviewer.  ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 19, 2007 at 03:14 AM in France | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 09 May 2007
 

Viva La Liberte

La Liberte
Jules Crittenden

Check out Sarkozy.  His first big speech:

France will not abandon the women who are condemned to the burqa; France will not abandon the women who do not have liberty. France will be by the side of the oppressed of the world.

I’d say talk is cheap, but Sarkozy is speaking out against the French/Arab street, which enjoys largescale destruction of property and throwing things at cops.  More like this.  I know the symbol of French liberty is a burkha-free woman, but don’t forget the men, children, old people. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 9, 2007 at 01:32 PM in France | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 07 May 2007
 

2007.05.07 Dem Perfidy // Islamism Delenda Est Roundup

See previous: 2007.05.06 Dem Perfidy // Islamism Delenda Est Roundup

What Mandate? 
Tom Maguire

I was actually reading Frank Rich this morning, which is a clear indicator of the depths to which my morale has sunk, and I stumbled across this claim that the election was a mandate for the cut and run crowd:

Unlike Vietnam, Iraq is not in the past: the war escalates even as all this finger-pointing continues. Very little has changed between the fourth anniversary of “Mission Accomplished” this year and the last. Back then, President Bush cheered an Iraqi “turning point” precipitated by “the emergence of a unity government.” Since then, what’s emerged is more Iraqi disunity and a major leap in the death toll. That’s why Americans voted in November to get out.

This claim that the November election result was a call to disarm has been made elsewhere - I noticed it in a recent Times story and heard it at a recent dinner party, but I can't find links to either one.

But not so fast!  Back before the ballots were cast, the Dem leadership was quite clear in their strategy - their pre-election plan was to refrain from offering a plan on Iraq,  ...

While you're in the neighborhood, don't miss A Babbling Brook Called "Hillary".

Below the fold, newest items at the top:

• French Riots, Right On Cue
• Report: Saudis, US sponsoring covert action against Iran
• Update: How Many Cars Torched? (Media Lies)
• Iraqis vs al Qaeda in Anbar

*** ***     *** ***     *** ***     *** ***     *** ***     *** ***

French Riots, Right On Cue
Ed Morrissey

After the election of Nicolas Sarkozy, many analysts expected unrest in the banlieus, the Muslim ghettoes that have percolated with unrest for the last several years. Overnight, the French have seen hundreds of cars burnt and hundreds of rioters arrested (via Memeorandum):

French police have arrested a total of 592 people across the country as bands of rioters protested conservative Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential election victory Sunday, French media reported.

The police said a total of 730 vehicles were torched and 28 police officers were injured in violent incidents from Sunday night to Monday morning. Police fought stone-throwing rioters with tear gas, but it was not clear how many rioters were injured, according to Radio France.

Segolene Royal deserves some blame for this. She tried playing the fear card in the week before the runoff that made Sarkozy the new president, and signalled the would-be rioters that the expected response would be chaos and destruction. The French do not need much of a push to demonstrate in passionate terms, and the warning of Royal that Sarkozy's election would lead to riots could also be seen as expert analysis -- but one might think that a person vying for national leadership would have shown more discretion. ...

***

Report: Saudis, US sponsoring covert action against Iran
Michael Roston

The governments of Saudi Arabia and the United States are working with other states in the Middle East to sponsor covert action against Iran, according to a report in this month's edition of The Atlantic. The report also suggests that covert attacks may occur against Iran's oil sector.

David Samuels, in a lengthy article on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East, reports that the US is promoting a campaign against Iran that includes covert action. ...

***

Update: How Many Cars Torched? (Media Lies)
Charles Johnson (H/T: Michelle Malkin)

Not only did the Associated Press bury their report that 367 cars had been torched in France, now it turns out that the media have been lying about the violence.

Because the actual number of cars destroyed by “youths” last night was 730—about twice the number reported by the AP.

This Reuters article also says 78 policemen were injured by the “youths,” and the violence was much more widespread than we’ve been told: Police hurt in French election violence.

[...]

This comes as no surprise, because French media have openly stated that they will cover up the true extent of the violence. And the French Constitutional Council recently passed a law criminalizing the reporting of acts of violence by anyone other than professional journalists.

See related: "...pour leur dire qu'ils peuvent compter sur notre amitié"

***

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 7, 2007 at 01:19 AM in Dem Dumbness, Dem Perfidy, France, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 22 March 2007
 

French court acquits editor of “public abuse” of Muslims

A Free Speech Victory, I Guess
John Hinderaker

A sequel to the Danish cartoon controversy: a satirical newspaper in France has been cleared by a court there of "publicly abusing a group of people because of their religion." The newspaper, Charlie-Hebdo, published two of the Danish cartoons, including the one of Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban, and added an additional original caricature. The action against the paper and its editor--who could have received a six-month jail sentence--was brought by two Muslim groups.

In American terms, this isn't much of a victory for free speech. ...

In this case, the court "ruled that Charlie-Hebdo showed no intention of insulting the Muslim community with the caricatures," and, based on the facts as related by the Associated Press, that appears to be true. So the risk of jail time is still there for anyone who is deemed to have intended an insult.

French court acquits editor of “public abuse” of Muslims
Allahpundit

I like the verdict but love the reasoning:

A French court on Thursday ruled in favor of a satirical weekly that had printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, rejecting accusations by Islamic groups who said the publication incited hatred against Muslims.

The court said the cartoons published by the weekly Charlie Hebdo were covered by freedom of expression laws and did not constitute an attack on Islam in general but fundamentalists.

The paper’s editor made the same point, calling it a victory for “secular French Muslims.” It’s a crappy law, of course, that will let an action lie for “public abuse” of any group, secular or not, but that’s the legislature’s problem, not the court’s. The judge did the best he could here for free speech with what he was given. The spectators applauded; they should have.

Image scans from the paper are here. According to AFP, the text in the sound bubble on the front page reads “It is hard to be loved by fools.”

Fun fact: ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on March 22, 2007 at 06:31 PM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 26 December 2006
 

France on highest alert since 9/11
Allahpundit

It’s not about Iraq. It never was.

While a French foreign intelligence service official notes that they are not aware of any specific plots or targets, they are increasing their alert status due to an increasing amount of chatter and information that is emanating from Pakistan and Afghanistan…

The official said “dozens” of Westerners have been trained in North Waziristan and Afghanistan in the past eight months alone and that some have already returned to the West. Most of them were British citizens, said the official, but he added there were some Americans and even a few Frenchmen who, he said, are still being trained.

Based on these pieces of intelligence as well as information shared by the CIA, the French foreign intelligence service thinks that an attack on French soil will be coming in the next few weeks or months. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on December 26, 2006 at 05:07 PM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 24 December 2006
 

"Channel tunnel is terror target"

Report: English Channel Tunnel a Terror Target

The tunnel beneath the English Channel that connects Britain to France is a Christmas terror target of Islamic terrorists, according to a report published Sunday.

The plot, which was first uncovered by the United States CIA and passed along to the French intelligence service on Dec. 19, is aimed at the heavy rush of holiday travel, according to the report in the Sunday Observer.

While there are currently no specific details, what is known comes from a secret report to the French government on terror threat levels.

U.S. security sources told The Observer the threat was "sky high."

Click here to read the original Observer story.  ...

***

Allahpundit has an excellent related post here.

Contributed by Bill Faith on December 24, 2006 at 11:34 AM in France, Great Britain, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 26 November 2006
 

A Tale Of Two Europes

They Report, You Decide (with update from Mark Steyn)
John Hinderaker

Most of our readers are aware of Mark Steyn's "Demography is Destiny" theme, which he has elaborated in much of his recent writing. Steyn thinks that low birth rates among Europeans, in particular, will inevitably lead to their replacement on the European continent by Muslims who are reproducing at a far faster rate. Steyn pursues the theme in today's article in the Chicago Sun-Times, Quartet of Ladies Shows Where We're Headed. He contrasts Fatma An-Najar, the 64-year-old Palestinian grandmother who became a suicide bomber, with Katharine Jefferts Schori, the new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church:

An-Najar gave birth to her first child at the age of 12. She had eight others. She had 41 grandchildren. Keep that family tree in mind. By contrast, in Spain, a 64-year old woman will have maybe one grandchild. That's four grandparents, one grandchild: a family tree with no branches.

Meanwhile, what of the Episcopalians?

Bishop Kate gave an interview to the New York Times revealing what passes for orthodoxy in this most flexible of faiths. She was asked a simple enough question: "How many members of the Episcopal Church are there?"

"About 2.2 million," replied the presiding bishop. "It used to be larger percentage-wise, but Episcopalians tend to be better educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than other denominations."

Is that a death wish, or what? As Steyn points out, "Here's the question for Bishop Kate: If Fatma An-Najar has 41 grandchildren and a responsible 'better educated' Episcopalian has one or two, into whose hands are we delivering 'the stewardship of the earth'? If your crowd isn't around in any numbers, how much influence can they have in shaping the future?"

Steyn's logic is persuasive to me, but Ralph Peters isn't buying it. He thinks that, far from taking over Europe, that continent's Muslims "will be lucky just to be deported:"

Have the Europeans become too soft for that sort of thing? Has narcotic socialism destroyed their ability to hate? Is their atheism a prelude to total surrender to faith-intoxicated Muslim jihadis?

The answer to all of the above questions is a booming "No!"  ...

It's true that the Europeans have historically been willing to act much more harshly that Americans when they have felt threatened. But I wouldn't start sending the Marines to Brest just yet.

To comment on this post, go here.

UPDATE: Mark Steyn comments:

I don’t know whether Mr Peters is referring to my book, because, as usual when this particular columnist comes out swinging, he prefers to confront unnamed generalized opponents: thus, he refers to “a rash of pop pundits” predicting Europe will become Eurabia. Dismissing with airy condescension “a rash” of anonymities means you avoid having to deal with specific arguments.

Had he read America Alone, for example, he would know that ...

***

Ralph Peters jumps ugly with Mark Steyn over Eurabia
Allahpundit

Two princes of political punditry clash over who’ll be liquidating whom on the continent 20 years from now. We’ll always have Paris, Peters asserts: if push comes to shove, white Europeans will fire up those crematoria they’re so fond of. Au contraire, replies Steyn, commenting at Powerline: there are as we speak as many Muslims as natives in some areas of Europe, and in any case it’s not the total numbers on each side that matter, it’s the men of fighting age. ...

***

A Tale Of Two Europes
Dan Riehl

Mary Steyn looks at four contemporary women to give life to his main theme these days, the Islamification of Europe:

[...]

And Ralph Peters looks at History and Hitler to say not so fast:

[...]

One can't invoke history if the population you are talking about is detached from it. Only here a few hundred years, the US is already losing touch with the rugged individualism that helped make it such a great Nation. I imagine European education is providing the same disservice to young Europeans, in spades.

It's hard to look back to one's history for inspiration when you've been taught to detest, not just it, but the principles for which it stood. Europe is increasingly multi-cultural and Peters doesn't account for that watering down.

Muslims have the very opposite going on. They aren't just remembering their history - the radical elements are in a time warp, still fighting the same battles from it long after Europeans have fled the field. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on November 26, 2006 at 12:35 PM in France, Germany, Great Britain, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 24 November 2006
 

Commentary magazine on
the Islamification of British patriotism
Allahpundit

Krauthammer took Sacha Baron Cohen out to the woodshed today for working so hard to make Americans look like anti-semites when he could have simply donned a yarmulke, strolled through any of the more “diverse” precincts of London — or Paris or Brussels or Berlin — with his cameraman and let us watch the real thing unfold. How bad has it gotten? Spend ten minutes with this long, incisive, and relentlessly depressing essay from Commentary magazine about bipartisan “anti-Zionist” feeling in Britain and see for yourself. Quote:

The loathing of Israel, once confined to oppositional groups, has penetrated to the very core of the British establishment. At the height of the Lebanon war, two peers of the realm reportedly came to blows within the hallowed precincts of the House of Lords. Apparently, Lord Janner, a prominent spokesman for Jewish causes, said something about Israel’s right to self-defense that so enraged the octogenarian Field Marshal Lord Bramall that he was moved to assault his seventy-eight-year-old interlocutor. One might have supposed that, like misogyny, anti-Semitism had ceased to be a characteristic vice of the English upper class; this incident suggests that it is back with a vengeance…

***

Allah’s England?
By Daniel Johnson

The oldest Jewish cemetery in England is in Mile End, in the heart of the East End of London. It was created exactly 350 years ago on the orders of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, who, overruling his own council, officially readmitted Jews to England for the first time since their expulsion in 1290. I came across it recently while visiting Queen Mary University, where I had once taught history, to give a public lecture.

The disused cemetery is now marooned on the Queen Mary campus, which is itself an island in the East End, an area long since abandoned by Jews and now populated mainly by Muslims. With its graves dating back to the 1660’s, Mile End is thus a reminder both of the continuity of Jewish life in Britain and of its precariousness. And the reminder is timely, for today the atmosphere in England has become less hospitable for Jews than at any time since Sir Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts marched through the East End in the 1930’s.

You do not have to go far from Queen Mary University to discover one reason why Jews—and not only Jews—are feeling insecure. Less than a mile away stands the East London Mosque, whose chairman, Muhammad Abdul Bari, is also secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain. This makes him, in effect, the chief spokesman for British Muslims. On the eve of the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Bari told the Sunday Telegraph:

Some police officers and sections of the media are demonizing Muslims, treating them as if they’re all terrorists—and that encourages other people to do the same. If that demonization continues, then Britain will have to deal with 2 million Muslim terrorists—700,000 of them in London.

In fact, far from demonizing Muslims, the police have gone to inordinate lengths to accommodate their sensitivities. Scotland Yard now consults self-appointed community leaders like Bari before mounting anti-terrorist operations in “Muslim areas”—thereby risking the possibility that secret information might leak out and compromise public safety. Since the London bombings of July 7, 2005, which killed 53 people, the police have been obliged to keep thousands of Muslims under surveillance while investigating up to a hundred separate conspiracies to commit terror. But rather than expressing shame that such unprecedented measures have been necessary, “moderate” Muslim leaders like Muhammad Abdul Bari have responded with thinly veiled blackmail. As often as not, British support for Israel is invoked as high on the list of Muslim grievances. The message is simple: unless Britain withdraws that support, every Muslim will become a potential suicide bomber.

Such implicit threats have had their effect on the non-Muslim majority. At a dinner after my lecture, a professor remarked, as if it were a generally accepted platitude: “Of course, the only terrorist state in the Middle East is Israel.” Nobody contradicted him. The delegitimization of Israel in the British academic world has become one aspect of a new and more powerful wave of outright anti-Semitism, a phenomenon that has been greatly accelerated by the response to last summer’s war in Lebanon. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on November 24, 2006 at 11:18 PM in France, Germany, Great Britain, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 19 November 2006
 

Video: Gillerman Takes Manhattan

Video: Gillermania IV — Gillerman Takes Manhattan
Allahpundit

... The topic is the UN resolution drafted by Qatar and championed by France that “deeply deplore[d]” the accidental Israeli shelling of an apartment building in Beit Hanoun that killed 19 people. Bolton vetoed an earlier draft when it came before the Security Council but the General Assembly passed it late Friday afternoon as a symbolic, non-binding rebuke. Language was apparently inserted at the last minute, merely as an afterthought, calling on the Palestinians to halt the firing of Qassams into Israel.

Voting no on the measure: the United States, Israel, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. Canada abstained.

Gillermania was especially outraged at the French role in all this: ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on November 19, 2006 at 08:51 PM in DisUNited Nations, France, Islamism Delenda Est, Israel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 02 November 2006
 

Iran's November surprise

Karl Rove, you magnificent bastard!

Iran Test Launches Several Missiles During War Games

TEHRAN, Iran —  Iran test-fired dozens of missiles, including one that could reach Israel, in military maneuvers Thursday that it said were aimed at putting a stop to the role of world powers in the Gulf region.

The display of military power came as Iran remains locked in dispute with the West over its nuclear program, and just three days after U.S.-led warships finished naval exercises in the Gulf that Tehran branded as "adventurist." ...

Iran's November surprise
Michelle Malkin

A macho show of firepower:

Iran test-fired dozens of missiles, including the Shahab-3 that can reach Israel, in military maneuvers Thursday that it said were aimed at putting a stop to the role of world powers in the Persian Gulf region.

The show of strength came three days after U.S.-led warships finished naval exercises in the Gulf that Iran branded as "adventurist." Iran remains locked in dispute with the West over its nuclear program, which Washington says is geared to producing atomic weapons but Tehran says is only for generating electricity. ...

Israel is right--this is everyone's problem:

In Israel, Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said he was not surprised by the missile tests, and warned that to leave Iran unchecked would pose a risk to the world.

"Iran is following a direct line after North Korea. Therefore this problem is not Israel's but that of the entire world," Ben-Eliezer said, referring to North Korea's recent nuclear test and its frequent launches of long-range missiles.

Iran's Shahab-3 missile, which can carrying a nuclear warhead and is believed to have a range of more than 1,240 miles, is believed to be based on North Korea's Nodong missile. Iran is said to have funded the Nodong's development. ...

***

It's November
Dan Riehl

Surprise!

Chit ... not good, not good at all. But, it's the world we live in. Sure wish the Dems could protect us ... but then, they weren't even for missile defense. Now were they?

How the hell did Rove manage this? I tell ya, that guy is FREAKIN amazin'. heh heh heh! ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on November 2, 2006 at 07:03 PM in France, Iran, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est, Israel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 29 October 2006
 

Why Do They Hate Buses?

See previous: "Youths" Burn Hundreds of Cars in France

Muslim mayhem in Marseille
Michelle Malkin

The "youths" in France--mostly young African and Arab Muslim immigrant men--are at it again:

France's interior minister sent riot police to patrol the southern port city of Marseille on Sunday after a group of marauding teenagers torched a bus, gravely burning a young woman.

French police braced for violence this weekend, the anniversary of last year's riots in poor neighborhoods where immigrants from former French colonies in Africa live with their French-born children on the fringes of society. ...

Why Do They Hate Buses?
John Hinderaker

A young woman is near death in Marseilles tonight, after a group of "youths" fire-bombed this bus:

[image]

More bus burnings continue in the Paris suburbs. As Blog of the Week Confederate Yankee notes, these outrages are perpetrated by "The Undescribables." Notwithstanding the many witnesses to the crimes, news accounts never say anything about the perpetrators--except, of course, that they are "youths." Seems like they'd be easier to catch with a description. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on October 29, 2006 at 05:42 PM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"Youths" Burn Hundreds of Cars in France

CLICHY-SOUS-BOIS, France  —  Marauding youths torched hundreds of vehicles overnight and on Saturday in renewed violence coinciding with the first anniversary of riots that exposed a deep schism between poor North African immigrants and mainstream France.  ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on October 29, 2006 at 02:26 AM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 26 October 2006
 

Burning Bus Tally Up to Four
John Hinderaker

"Youths" in France hijacked and burned at least three buses last night, which would bring the total to four: ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on October 26, 2006 at 03:31 PM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 25 October 2006
 

France Prepares 50,000 Riot Police for Muslim Attacks

As America prepares for Halloween, France is girding for a wave of attacks from Muslim youths—a reprise of the deadly French riots of last year.

A leaked French intelligence report warns that during the first week of November, a school holiday (Nov. 1 or All Saint’s Day), Muslim riots could convulse the country.

[Read on.]

Contributed by Bill Faith on October 25, 2006 at 05:22 PM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 23 October 2006
 

The French Intifada Continues 
Ed Morrissey

The AP continues its reporting on the slow-motion uprising in the Muslim ghettoes in France, where the police insist that violence against them has become organized by Islamist radicals. Calls that draw police and even fire department response wind up as ambushes, with rocks, baseball bats, and even teargas deployed against them: ...

***

France braces itself for anniversary riots
Allahpundit

The numbers are bad — an average of 112 cars torched each day through the first six months of the year — but the anecdotal evidence is worse. Two different cops, two different news articles. Quote:

“The attacks of the last few weeks show (the gangs) are very well prepared and using military-like organization,” said Gaelle James with the Synergie-Officiers police union.

And:

“First, it was a rock here or there. Then it was rocks by the dozen. Now, they’re leading operations of an almost military sort to trap us,” said Loic Lecouplier, a police union official in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris. “These are acts of war.”

That last link describes an operation where 50 “youths” in masks rushed out from behind trees and stoned a police car, cracking one cop’s face open. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on October 23, 2006 at 11:23 AM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 17 October 2006
 

“Frenchman” arrested for threatening Robert Redeker

“Frenchman” arrested for threatening Robert Redeker
Allahpundit

To jog your memory, Redeker is the French philosophy professor who wrote that op-ed in Le Figaro a few weeks ago criticizing Islam. The one whose head “must [be] cut off.”

The one under 24-hour police protection.

Today in Orleans they arrested a “Frenchman” who’s been sending him death threats. No links to Islamic extremism, you’ll be happy to know.

Just an ordinary “practicing Muslim” ....

Contributed by Bill Faith on October 17, 2006 at 04:08 PM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

French May Fire On Israeli Overflights

After injecting themselves into the Lebanon crisis and making all kinds of promises they didn’t intend to keep, France and the United Nations have made it explicitly clear that they will not use force to disarm Hizballah, or to prevent weapons from being smuggled in from Syria.

But Israeli Air Force overflights, to keep watch over the terrorists? Now there’s something the French are willing to fight against: Peretz: French UNIFIL say will fire at IAF overflights. (Hat tip: Shiplord Kirel.)

Commanders of the French contingent of the United Nations force in Lebanon have warned that they might have to open fire if Israel Air Force warplanes continue their overflights in Lebanon, Defense Minister Amir Peretz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.

Peretz said that nevertheless, Israel would continue to patrol the skies over Lebanon as long as United Nations resolution 1701 remained unfilfilled, adding that such operations were critical for the country’s security, especially as the abducted IDF soldiers remain in Hezbollah custody and the transfer of arms continue.

Contributed by Bill Faith on October 17, 2006 at 12:07 AM in France, Israel, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 12 October 2006
 

French police face Muslim 'intifada'

BRUSSELS -- Radical Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada," or uprising, against the police, with violent clashes injuring about 14 officers each day.

As the Interior Ministry announced that nearly 2,500 officers had been wounded this year, a police union declared that its members were "in a state of civil war" with Muslims in the most depressed "banlieue" estates. Banlieue, which means outskirts, is the commonly used euphemism for the low-income housing projects heavily populated by unemployed youths of North African origin.

The police union said it had asked the government to provide police with armored cars to protect officers in the estates, which it said were becoming no-go zones.

The number of attacks has risen by a third in two years. Police representatives told the newspaper Le Figaro that the "taboo" of attacking officers on patrol has been broken.

Instead, officers -- especially those patrolling in pairs or small groups -- are facing attacks when they try to arrest locals.

[Read on.]

*** 12:49

France Facing Intifada

The French police have suffered 14 injuries a day trying to quell riots in the Muslim housing projects as the nation has started to recognize that they face an organized, armed resistance. While management says that the confrontation involves organized crime, the boots on the ground say the issue has evolved into a less secular conflict than the politicians care to acknowledge:

Radical Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada," or uprising, against the police, with violent clashes injuring about 14 officers each day.  ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on October 12, 2006 at 01:00 AM in France, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack