November 11, 2005
Paris Burns, Brussels Suffers Cyber-Attack
Paul Belien, the editor of the Brussels Journal, a new web site that has had some stunning and politically incorrect coverage of the French riots, e-mails me to say that his site is now under attack.
"Brussels Journal is under attack, apparently someone is trying to bring down our server. Have we been too successful? Luc Van Braekel (the webmaster) thinks the attack comes from someone at Boeing because there is an enormous amount of traffic from Boeing, he says. Poor me, such a Americanophile being attacked by the Americans. ... If we cannot be reached the coming days, you know what is wrong."
Posted by Richard Miniter at 03:15 PM
November 08, 2005
They’re Burning Churches Too
Michel Gurfinkiel, writing from France for the New York Sun, has some interesting observations. He notes that at least two churches have been torched in the New French Civil War. Adding that the memory of these riots will linger long after the ashes have been swept up, Turkey’s chances of joining the EU have just dropped into the basement.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 07:17 PM
What French Police Should Do Now
As always, Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post is worth reading. This column includes the most sensible advice for restoring order in France that I have seen anywhere. If Sarcozy were in charge, this might actually happen.
It would seem that the French authorities need a two-pronged approach to dealing with their mini civil war. First they need to take control of the violence. In order to do so, they have to stop chasing the rioters and have the rioters come to them. This is necessary in order for them to gain a basic understanding of the command structure of the rival they face. There are people giving orders. There are people deciding where and what to attack. These people need to be arrested and either sent to prison or deported.
Were the police to choose tactically significant locations within the ghettos where these militants live and simply take them over, they would force the militants to confront them in an area they can control. The locations they choose should afford them geographical control over a discrete area - say one square block. As the militants attack them, reinforcements can enter the area from pre-planned routes and easily take control of the area.
In the arrests that will ensue, the police will be able to see, after confiscating the militants' cellular phones, where their orders are coming from, and move swiftly to arrest the lieutenants, who will lead them up the feeding chain. In acting in such a manner, the authorities will induce systemic shock on the militants, who will suddenly be forced to contend with a previously unfamiliar situation - French government control over "their" territory. By thus gaining the initiative, the authorities will be able to eventually achieve control over the violence.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 03:51 PM
November 03, 2005
C’est la Zone, monsieur
The riots in Paris have been building for years. This is one of the best pieces that I have seen in a while on rising Muslim rage in Europe and how compassionate Europeans are indirectly fueling it. Largely the same observations could be made about Brussels and, I suspect, Rotterdam and Amsterdam as well as Hamburg.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 02:22 PM
October 31, 2005
Paris v. Islam
You’ve probably read about the nighttime riots in Paris this weekend, pitting "French youths" against the police. Why don’t they go on strike as the French usually do? Because, well, they are not ordinary "French youths." The Brussels Journal pulls back the politically correct curtain...
Posted by Richard Miniter at 11:56 AM
How do you say ignorant in French?
Simply astonishing. A French foreign minister, visiting Israel, wonders how many Jews were deported from the United Kingdom to Nazi concentration camps. The Israeli author’s tongue-in-cheek defense of the minister makes a good read.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 10:35 AM