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BOOK CLUB

Mark Steyn meets some influential types in DC. Also from Steyn:

What gives you a better grasp of the realities of Europe today? The front-page reports on the G8 and the U.S.-EU summit? The in-depth profile of Jacques Chirac or Dominique de Villepin? Or the small space-filler about a French police lieutenant promoted to captain despite spending 12 of the last 18 years on “paternity leave,” in the course of which he wrote three books about the Beatles.

As a summation of contemporary Europe that could hardly be improved ...

Speaking of which:

Police deployed 4,000 reinforcements as marauding youths torched at least two public buses Friday, the anniversary of the deaths of two teenagers that ignited weeks of riots in largely immigrant housing projects across France ...

Thierre Ange, a 19-year-old witness, said four men attacked the bus, “made everyone get off, then they hit a woman and dragged out the bus driver by his tie” and torched the bus with a gasoline bomb in a bottle. The blackened carcass of another bus that was burned earlier stood across town in Le Blanc Mesnil.

Some 100 cars were torched nationwide overnight, half of them in the Paris region, police officials said. The figure was higher than usual - police say between 30 and 50 cars are set on fire during an average week, though some weekends the figure jumps to 100 ... Attackers forced passengers off four buses before torching them in recent days, besides the two buses reported burned on Friday.

Some specialist manufacturers don’t even build 50 cars per week.

Posted by Tim B. on 10/28/2006 at 12:35 AM
  1. “Thierre Ange, a 19-year-old witness, said four men attacked the bus, “made everyone get off, then they hit a woman and dragged out the bus driver by his tie” and torched the bus with a gasoline bomb in a bottle.”

    Nobody fought back?

    Oh, wait a minute…this took place in France.

    Never mind.

    Posted by Dave Surls on 2006 10 28 at 12:50 AM • permalink

  2. This is bloody ridiculous. You can’t make this stuff up.

    They have the gendarmerie pourqoi?

    Time to pull the docs on and the gloves off. Break out the brass knucks and wade on in.

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 10 28 at 12:52 AM • permalink

  3. They could make a deal with the US. We send them a few thousand recently retired cops from our larger metro districts. Then after a week or so, once the problems in france have been put to bed all right and proper, the french provide those American cops and their families equal time in free vacation tours.

    Posted by Grimmy on 2006 10 28 at 01:06 AM • permalink

  4. Time to pull the docs on and the gloves off. Break out the brass knucks and wade on in.

    I’d prefer them to get in touch with their roots and break out the grapeshot and the guillotine.

    Posted by AussieJim on 2006 10 28 at 01:09 AM • permalink

  5. But..but! Think of the backlash, Nilk!

    Posted by Crusader rabbit on 2006 10 28 at 01:28 AM • permalink

  6. I’ve been watching this every day for months, and have come to wonder what the cops are thinking….

    Cops could be put on trial as scapegoats for the two dirtbags that got fried running from a petrol and starting everything off last year.

    Cops have admitted to leaving wounded cops at the mercy of mobs while they ‘went for help’.

    Cops are regularly trapped by gangs of ‘youths’ and beat to a bloody pulp.

    Cops are regularly castigated by socialist mayors for keeping the order in cities outside of Paris.

    It’s insane.  It’s very French.  But it sure as hell isn’t how our cops would react.  It’s just another sign that France is gone.

    Posted by trainer on 2006 10 28 at 01:47 AM • permalink

  7. SMH October 27, 2006 asked “Where have our female firebrands gone?”

    Do we say France?

    Posted by stackja1945 on 2006 10 28 at 01:53 AM • permalink

  8. “Some specialist manufacturers don’t even build 50 cars per week.” - Tim.

    Thats ok Tim, most of those companies are in Italy and England.  Imagine what would happen if you tried to set a Ferrari on fire in Italy.  They’d probably tie you to the back of it and head for the autobahn.

    The Bentley would almost certainly never be in such a position.

    Posted by The_Wizard_of_WOZ on 2006 10 28 at 02:08 AM • permalink

  9. Which backlash would that be, Crusader Rabbit?

    The one where the frogs finally take their balls back out of the fridge and utilise them?

    Or the one where the nameless/appearanceless ones riot and burn more cars while beating up on poor widdle powice?

    OF course, the second is not really a backlash, more the ordureorder of the day.

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 10 28 at 02:16 AM • permalink

  10. Thisjust in:
    “AN elderly Melbourne man was ambushed in the driveway to his home and forced into his house at gunpoint by two men who robbed him.
    One of the men is described as being 173cm tall with a skinny build, a tanned complexion and wearing a blue hooded jacket.

    His accomplice is of the same height, with a solid build, tanned complexion and appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s.

    “tanned complexion” eh….

    Posted by Crusader rabbit on 2006 10 28 at 02:19 AM • permalink

  11. My French friend says that “according to statistics, when 100 cars burn, 90 are burnt directly or indirectly by their owners who want to get rid of them (a little insurance is more than they are worth on the market) or people who have used the cars for illegal purposes and want to erase any clues.”
    I don’t know whether that’s good or bad news about the state of France today!

    Also she said “the mayor of clichy may be like the mayor of Montreuil when I lived there; sometimes, nothing was done about a problem just to be able to blame the right-wing government. Like “this park is unfinished because the state is depriving you of ......”
    Ditto.

    Posted by arnienelly on 2006 10 28 at 02:49 AM • permalink

  12. o/t AMNESTY launches a campaign to free bloggers jailed by China,Iran,Tunisia and Vietnam-for “telling the truth about oppressive regimes..”
    \Hey where’s Australia,U.K.,U.S.,Europe and other Western EEEEEVIL capitalist despot countries on Amnesty’s list..?

    Posted by crash on 2006 10 28 at 04:30 AM • permalink

  13. It’s a scientific fact, just like global warming.  “Youths hate cars.”

    Posted by blogagog on 2006 10 28 at 04:43 AM • permalink

  14. Well those looking for trouble vehicles shouldn’t have been there should they?
    Just ASKING for trouble..
    o/t Austrayan cricket team attempts to overcome India’s night time dew factor by “training with wet balls”....

    Posted by crash on 2006 10 28 at 06:28 AM • permalink

  15. You know it makes sense!

    Posted by crash on 2006 10 28 at 06:28 AM • permalink

  16. Police deployed 4,000 reinforcements as marauding youths torched at least two public buses Friday

    The biggest problem (from the French POV) I can see here is that they were public buses. If they were privately owned, I doubt anyone would bat an eye. Besides the bus owner, of course.

    Posted by PW on 2006 10 28 at 10:34 AM • permalink

  17. Of course Tim is being very modest when he quotes Steyn without mentioning the “shout out” he gave to Tim on the “Blogconference” (see steynonline.com). The great Mark Steyn referred to Tim Blair as “the king of Aussie bloggers”, last I heard Tim was in hospital having major head reduction surgery!

    Actually if you visit steynonline.com, and I’m sure everyone here does, check out the first of his Vent TV recorded interviews with Michelle Malkin, if for no other reason than if you’re like me you’d sit and watch the lovely Michelle read out the telephone directory and be spellbound.

    Anyway MM asks MS about the solution to the west’s declining birthrate and asks “so should we just get under the sheets and get busy?”, well I took that to mean should we start making babies. Now maybe it’s just me but if I ever find I’m in a room with Michelle Malkin and she asks me whether we should go to bed and get busy I will open a bottle of wine, turn down the lights and turn off the TV cameras (well on second thoughts I might leave them on ;-) ). But Mark gets the wrong end of the stick and starts wittering on about border security!

    By the way I never knew Mark Steyn talked like the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.

    Posted by Harry Flashman on 2006 10 28 at 11:00 AM • permalink

  18. #9: I’m more worried about Islamofascist “forelash” than anti-Muslim “backlash.”

    Posted by paco on 2006 10 28 at 11:57 AM • permalink

  19. If you leave an uncovered car out on the street and youths of no appearance with tanned complexions come and burn it, whose fault is it?  Why, the car’s, of course, because it possesses the weapon of temptation.

    [/al-Hilali]

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 10 28 at 11:57 AM • permalink

  20. “police say between 30 and 50 cars are set on fire during an average week”

    Well, that’s good.  It will reduce global warming (once the fires die down).

    If I was dictator of the world, I’d make all the Frogs walk, anyway.

    Posted by Dave Surls on 2006 10 28 at 01:04 PM • permalink

  21. Ah!  I see another opportunity for PACO industries:  French car-covers!

    Posted by ushie on 2006 10 28 at 01:23 PM • permalink

  22. Get a Burqua for your Buick!  A hijab for your Hyundai!

    Purdah Automobile Club of Arabia Industries (petrol be inside them) are bringing their fine products to France!

    Available wherever fine combustibles are sold.

    Posted by kiwinews on 2006 10 28 at 02:30 PM • permalink

  23. Mark Steyn had a chat with (I think it was) Kathryn Jean Lopez, the transcript of which was posted at National Review Online 3 or 4 weeks ago.  In it, he opined that he would probably be sponsoring his British relatives to move to the U.S. by about 2015 or 2020; this because of the rise of multiple cultural identities in Britain, to the detriment of British society; all that accompanying unrest.

    If Britain is getting that bad, things sure look bleak for France. Which in turn leads to a strange mix of emotions for me personally.  On one hand, I’m getting tired of seeing all this Islamic fundamentalism… forget about watching it get so out of control in France.  On the other hand, I don’t much give a damn about France any more.

    Posted by Joe B. on 2006 10 28 at 02:53 PM • permalink

  24. The Bentley would almost certainly never be in such a position.

    How would you tell a Bentley on fire from one that’s just idling?

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 10 28 at 04:36 PM • permalink

  25. #21: Interesting that you should mention that, Ushie! Paco Industries’ French subsidiary, Paqeau et Cie, S.A., markets a line of heavy-duty asbestos car covers, as well as externally-mounted sprinkler systems. We are also test-marketing a special vehicle for those few, but well-heeled, people who prefer to take a more aggressive approach to protecting themselves and their property. Le Mobile de Chauve-Souris is equipped with machine guns that pop out of the hood, and a small trunk-mounted bazooka. Magnifique!

    Posted by paco on 2006 10 28 at 06:40 PM • permalink

  26. Muslims have a lot to learn about nuance.

    Posted by Merlin on 2006 10 28 at 10:27 PM • permalink

  27. Le Mobile de Chauve-Souris is equipped with machine guns that pop out of the hood, and a small trunk-mounted bazooka.

    That’s definitely going to run afoul of Sarkozy’s decrees on personal gun ownership, unless the driver is an ENA graduate.

    Posted by PW on 2006 10 28 at 10:42 PM • permalink

  28. Interesting sporting reportage on a well-known cricket site:
    Which is why, in the sporting context, if you want to upset the best in the world, sometimes to have to fight fire with an inferno.
    The opponent strikes a match, you respond by burning down his house. It is an overreaction, but an overreaction with a purpose - to let him know in terms that he can best understand that you’re not taking any foolishness.

    He was commenting on heated on-field verbal exchanges between players,  .. but .. it is perhaps interesting that his surname is ‘Mohammed’.

    Posted by Barrie on 2006 10 29 at 01:08 AM • permalink

  29. By the way I never knew Mark Steyn talked like the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.

    Flash,  this surprised me too.  I knew he had English connections writing for the Spectator and all, but he definitely writes with an American accent.

    Anyhow, who are we to question the mannersims of an uber-God.

    Posted by Big Jim on 2006 10 29 at 02:44 AM • permalink

  30. #13, ‘It’s a scientific fact, just like global warming.  “Youths hate cars.”’

    I only hated French and German cars when I was “youth”.  Now I only hate French cars.  Isnt progress great?

    #17, “Now maybe it’s just me but if I ever find I’m in a room with Michelle Malkin and she asks me whether we should go to bed and get busy I will open a bottle of wine, turn down the lights and turn off the TV cameras (well on second thoughts I might leave them on ;-) ).”
    America, FUCK YEAH!

    Posted by The_Wizard_of_WOZ on 2006 10 29 at 06:48 AM • permalink

  31. #24, ” ‘The Bentley would almost certainly never be in such a position.’
    How would you tell a Bentley on fire from one that’s just idling? “

    Whilst I shall never come to the defence of British cars for their reliablility (its shocking), my implication was intended to mean that if you can afford a Bentley, you aint gonna be leavin’ it parked on the side of no road in no crappy paris suburb are ya?

    Posted by The_Wizard_of_WOZ on 2006 10 29 at 06:54 AM • permalink

  32. Good thread on FR about Fwench Presidential Privilege.  Looks like there are more problems in Paris than bus burners.

    Posted by 68W40 on 2006 10 29 at 10:02 AM • permalink

  33. I knew he had English connections writing for the Spectator and all, but he definitely writes with an American accent.

    That’s because he lives in Canada.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 10 29 at 10:43 AM • permalink

  34. Paco, I need that bazooka car.  For my leisurely jaunts on 495.

    Posted by ushie on 2006 10 29 at 12:51 PM • permalink

  35. #34 Ushie: You got it! And since we’re talking 495, I’ll throw in some traffic torpedoes.

    Posted by paco on 2006 10 29 at 01:14 PM • permalink

  36. Ah, the car of my dreasm!

    Posted by ushie on 2006 10 29 at 02:59 PM • permalink

  37. Oops.  I’m too happy about that car, I guess.

    Posted by ushie on 2006 10 29 at 02:59 PM • permalink

  38. #25 Paco -

    Le Mobile de Chauve-Souris is equipped with machine guns that pop out of the hood, and a small trunk-mounted bazooka. Magnifique!

    I never thought I would say this, but I’m kinda interested in paco’s bazooka car too.  But if I buy one, I’ll only buy it if it’s in a plain brown wrapper while I’m wearing large black sun glasses.

    Posted by wronwright on 2006 10 29 at 04:37 PM • permalink

  39. dreasm, the feeling of dread you get when your bazooka car falls into a chasm?

    Posted by PW on 2006 10 29 at 04:42 PM • permalink

  40. #36: Hey, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: somebody needs to be keeping track of these neologisms. They’d make a great addition to Tim’s yearly round-up posts.

    #38: We can deliver it right to your door, at any time of the day or night, at any of your five planetary addresses! Do want the factory CD player?

    Posted by paco on 2006 10 29 at 04:46 PM • permalink

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