French rioting update

November 10, 2005 -- The intensity of French rioting subsided last night but not before arson spread to the Basque region of France. Four parked buses and a police station in Bayonne were firebombed. In further evidence that the attacks in France are well-coordinated with a view to ensuring that all parts of France were touched by the rioting, arson and other attacks were not only reported in the Basque region but also in Le Havre in Normandy, Belfort and Saint-Quentin, Grenoble in the Alps region, and Brest in Brittany. Meanwhile, French neo-con Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is withstanding pressure for him to resign. Progressive political parties and human rights organizations cite Sarkozy's inflammatory rhetoric as increasing the violence.

The imposition of curfews nationwide are believed to have been successful in quelling the arson and rioting. However, one question remains. Sarkozy could have imposed curfews much earlier. Instead, he called Maghrebian and African youth scum and riff-raff, saying they should be "Karcherized" (pressurized water hosed). [Note: Karcher is a German firm. Its founder, Wurttemberg native Alfred Karcher, sold 1200 "hardened furnaces" for smelting alloys until 1945, including during World War II. It now manufactures multi-purpose nuclear, biological, and chemical decontamination systems for the Pentagon.]

Sarkozy delayed imposing curfews, permitting rioting to spread to 300 French cities, towns, and villages. It would be very interesting to see transcripts from signals intelligence agencies of Sarkozy's international phone conversations after the electrocution of two teens in a north Paris suburb.