Is Paris Burning?

Well, uh, yes, it is. Riots in and around Paris - and throughout the rest of France - have been raging for twelve days since two Muslim youths were accidentally killed in a police chase. France's relatively large population of disenfranchised, poor Arab and African Muslims whose parents immigrated from former French colonies have had enough of the government's cavalier, arrogant attitude towards them. Though born in France, these young men don't feel French and are made to feel like trespassers in the country of their birth. Neither Nicolas Sarkozy. the French interior minister, nor Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin - both likely candiates to succeed President Chirac in 2007 - seem to have any idea what to do. Chirac seems equally at a loss for a solution. Similar forms of unrest in France's history have brought down the entire government, including the constitution that supports it. A Sixth Republic, anyone? :-O