Daniel Pipes, writing in the New York Sun, provides a very helpful overview and analysis of the situation in France. He suggests that it may be a turning point in European history, that it is the end of an era of cultural innocence and political naïveté for the French, that the insurrection is not the first instance of a semi-organized Muslim insurgency in Europe, that the French press is portraying the insurgents as victims and denying that their actions have anything to do with Islam, and that this is a third way of jihad (random bombings and targeted bombings are the other two).
Mr. Pipes also explains the differing political responses between Nicolas Sarkozy and Dominique de Villepin (two leading French politicians who will probably run for President in 2007), and predicts which idealogy will prevail.
