[gmat]

Funny how this thread started with riots in France and is now about cold war politics..

To bring back up the starting point, rioters have been tracked by our national intelligence services (the 'R.G.'). It turns out that:
* rioters were not organized bands as promoted by the media
* the first car burned in Lyon were actually set afire by overzaelous jounalists !
* rioters had no specific religion, or ethnic origin, again this goes against the propagand
The R.G. found out that riots were mainly due to the growing social misery, the poor getting poorer and the rich getting fewer and richer, the growing police oppression (we have a small facist in command of the police), the growing general oppression (higher taxes for the poor, lower taxes for the rich, corporations dictating laws like the recent one against P2P and internet use, 'big brother' laws being passed, radars everywhere on the roads), etc.. well nothing really surprising.
The riots were actually *fueled* and provoked by our own minister of interior who kept insulting the immigrants, and lower social classes in general, calling names and repeating the insults in front of the parliament. His strategy was to provoke an uprising in the poor/immigrant population to make an example and promote his own agenda, which is basically extreme right / facist usual agenda (kick the immigrants out, close the borders, set up a police state). He almost succeeded on the 'police state' part already... (and the immigrants are being expelled at an increasing rate.. there goes our main cheap labor force).

Now is it unusual or specific to our own country ? Not at all. England and Italy have quite a lot to fear from their poor population, as the way they treat their poor is even worse than ours (and Berlusconi recognized it publicly). Actually Italy nearly followed suit... Germany, Belgium also have a strong immigrant population that is providing basic labor forces...