Derb, that’s very interesting. One can only hope — and it is a slim one — that if this is true the French realize it and start helping where they can. For a while they seemed like they were on the same page as us re Syria. But that looks less so now. If your friend’s analysis is right, the French should try to out-hawk America on Syria where — absent our present concerns in Iraq — the French have more vested interests than us anyway.
But, one need not share your gloom to be pessimistic about the prospects of the French government to come to its senses. I would have to bet that this riot will pay off enormously for Muslim radicals in and out of France.