She warns us not to draw any conclusions as to what’s causing the riots in London:

Conclusions we can’t draw about London’s riots
Riots in the British capital have hit inner-city Tottenham, suburban Ealing, gritty Hackney, chic Notting Hill. Windows have been smashed, video cameras stolen and cars set ablaze. Young men in hooded sweatshirts congregated on street corners and charged the police. “Copycat” riots have followed across the country, from Bristol to Nottingham. And nobody really knows why.
Scan the comment pages of the British press, and you will find a wide range of explanations. Read the center-right Daily Telegraph, and you will learn that the riots were caused by a weak and cowardly police force, absent fathers, welfare dependency, multiculturalism and the tolerance of gangs in schools. Read the center-left Guardian and you will be informed that police brutality, social exclusion, cuts in welfare spending and the widening gap between rich and poor are to blame. Some are convinced that high levels of immigration are at fault. Others believe the problem lies in British intolerance of immigrants and minorities.

I think the above is fair. I’ve said something close to this on Twitter, yet using a more colorful metaphor.

Yet Applebaum has no issue making conclusions when it suits her. From a Slate column in July on Anders Behring Breivik:

What the Norwegian murderer and American “birthers” have in common.

Well, I guess we can be thankful that she didn’t compare the looters in London to the Tea Party . . . yet.