Members of the Religion That Dare Not Speak Its Name have been rioting in the Paris area for the last week. Perhaps they were upset about France's support for the Iraq War, who knows?
The Left reflexively tries to explain such things in terms of "root causes." Very well: France has marginalized Christianity and aggrandized the state's power for two centuries; imported large numbers of unskilled or low-skilled immigrants for the purpose of exploiting their cheap labor; and tried to buy the immigrants' loyalty with multicultural pieties and generous welfare benefits.
Far from being grateful, the immigrants figure that France is so enervated that it will probably not defend its own culture. If some reports are right, and these riots are organized by someone (or a loose network of groups), then these aren't because of "frustration" — they are a show of strength designed to intimidate the French public into accepting Islam's ascendance in their society.
Pushing multiculturalist relativism, giving welfare to the able-bodied, and pushing God out of the public square is a toxic mix for a culture. As execrable as France's leaders are, let's hope they take the hard steps necessary to regain control over their own country. And it should sober us to realize that the same conditions — relativism, welfare, de facto atheism — are alive and well in the USA, too.
you should go read what Kobayashi Maru has to say on this topic - very insightful indeed.