As an Australian, I am resigned to the fact that nearly all your articales are U.S. focused. Nonetheless it was nice to read a bit about the rest of the world in your pages. Keep it up!

As an American resident of France, I have watched Sarkozy's rise to the front line of French politics with a mix of fascination and horror. Your article notes that the residents of these suburbs (who are far from all being uneducated thugs) respect Sarkozy because he's not afraid to come into their neighborhoods. But two weeks ago, just at the beginning of the 'riots', he visited the Parisian suburb Argenteuil, where he was welcomed with rock throwing and bocce balls being dropped from high-rise towers. Sarkozy prones a populist discourse, from the right and from the left, whatever pleases the people. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is geared toward the approaching presidential elections...However, the Sarkozy of just one year ago could be seen as someone not quite so concerned with human rights : Just a year and a half ago, he pushed a law through the legislature which made it illegal for people to loiter in front a building or in its entry hall. The "people" targeted were the youth of these neighborhoods. The same ones that have nowhere to do their homework because their apartment is too small. The police can now check their ID and even arrest them for hanging out in front of their apartment building. The law also provides for more liberty-limiting police action. Sarkozy is above all a political pragmatist who has one thing in mind: the president's office. He knows full well that going up against Jacques Chirac for the UMP party nomination to be a presidential candidate is going to be extremely difficult. But he also knows full well that the French left is completely lost (not unlike the american left, I'm sorry to say...), and that if he plays his cards right (see: speech about the power washer), he can also collect up the extreme-right votes of those who vote for Jean Marie Le Pen. Above all, I think most French look at Sarkozy with cautious respect: he has the courage to say out loud what most French people are thinking, but at the same time his right wing tendencies are worrying for most.