PRESTOPUNDIT -- A Good Blog at a Great Price. Guaranteed.

Is France finished? -- as a Western country, that is? A juicy quote I can't pass up:

The more I study the history of France in the 20th century, the more I come to the conclusion that the psyche of the French people might justifiably warrant an entire psychiatric conference. Throughout the entire 20th century, the French seemed to spend most of their time desperately craving being crushed by some kind of foreign totalitarian power. Their dreams, obviously, were shattered by the Americans, who rescued them from the Nazis and subsequently protected them from the Soviets. But now the French have cleverly figured it all out: to be taken over by Islam from within.

And a bit more seriously, this thought from Jean-Fran�ois Revel:

France is the prey of an anti-American obsession. For the French, Americans are the enemy they have to hate in every circumstance. They have to hate Americans because Americans are successful, because Americans are powerful, because the French prefer resentment to achievement. They are so obsessed by their hatred of the United States they do not see anymore the real dangers confronting France. It�s a very dangerous situation. I do not know how we could go out of this situation. I honestly don�t know if it is even still possible.

Rather depressing news continues to come out of France. Instapundit, of course, is all over the story of corrupt and strike-ridden France, with continued updates from bloggers and correspondents on the ground in Paris and elsewhere. One wants to think that things can't be nearly so bad as analysts have it -- they usually never are-- but as things stand, the long term situation in France does look rocky, at the very least.