Re: France??
:D
Well, I may have some different views, but I'm not blind, and neither are other Europeans. You're right about the high immigration rates, and yes, at this rate of birth/immigration among the Muslim community they will equal our numbers within my lifespan.
But at this very moment measures are being taken, and the ones we had are becoming more restrictive. Did you know that within 6 years we went from 60.000 asylum applications to 10.000 now, in my country? That's a pretty large cut. The biggest problem now is still the family reunion based immigration, and they're trying to tackle that right now.
Also, assimilation programmes are being pushed: you see, it's not a big problem if we have many Muslims here. It becomes a problem when they refuse to adapt, so it's pretty simple: people pass an exam and prove in their behaviour that they are willing to abide by the rules the bind our society, or they are sent back. Period. So all these doomsday scenario's are a bit overdone, though Europe should keep a very close eye on this whole issue.
As for the birthrate: the better those families become integrated in our system, the less children they will eventually produce, since the instrumental use for it will be gone (taking are for you when you're too old to work), as well as the cultural in the end. The main body of immigrants may be Muslim, but they are still mostly economic or political refugees, which points us to another problem:
The money is with us, not them. And what we don't give, they will come and get. Pretty basic, but so far proven very true: people will go in the search for money, and we have it, so they come to us. The best chances of any stability are still in the West helping the Low Developed Countries (3rd world countries) to create a minimum subsistence base for their peoples. It would cut down most of the immigration flows, since the need to move in order to provide for a higher living standard is taken away.
No matter how attractive the idea of religious driven riots may seem, the problems occuring right now have little to do with Islamism in the first place, but more with globalising economics and politics. I gotta say that the fundamentalist Muslims are using it to push their agenda in a rather agressive way though, and they should be kept in check. But what was happening in France was not Muslim-initiated, and was not about making cultural demands: it was about getting access to the same institutions and more important: chances inside society to make a decent living.
On a related note: this week they acquitted Samir A. for the second fucking time: the court acknowledged he was planning terrorist attacks, but he had not committed any, and he is considered too 'amateuristic' to be seen as a serious threat. This pisses me off so bad....that motherfucker had his martyrdom message already on video. Lock him up forever, he's an enemy of the people and the state, period. I wish this country would stop being being so überleftist and get some balls, and make laws with which you can convict those people.
But like you said Rob: Time will tell...you make one prediction and the other will occur, as always...;)