FRENCH READER PHILIPPE RAMOFF wonders why the ongoing Paris trial of the 1995 subway bombers is not getting more attention in the United States, and particularly in the Blogosphere. Good question. Here’s another story on the trial. There’s also an Al Qaeda connection (article in French; here’s a Google translation). And here is a story from June about British reluctance to extradite one of the subjects.

As I’ve said before, I think that the Algerian connection to Al Qaeda may turn out to be more important than is generally appreciated. I also wonder if there’s a connection with the stabbing of Bertrand Delanoe.

UPDATE: Here’s an article from the Washington Times that’s interesting because it shows French unhappiness with the British refusal to extradite — and includes claims similar to those that American officials are making about France:

Indeed, Ramda’s fate has become a thorn in British-French relations.

“I profoundly regret that Great Britain hasn’t taken the decision to extradite one of the suspected accomplices in this affair,” French Foreign Minister Dominique Perben said last week. “I hope we won’t have to wait indefinitely.”

“If London doesn’t want to send us Ramda, it’s because they want to avoid problems on their own soil with radical Islamists,” one anti-terrorist judge told Le Monde. “All the files handled in France lead, at one point or another, to London.”

Takes one to know one, perhaps, but the French have a point about the centrality of London in global Islamic extremism.