Chirac le ver....

[Alfred]

Chirac's girlie game, revealed at last.

(Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times)

George S. Patton, one of the last of our warrior generals in the tradition of Stonewall Jackson, Pat Cleburne and Phil Sheridan, understood the differences between friend and foe. "I would rather have a German division in front of me," he once exclaimed, "than a French one behind me."

Mark Twain, the original innocent abroad, tried to put his finger on what went wrong with the spawn of Napoleon: "France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks, it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes."

Hannibal Lecter, who famously silenced the lambs, had an entirely different perspective: "I just love the French. They taste just like chicken."

Well, we've all had a lot of fun with French jokes, and anyone who has surfed the Web over the past few weeks has discovered the Internet awash in frogs' legs and other less-appetizing French body parts. M. Chirac's men find it easier to suck up to the enemy and shoot their friends, and a lot less dangerous, and yesterday it looked as if M. Chirac is well on his way to destroying the United Nations as we know it (which may or may not be a bad thing).

But all joking aside, the French themselves may have discovered what it is that makes Frenchmen run at the first sound of an enemy's guns. All the men have become women, but without any of the female glories and graces (and none of the instinctive female courage).

"Men of all generations are suffering," the French magazine Elle reports, extracting the juice from a study by a Paris think tank called the Centre de Communication Avancee. "Men feel diminished, devalued in a society where things feminine are perceived as positive and all-powerful values.

"They think women have gone too far, too quickly, without setting any limit to their demands or ever questioning themselves."

Modern French men, the magazine asserts, see their women as "castrating, vengeful, power-hungry and obsessed by men's sexual performance."

Castrating or not, French women, being women as well as French, naturally feel cheated. They're still getting paid on average 30 percent less than men and they still have to perform most of whatever cleaning is done in a French household, and it's a Frenchwoman's bad luck that if a French man ever feels in a fighting mood, he only feels safe in trying (and occasionally succeeding) to beat up a woman.

The study is based on focus groups, which as any terrified CEO could tell you, are infallible, or at least effective cover in explaining to stockholders why and how management bollixed up the factory. So we can take all this without even a grain de sel. The researchers interviewed four 12-man panels of urban professionals and their findings, presented by Elle to mark International Women's Day, are said to echo the whining and complaining — not to say nagging — of French men over the past decade or so.

French men, the researchers say, are driven to distraction by women, but not in the way of a red-blooded male being driven to distraction by, say, the image of Catherine Zeta-Jones. They're encouraged to adopt feminine traits — sensitivity, compassion, compromise, tenderness — while retaining some of the virile traits of men

"Masculinity is in crisis," the magazine reports in a dispatch from the front of a war that seems to no longer hang in the balance. "Man no longer exists. Being a male today is a nightmare. The male identity feels battered by the paradoxical demands of women ... and a society that is going their way, from law, morality to advertising and techniques of reproduction ... . One gets the impression that a new war of the sexes is emerging, with the former dominated becoming the dominatrixes." Men, in a word, are becoming the sexual toys of women.

This may sound like the stuff of every teenage boy's fevered fantasies, but girlie boys aren't likely to make very good soldiers, and is behind M. Chirac's bizarre reasoning that the way to resist Saddam Hussein is to embrace him with a permanent bureaucracy of weapons inspectors. (Hans Blix would become the madam of the whorehouse.)

By making America the villain of the piece, M. Chirac hopes to gather the resentful of the world around him to create a bipolar globe. Whenever he needs soldiers, he can use rented thugs from Africa, which explains his sloppy-kiss courtship of the likes of Robert Mugabe. When the United Nations slips into history, he can enlist Kofi Annan as his sergeant major.

George W. Bush and Tony Blair appear to be on to all the nuances of French conniving. Hence the new resolution, which they know will fail, but will expose the ultimate goal of the axis of weasels, which is not to force Saddam to disarm, but to enable him to reveal the United States as an atrophied giant, George W. as Gulliver tied down by the pygmies. Nice work if he could get it, but George W., it is coming clear, has been on to M. Chirac's little girlie game from the beginning.

[Alfred]

Tuesday, March 11, 2003 · Last updated 9:30 a.m. PT

French Fries Get New Name in Congress

By JIM ABRAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- House cafeterias will be serving fries with a side order of patriotism Tuesday with a decision by GOP lawmakers to replace the "French" cuisine with "freedom fries."

"This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France," said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee.

Ney, whose panel oversees House operations, ordered the House Administrative officer to change the menus in House office building cafeterias to read "freedom fries" and "freedom toast."

The House action follows moves by several restaurants around the country to remove "French" fries from their menus to protest French opposition to U.S. military action in Iraq.

Also leading the anti-French campaign was Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., who noted in a letter to colleagues that Cubbie's restaurant in Beaufort, N.C., in his district, was now serving "freedom fries."

"Watching France's self-serving politics of passive aggression in this effort has discouraged me more than I can say," Jones said.

Members of Congress have been sharply critical of France for threatening to veto a new U.N. resolution holding Iraq in violation of disarmament agreements and paving the way for a military strike against the Saddam Hussein government.

Another Republican, Jim Saxton of New Jersey, has introduced several bills to ban Pentagon participation in this year's Paris Air Show and to make sure that France does not participate in any reconstruction projects in Iraq.

[yehudi]

Originally posted by Alfred
Chirac's girlie game, revealed at last.

(...) "I would rather have a German division in front of me," he once exclaimed, "than a French one behind me."

(..) France has usually been governed by prostitutes."

(..) "I just love the French. They taste just like chicken."

(..) the Internet awash in frogs' legs and other less-appetizing French body parts.

(..) that makes Frenchmen run at the first sound of an enemy's guns.

Hatred of people who think or are different from you is not a solution.

Replace "french" by "jew" and think who you would be in modern history.

[humus_sapiens]

Originally posted by yehudi
Hatred of people who think or are different from you is not a solution.

Replace "french" by "jew" and think who you would be in modern history.

I admit, sometimes those jokes are too much. However, your comparison doesn't stand.

Nobody "hates" (or persecutes) the French people just for being French. Since they chose to actively oppose or undermine the US in many ways and arm our enemies, it is only logical the relationship got a little sour.

[yehudi]

Originally posted by humus_sapiens
I admit, sometimes those jokes are too much.
It may look like a joke, but when it is repeated over an over on this forum, it is not a "just a joke" anymore.

Think what you will anyway, but you are all walking down a very dangerous path.

[Salim]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/freedom.fries/index.html

French Fries turns to Freedom Fries, too bad they are from Belgium and not from France.
Good laughing anyway :-)

[yehudi]

... and people are already boycotting french restaurants, like jewish restaurants were.


No doubt the french are paying a high price there.


The french don't agree with a war on Iraq, but they are not alone ; most of the world's population is approving them.
They have the courage to act in accordance to what they think is right and pay the price, where others goverments would "lie down" (pakistan) or even support (UK) the war. These governments are acting against their own population.

[Salim]

I wonder how they will call the "act" between former President Clinton and Ms. Lewinski from now on, maybe "freedom sex"?
If it wouldn't be that sad, I'd be laughing all day...

[Mediocrates]

Spare me the Uriah Heeping, please. Any country acts in accordance with its own agenda and policy goals and not some vapourous desire to 'protect' the misfortunate. Fact is, that's what venues like the UN are there for, for countries to voice and possibly exploit their own agendas for a specific purpose. If they get critcized for it, well tough darts. Life is hard, get a helmet. Burn a flag, dump some vegetables in the street and have a nice day.

Stand up for whatever your goals are but don't play the victim card and compare yourself to some Francophobic Kristallnacht.

I could give you a hundred initiatives to boycott Israeli products, expell Israeli academics, bar Israeli participation from conferences. Fact is, my friends and family there can't walk down the street wearing a kippah without some kind of assault so before you tear your hair out about poor picked on misunderstood France try to get your own house in order first.

Your country and a few others have staked out their positions that have nothing at all to do with a higher altruistic goal. It has to do with the following:

France's main foreign policy tool is their seat on the SC - this is what they use to leverage their influence across the world.

Iraq’s Financial Burden

Iraq’s financial burden consists of debt amounting to $127bn, pending contracts worth some $57.2bn, and Gulf War compensation of $27.1bn (the difference between compensation awarded and compensation paid out), and whatever is awarded by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) for the remaining claims totaling $197.4bn. Iraq’s liabilities therefore stand at a total of $211.3bn. Assuming a similar proportion of roughly 30% of remaining claims to the UNCC are approved, resulting in an additional bill of around $60bn, Iraq’s financial burden would reach $271.3bn.



Foreign Debt

According to a report published in January 2003 by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)[1], estimates of Iraq’s debt vary widely from $62-130bn[2]. The disparity in estimates is due in part, says the CSIS, to a disagreement between Iraq and its neighbors over the nature of approximately $30bn in assistance given to Iraq by several Gulf states during the Iran-Iraq war. While Iraq considers these to have been grants, the creditors view them as loans which must be paid back. Including accrued interest which is estimated at some $47bn also boosts the figure for Iraq’s debts considerably. According to the CSIS, the US Department of Energy’s 2001 estimate for Iraq’s debt was $62.2bn, while the World Bank/Bank for International Settlements puts the figure at $127.7bn, including $47bn for accrued interest. CSIS puts Iraqi debt to Kuwait at $17bn, the Gulf states at $30bn, and Russia at $12bn. Iraq’s debt is primarily short-term from private commercial banks and companies and as a result matures more quickly and at higher rates of interest. Judged against World Bank standards for the maximum sustainable debt-service-to-export threshold for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) of 15-20%, Iraq’s ratio is poor, even assuming a discounted figure for Iraqi debt and a highly favorable repayment schedule.



Pending Contracts

Russia accounts for 90% of pending contracts with Iraq, or a total of some $52bn, according to the CSIS. The remaining 10% is accounted for by the Netherlands, UAE, Egypt, China and France.

http://www.mees.com/news/a46n10b01.htm

The chances are "very slim," said Robert Claushuis, director of Belgium-based East-West Debt, a company specializing in the purchase and recovery of delinquent trade and bank debt from emerging market countries. He estimates Iraq's total outstanding commercial debt at $85 billion.

Claushuis has so little faith Iraq will begin post-war debt servicing that he is advising his clients - a mix of European multinationals, export insurance companies and banks - to haul the issuers into court.

"This is the only viable solution in accordance with U.N. regulations and which also brings success," he said, adding that East-West Debt has been able to secure judgments and seize some assets from Iraqi banks.

Another obstacle is that most of the Iraqi debt has a statute of limitations of 15 years, which means many creditors may be running out of time to collect. In cases where the obligations fall outside of domestic jurisdiction, the statute of limitations is much shorter.

Omni Whittington's Mekenkamp said that Iraq's debt burden could balloon to $300 billion if you count the government's financial obligations stemming from reparation payments resulting from the Gulf War.

"Should there be a regime change, this massive debt burden will hamper the possibilities of rebuilding the country's economy. As a result, it is to be expected that the Western world, who has an interest in a new Iraq rebuilding its economy, will cancel a large proportion of the country's debt," he said.


http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:PKflQGFdDCkC:asia.news.yahoo.com/030203/5/qxnd.html+iraqi+debt+to+european+banks&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


and what have we here?
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnr31026.htm


Russia wants equal stake in Iraq's oil market
07-02-03 One of Russia's top oil executives said that his country wants an equal stake in Iraq's oil market and that its petroleum industry is stable enough to withstand a drop in oil prices that could come after a war in Iraq.
"We are hoping that after all of this ends the Americans are not going to take everything for themselves," Mikhail Khodorkovsky, chairman and CEO of Yukos Oil Co., Russia's second-largest oil and gas company, told.
Yukos would "be very happy" if the United States delayed any military operation "for another two years," he said. "A price of $ 30 per barrel is real nice. But we know that all good things must come to an end. The Russian oil industry is basically ready for the next period of when oil prices are going to be lower."

Mr Khodorkovsky's comments come as Russia is flexing new economic muscle as the world's second-leading producer of oil, after Saudi Arabia. Russia currently produces about 7 mm bpd of oil for the world market, and Mr Khodorkovsky said that Russia could be producing more if it improved its oil transportation network.
Crude oil prices are at two-year highs amid heightened uncertainty about a US-led invasion of Iraq. Crude oil prices for spot delivery rose 23 cents to $ 34.16 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Some oil industry analysts say a swift and successful war with Iraq would cause oil prices to tumble.

Strong oil prices in recent years have helped to revive Russia's oil industry, which was left in disarray for several years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Internal reforms of Russian oil companies and national tax laws, coupled with increased production, have swiftly turned Russian oil executives like Mr Khodorkovsky, 40, into Western-style tycoons.
Mr Khodorkovsky said Russia's oil industry is now in a strong position and that Russian companies will be able to prosper even if prices fall below $ 18 per barrel in the coming year. Yukos continues to grow. Its oil production is rising by 6 % to 8 % annually. Yukos andthe rest of Russia's oil sector are eager to tap further into the Western marketplace.

But oil transportation bottlenecks threaten to limit the number of customers for their oil. While much of Russia's oil goes to Europe, Yukos is realizing that US ports are too far away for it to be cost-competitive with other US suppliers like Canada, Mexico and Venezuela.
Yukos, in a bid to demonstrate its interest in linking up with Western markets, last summer sent a supertanker of Russian oil directly to the United States for the first time. But transportation issues will have to be ironed out before regular shipments from Russia to the United States become profitable.

Yukos last month joined three other companies in announcing a new pipeline that will carry oil from western Siberia to the deepwater port of Murmansk in northern Russia. Mr Khodorkovsky noted that Murmansk was the port that the United States used to send lend-lease aid to help supply Russia during World War II.
Murmansk is closer to US East Coast ports by water than Saudi Arabia. But it is not clear when the construction of that pipeline project, which is being controlled by the Russian government, will be completed. "Unfortunately the government is not expanding pipeline capacity as quickly as we would like it to," Mr Khodorkovsky said. "It is also not allowing us, the private oil companies, to help expand it more quickly."



Source: The Washington Times

[medkorp]

Originally posted by humus_sapiens
I admit, sometimes those jokes are too much. However, your comparison doesn't stand.

Nobody "hates" (or persecutes) the French people just for being French. Since they chose to actively oppose or undermine the US in many ways and arm our enemies, it is only logical the relationship got a little sour.

Hi,

don't forget !!!

USA were arming Saddam too !!! Ask at Rumsfield !!

but you have forgotten that !!!

More than 75 % of the world is against the war !!! But of course you see just the french !!!

do you know Russia, China and much more ???

thanks

Medkorp

[yehudi]

.

Bush is trying anti-french humor too :

"The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur." —George W. Bush, discussing the decline of the French economy with British Prime Minister Tony Blair


and, guess what, he's trying to help Saddam get rid of his own fears : "The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself." —George W. Bush, Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003


:D The man is sometimes funny, http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushisms.htm (when he's not frightening).

[medkorp]

Originally posted by yehudi
.

Bush is trying anti-french humor too :

"The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur." —George W. Bush, discussing the decline of the French economy with British Prime Minister Tony Blair


and, guess what, he's trying to help Saddam get rid of his own fears : "The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself." —George W. Bush, Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003


:D The man is sometimes funny, http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushisms.htm (when he's not frightening).

Hi,

can you tell me if :

Angola, Spain, bulgaria, Cameroun and the ohters states of the council are more entrepreneur than France ?

Remember France is still a member of the G8 !!!

thanks

Medkorp

[yehudi]

sorry Medkorp but I do not understand your question. Clarifiy your post and i will edit mine with an answer if I can.

[ibrodsky]

France's answer to free markets is protectionism.

[yehudi]

Originally posted by ibrodsky
France's answer to free markets is protectionism.
I disagree with this.

The latest big protectionist act has been to impose very heavy taxes on foreign steel and this was done by Bush for electoral reasons. The problem is judged with the WTO and it is very likely the US will loose (if it is not done already).

Do you know that a US farmer gets on average more subsidies than a french farmer ?

[Mediocrates]

Did you know that the American farmer produces about 35% of the worlds food?

[yehudi]

Originally posted by Mediocrates
Did you know that the American farmer produces about 35% of the worlds food?
no and I'm no very happy about it for a simple reason.

Huge quantities of subsidized american food is exported in third world countries. The farmers of these countries cannot compete and go bankrupt.

As a result theses countries are dependent on the US and have to use the few dollars they have buying foreign food.

This is called "the food weapon" and it is terribly devastating. The EU does the exactly the same thing as the US and this is why subsidies on food MUST be reduced.

[Mediocrates]

Robert Mugabe is trying to starve his people into self reliance. Mao tried to to. Might want to look that up.


See food is like oil, it's a commodity has very little utility as a 'weapon' because it gets sold somewhere and you either buy it from the producer or a middleperson or as surplus from someone else's purchase.

[Am Yisrael]

I wonder what would happen if we only lived on our own produce rather than depending on other peoples produce. Of course the base for human development is by trading and communicating with other races or cultures. Food or Drink supplies is the most effective weapon that can be used. The reason being that it is for human survival.

[Alfred]

The Russians and Germans are voting no on war with Iraq. And that is all.

The French are waltzing around the world, drumming up support to defeat the US ammendment. At every turn they are working behind the scenes to leave the US without any support.

They are secretly arming the Iraqis, knowing that those weapons will soon be used by them against American soldiers. They are aiding Sadaam in every way they can possibly aid them.

And then they come out and say that they are against a resolution because they want to "save your boys from war."

That is why Dominique and Chirac are worms.

If you cannot see the difference then you must have gone the same school as Dominique and Chirac.

[yehudi]

.

I'm sorry it is really impossible to agree on anything with you, even the simplest things.

I'm describing how subsidzed food exports destroy the basic subsistence economy of poor countries.
I guess you are light years away from these basic things but they strongly impact the life of the majority of humanity.


Sorry to say so, but you are so american, Mediocrates. Lots of qualities providing you with a huge power, but a totally self-centered view of the world. You are not really evil, but you just don't care.

Only terrorism pulls you out of your isolationist stance. And when it is so, you just act the wrong way because you are sure be the only one to hold the simple, black-and-white, truth.

[minusthejihad]

Until every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and their families stop knocking on our doors to come in (including my relatives), because we are the greatest country in the world, we will not really give 2 s about what the rest of you, content in your appeaser countries think.

Is every single Frenchman a commie? Or do you actually have some hard working capitalists there?

[Salim]

This thread is clearly full of anti-semites!
Especially those not coming from the greatest nation of the world.
You gotta squash 'em like worms to show them where they really belong to!

[minusthejihad]

Sorry, we have bigger fish to fry, like actual threats to our national security (Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Libya), rather than fool around with pests.

You guys sure are cute though. Like a little lamb.

[yehudi]

Originally posted by minusthejihad
we are the greatest country in the world, we will not really give 2 s about what the rest of you, content in your appeaser countries think.
Not all americans are as far into selfishness as you, but you are expressing a very sad reality.

I do no know when the America of the Marshall plan died but it is dead now.

[minusthejihad]

I asked you before, are you a Jew, or are you simply Jew-bashing with your Username on this forum?

[minusthejihad]

You know, I deal with Europeans all day long at work, considering I work for a multi-national corporation. Heck, I am even friends with some Europeans who are here for school or visiting family. And many of us here, now know new Americans who came here from Europe, including many of us Jews. And no where, except in this forum, do I find such viruently anti-American, anti-Israeli, anti-semitic people. Are you all just driven here by your hatred of Jews and anywhere they get to live as equal citizens in safety?

I mean really, isn't there other places you can vent, like any US government web sites?

[Mediocrates]

Originally posted by yehudi
I'm describing how subsidzed food exports destroy the basic subsistence economy of poor countries.
I guess you are light years away from these basic things but they strongly impact the life of the majority of humanity.

But they don't really and other than simply saying so you haven't demonstrated it. Food subsidies in the west allow for less than optimal production - typically seen as overproduction. This surplus gets shipped overseas. Now on the consumer end its much more complicated. Poor nations have two choices. One - grow their own crops which will always be cheaper than imports. Two - substitution to cash crops. Most poor countries pick the second option. They do this to generate cash not because imported crops are cheaper, which they are not. Not what happens when subsistence farmers switch to cash crop farming is that the become sharecroppers - usually everything is mortgaged to pay for cash crop farming - chemicals, equipment, forward loans and harvesting. When the market dives for their crop they usually wind up penniless. We saw this in some Indian provinces 1996-9 when the rice farmers switched to cotton and the bottom fell out of the cottom market. It actually lead to a wave of suicides.


Sorry to say so, but you are so american, Mediocrates. Lots of qualities providing you with a huge power, but a totally self-centered view of the world. You are not really evil, but you just don't care.

I don't see it that way - but then again I don't see much of a point in fighting globalization when the alternative to working in the shoe factory is picking bananas.

Only terrorism pulls you out of your isolationist stance. And when it is so, you just act the wrong way because you are sure be the only one to hold the simple, black-and-white, truth.

I tend to disagree with that. I think it is you with your kneejerk America Bad complaint that has a simple view of the world.

[ibrodsky]

Originally posted by yehudi
I disagree with this.

The latest big protectionist act has been to impose very heavy taxes on foreign steel and this was done by Bush for electoral reasons. The problem is judged with the WTO and it is very likely the US will loose (if it is not done already).

Do you know that a US farmer gets on average more subsidies than a french farmer ?

President Bush is basically pro free trade. No one can say that about France.

From Airbus to cell phones to bananas, France's socialist economy is one of the world's most protectionist. There is little entrepreneurial activity in France, because taxes and regulations make it all but impossible for startup companies.

It would not be half as bad if French politicians merely imposed tariffs. In France, they ban competing products and technologies outright.

The French can't accept the fact that English is the international language for business. They respond to English inquiries in French. But when they want something, they write in English.

France's ambassador to the UK referred to Israel in unprofessional and anti-Semitic terms - an act that should have resulted in his dismissal. The French are arrogant, rude, cheaters, ungrateful, and vindicative. We also know they are either covering up something concerning their relationship with Iraq and/or opposing disarming Saddam simply to buy a little short term protection from the Islamist mass murderers laying in wait in their own country.

[Alfred]

Originally posted by ibrodsky
The French are arrogant, rude, cheaters, ungrateful, and vindicative. We also know they are either covering up something concerning their relationship with Iraq and/or opposing disarming Saddam simply to buy a little short term protection from the Islamist mass murderers laying in wait in their own country.

Ibrodsky: don't beat around the bush....tell him what you really think:)

I am in a very good mood tonight because they found Elizabeth Smart alive today in Salt Lake City. She is the 15 year old girl that was kidnapped 9 months ago. I was one of the thousands of volunteers who looked for her body in the hills.....there are still miracles in this world.


So, I am going to be nice to the French....just this once.

Giving Chiraq and his government the benefit of the doubt; in that they really do not want American soldiers (boys) to be killed in a war. I wish the French had done what the Germans did; saying that they would not support war and then shutting up.

But I think Chiraq is trying to develop an anti-american alliance for Iraq and for future actions against our country. I will not say that all French are bad. That is obvious. We always hear that all americans are not bad, just Bush.

Chirac est un ver. Not the French in general.

(there, I said it......all this touchy-feely stuff....wow, I feel at peace...at one with the world...kind of like.....can I have a hug?)

[ibrodsky]

Originally posted by Alfred
Ibrodsky: don't beat around the bush....tell him what you really think:)

Giving Chiraq and his government the benefit of the doubt; in that they really do not want American soldiers (boys) to be killed in a war. I wish the French had done what the Germans did; saying that they would not support war and then shutting up.

But I think Chiraq is trying to develop an anti-american alliance for Iraq and for future actions against our country. I will not say that all French are bad. That is obvious. We always hear that all americans are not bad, just Bush.



Another reason to despise France: they are so busy trying to prevent a war they are actually helping to ensure there is one.

The US strategy is to convince the Iraqis, if at all possible, to rid themselves of Saddam or refuse to fight for him. France, however, is doing everything it can to make the Iraqis think there is broad international support for protecting Saddam Hussein and his regime of thugs.

If France had stood firm with us in insisting that Iraq will be disarmed by force if necessary, I think Iraq might have surrendered already.

So when I said they are "arrogant, rude, cheaters, ungrateful, and vindicative" I was being polite. :D

[Salim]

Originally posted by Alfred
(there, I said it......all this touchy-feely stuff....wow, I feel at peace...at one with the world...kind of like.....can I have a hug?)

Oh Alfred,I have a dream, the two of us walking hands in hands towards sunset...

[elke]

Alfred, congratulations to you and all the volunteers - and especially to the Smart family and various police departments involved! :cool: :cool:

Yesterday was really a great day!

(and yes, of course you can have a hug :))

[djnvcm]

Originally posted by Mediocrates
Did you know that the American farmer produces about 35% of the worlds food?

Oh look this is the best one !!!!!

Is that right that american people eat 35% of worlds food too ????
If true, this the explanation why most of the world is starving and most (35% ???) of americans are fat.

[Mediocrates]

Well no that's not correct, we are dunno 8% of the population and we consume about 15% of the worlds food. The rest is exported. True, obesity is a problem but it's generally because of inactivity and high fat high carb diets not the raw volume or amount of food consumed.

For example did you know that for years and possibly still now, the country with the highest percapita incidence of heart disease was Finland? Has to do with a high fat high protein beef heavy diet.

I've spent a great of time with your French meat heavy diets, organ meats, fat on fat high starch diets heavy with cheese milk and eggs, wine and smoking and I can safely say that calorie for calorie you eat no better than we do. Perhaps less processed food but I think the real difference is in stress and inactivity, which we have far more of.

[djnvcm]

Originally posted by Mediocrates
Well no that's not correct, we are dunno 8% of the population and we consume about 15% of the worlds food. The rest is exported. True, obesity ...................stress and inactivity, which we have far more of.


Thanks for your reply,
Inactivity and stress are well splitted between both sides of the atlantic ocean. Obesity is starting as well in France. Some says this is because of way to eat as well as food eaten. It is very sure that with sodas and most of the already prepared food we eat much more sugar than needed. Still now the french way is to prepare food at home from rough products and drink water. As well not having 3 distinct meals a day and eating every time even watching TV is a bad point because simply you never feel having eaten enough. .....

Coming back to Irak the way of life and eating is mainly mediteranean (good food and timing). invasion of Irak will bring fast foods which is now a national disaster in saudi arabia (speaking again about obesity has reached level of the states with affecting 1/3 of the population).
The american way of life that we may criticise here is not only bad for americans but for the rest of the world as well (as much as american culture spreads). The world is rich of cultural difference that shall not be erased. People eat, speak leave different ways that are all good ones in principle. I'm not refering to worst societies such as 1984's North Korean (nothing to eat) or Taliban' like regime which have something to do with the middle age.

The arab Irak and persian Iran have a 6000 years history. The bombs will drop straight on Abraham's Ur and babylon
why ? because once 15 saudis (maybe not willing to get fat) commited the worst act
They were using peanuts flights........ say, peanuts security flights..........
why ? because Saudi Arabia was thought to be the best example of successful colonialism and saudis welcome in the states. America was proud, sure to be the best. how could terrorism be possible in the US ?? But every body has forgotten that the grand fathers of these 15 stupid students were bedouins leaving under tents in the Nedj desert exactly the same way as 6000 years ago................at that time Irak and Iran were The civilisation and USA was nothing


I wonder if bush is aware of all the story.......

[LionOfLoyalty]

I had heard it was 25%. But yes, the United States is very much an overconsumer. It's something that we most definitely have to work on.

Originally posted by djnvcm
Oh look this is the best one !!!!!

Is that right that american people eat 35% of worlds food too ????
If true, this the explanation why most of the world is starving and most (35% ???) of americans are fat.

Furthermore, while I appreciate a good joke as much as the next man, and accept that one can occasionally make a joke targeting a specific nationality and have it not be a problem, as long as it doesn't become a habit, I think that things here are getting a bit out of hand. While I dislike the french position on Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have even been making a few french jokes from time to time, it's really stepping a bit far beyond the line when one makes broad ranging and stereotypical statements about the entire french people in the format of a news article, which cannot be construed at all as a joke.

Yehudi, you are quite right, there is a fine line between joke and racism and I think that some people here are either treading it or have already gone over, whether they realize it or not. Let's not allow ourselves to descend to the level of those that have tormented us. I think all of us would do well to remember that while we may disagree with France's policies, and even have a good deal of examples from french history that have been openly hostile or quite obviously cowardly, there is a difference between humorous comments about these examples and making racist comments about the french people as a whole. As Jews, and Americans for those of you who are not Jewish, we have a responsibility to be a light to other nations.
Originally posted by Alfred
Chirac's girlie game, revealed at last.

(Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times)

George S. Patton, one of the last of our warrior generals in the tradition of Stonewall Jackson, Pat Cleburne and Phil Sheridan, understood the differences between friend and foe. "I would rather have a German division in front of me," he once exclaimed, "than a French one behind me."

Mark Twain, the original innocent abroad, tried to put his finger on what went wrong with the spawn of Napoleon: "France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks, it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes."

Hannibal Lecter, who famously silenced the lambs, had an entirely different perspective: "I just love the French. They taste just like chicken."

Well, we've all had a lot of fun with French jokes, and anyone who has surfed the Web over the past few weeks has discovered the Internet awash in frogs' legs and other less-appetizing French body parts. M. Chirac's men find it easier to suck up to the enemy and shoot their friends, and a lot less dangerous, and yesterday it looked as if M. Chirac is well on his way to destroying the United Nations as we know it (which may or may not be a bad thing).

But all joking aside, the French themselves may have discovered what it is that makes Frenchmen run at the first sound of an enemy's guns. All the men have become women, but without any of the female glories and graces (and none of the instinctive female courage).

"Men of all generations are suffering," the French magazine Elle reports, extracting the juice from a study by a Paris think tank called the Centre de Communication Avancee. "Men feel diminished, devalued in a society where things feminine are perceived as positive and all-powerful values.

"They think women have gone too far, too quickly, without setting any limit to their demands or ever questioning themselves."

Modern French men, the magazine asserts, see their women as "castrating, vengeful, power-hungry and obsessed by men's sexual performance."

Castrating or not, French women, being women as well as French, naturally feel cheated. They're still getting paid on average 30 percent less than men and they still have to perform most of whatever cleaning is done in a French household, and it's a Frenchwoman's bad luck that if a French man ever feels in a fighting mood, he only feels safe in trying (and occasionally succeeding) to beat up a woman.

The study is based on focus groups, which as any terrified CEO could tell you, are infallible, or at least effective cover in explaining to stockholders why and how management bollixed up the factory. So we can take all this without even a grain de sel. The researchers interviewed four 12-man panels of urban professionals and their findings, presented by Elle to mark International Women's Day, are said to echo the whining and complaining — not to say nagging — of French men over the past decade or so.

French men, the researchers say, are driven to distraction by women, but not in the way of a red-blooded male being driven to distraction by, say, the image of Catherine Zeta-Jones. They're encouraged to adopt feminine traits — sensitivity, compassion, compromise, tenderness — while retaining some of the virile traits of men

"Masculinity is in crisis," the magazine reports in a dispatch from the front of a war that seems to no longer hang in the balance. "Man no longer exists. Being a male today is a nightmare. The male identity feels battered by the paradoxical demands of women ... and a society that is going their way, from law, morality to advertising and techniques of reproduction ... . One gets the impression that a new war of the sexes is emerging, with the former dominated becoming the dominatrixes." Men, in a word, are becoming the sexual toys of women.

This may sound like the stuff of every teenage boy's fevered fantasies, but girlie boys aren't likely to make very good soldiers, and is behind M. Chirac's bizarre reasoning that the way to resist Saddam Hussein is to embrace him with a permanent bureaucracy of weapons inspectors. (Hans Blix would become the madam of the whorehouse.)

By making America the villain of the piece, M. Chirac hopes to gather the resentful of the world around him to create a bipolar globe. Whenever he needs soldiers, he can use rented thugs from Africa, which explains his sloppy-kiss courtship of the likes of Robert Mugabe. When the United Nations slips into history, he can enlist Kofi Annan as his sergeant major.

George W. Bush and Tony Blair appear to be on to all the nuances of French conniving. Hence the new resolution, which they know will fail, but will expose the ultimate goal of the axis of weasels, which is not to force Saddam to disarm, but to enable him to reveal the United States as an atrophied giant, George W. as Gulliver tied down by the pygmies. Nice work if he could get it, but George W., it is coming clear, has been on to M. Chirac's little girlie game from the beginning.

[Johnny Yuma]

Originally posted by djnvcm

Inactivity and stress are well splitted between both sides of the atlantic ocean.

How do you know this to be true, or is this simply a belief you hold? Have you lived in America "and" worked in corporate America, or just visited? Try working a minimum of 10 to 12 (or more) hours a day, no less than five days a week, and, you may be lucky to get two weeks vacation a year. It's my guess that you'd find it a magnitude more stressful than living and working in France.

Still now the french way is to prepare food at home from rough products and drink water.

How nice for you French.... try doing that when more than half your day is spent at the office.

As well not having 3 distinct meals a day and eating every time even watching TV is a bad point because simply you never feel having eaten enough. .....

... and the reason we don't have 3 distinct meals a day, again, is because we're at the office.


Coming back to Irak the way of life and eating is mainly mediteranean (good food and timing).

Timing? Is this some of the French snobbery bleeding in?


invasion of Irak will bring fast foods which is now a national disaster in saudi arabia

Oh yeah! I can see it now! A convenience store and Kentucky Fried Chicken, on every corner in Baghdad.... Fast Food... the most insidious form of colonialism; ask any Frenchman.....

(speaking again about obesity has reached level of the states with affecting 1/3 of the population).

Give me a break! There were lots of French fatties roaming the streets of Paris, well before America slipped you the Big Mac...
All you have to say is, "No thanks!". No one's forcing a cheese burger down your throat. Just don't go inside.

The american way of life that we may criticise here is not only bad for americans but for the rest of the world as well (as much as american culture spreads).

Yep... We've got a terrible lifestyle. I wonder why the rest of the world emulates it? That the English language is the preferred language of the world, for business, must gnaw at your guts, as well....

The world is rich of cultural difference that shall not be erased. People eat, speak leave different ways that are all good ones in principle.

Again. No one is forcing the American lifestyle (whatever that's supposed to be...) on anyone. Why don't you come to New Orleans, in Louisiana, and tell us what the difference is. French, by the way, is a first language, there.

I'm not refering to worst societies such as 1984's North Korean (nothing to eat) or Taliban' like regime which have something to do with the middle age.

Perhaps you're thinking of 'the Caliphate'?

The arab Irak and persian Iran have a 6000 years history. The bombs will drop straight on Abraham's Ur and babylon

What about the rest of humanity? What's 6000 years against the 6.5 million that man has walked erect? It won't be the first time Babylon was destroyed. (Not that that's going to really happen. I'm just trying to get you to see beyond that French nose of yours...)

why ? because once 15 saudis (maybe not willing to get fat) commited the worst act
They were using peanuts flights........ say, peanuts security flights..........
why ? because Saudi Arabia was thought to be the best example of successful colonialism and saudis welcome in the states.

See? There you go, again. Complaining about that insidious fast food imperialism. You need to go find out who the Frenchmen are that hold the franchises for those fast food places in France. Surely you realize that a fast food establishment in Paris is owned by a Frenchman, and not an American?

America was proud, sure to be the best. how could terrorism be possible in the US ?? But every body has forgotten that the grand fathers of these 15 stupid students were bedouins leaving under tents in the Nedj desert exactly the same way as 6000 years ago................at that time Irak and Iran were The civilisation and USA was nothing


My how the tables have turned..... Now we're a civilization, and we have the power to return them to living in tents.

[LionOfLoyalty]

Your claims of Fast food colonialism is ridiculous beyond words. No one forces a frenchman to eat at a Burger King or Mcdonalds. If your people have decided to eat at a fast food restaurant (which by the way is only one small part of the various aspects of American culture which is wide and varied, something you haven't realized, apparantly) it is their decision and their decision alone. Furthermore, have you forgotten why America first became involved with France and Europe? It wasn't in order to conquer and subject you to our "American Decadance", it was in order to liberate you from the same forces of tyrannism that we are now coming to liberate the Iraqi people from. Perhaps you might consider that before you accuse of plotting to conquer the world with Coca-cola. It is truly unfortunate that the many wonderful aspects of French culture is now sullied by people like you who contribute nothing while accusing the source of the most popular and widespread new culture that has overtaken the European one in dominance. I can only hope that the more sensible of the French people are capable of stopping your masses from listening to the voices of hate and prejudice, or else we may soon see the glories of Paris being replaced with the horrors of Vichy once again.

Originally posted by djnvcm
Thanks for your reply,
Inactivity and stress are well splitted between both sides of the atlantic ocean. Obesity is starting as well in France. Some says this is because of way to eat as well as food eaten. It is very sure that with sodas and most of the already prepared food we eat much more sugar than needed. Still now the french way is to prepare food at home from rough products and drink water. As well not having 3 distinct meals a day and eating every time even watching TV is a bad point because simply you never feel having eaten enough. .....

Coming back to Irak the way of life and eating is mainly mediteranean (good food and timing). invasion of Irak will bring fast foods which is now a national disaster in saudi arabia (speaking again about obesity has reached level of the states with affecting 1/3 of the population).
The american way of life that we may criticise here is not only bad for americans but for the rest of the world as well (as much as american culture spreads). The world is rich of cultural difference that shall not be erased. People eat, speak leave different ways that are all good ones in principle. I'm not refering to worst societies such as 1984's North Korean (nothing to eat) or Taliban' like regime which have something to do with the middle age.

The arab Irak and persian Iran have a 6000 years history. The bombs will drop straight on Abraham's Ur and babylon
why ? because once 15 saudis (maybe not willing to get fat) commited the worst act
They were using peanuts flights........ say, peanuts security flights..........
why ? because Saudi Arabia was thought to be the best example of successful colonialism and saudis welcome in the states. America was proud, sure to be the best. how could terrorism be possible in the US ?? But every body has forgotten that the grand fathers of these 15 stupid students were bedouins leaving under tents in the Nedj desert exactly the same way as 6000 years ago................at that time Irak and Iran were The civilisation and USA was nothing


I wonder if bush is aware of all the story.......

[JustPat]

Originally posted by LionOfLoyalty
Your claims of Fast food colonialism is ridiculous beyond words. No one forces a frenchman to eat at a Burger King or Mcdonalds. If your people have decided to eat at a fast food restaurant (which by the way is only one small part of the various aspects of American culture which is wide and varied, something you haven't realized, apparantly) it is their decision and their decision alone. Furthermore, have you forgotten why America first became involved with France and Europe? It wasn't in order to conquer and subject you to our "American Decadance", it was in order to liberate you from the same forces of tyrannism that we are now coming to liberate the Iraqi people from. Perhaps you might consider that before you accuse of plotting to conquer the world with Coca-cola. It is truly unfortunate that the many wonderful aspects of French culture is now sullied by people like you who contribute nothing while accusing the source of the most popular and widespread new culture that has overtaken the European one in dominance. I can only hope that the more sensible of the French people are capable of stopping your masses from listening to the voices of hate and prejudice, or else we may soon see the glories of Paris being replaced with the horrors of Vichy once again.
Just a note, until recently (2002), Burger King is not an American venture. :)
In response to the French position, Greater Pittsburgh has begun eliminating all things French from their menu (even things that aren't really French.) Their a little slower about the German stuff since many are of German heritage.
I wonder where France will be without US dollars? ... without Iraqi oil? Oh well, let them eat cake!

[Alfred]

Originally posted by Salim
Oh Alfred,I have a dream, the two of us walking hands in hands towards sunset...


Salim:

I hope you are a female.

[Alfred]

France: From Great to Ingrate
By Dick Morris
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 13, 2003


(On Friday, March 7, I addressed the French Council on Foreign Relations. Here is a partial text of my remarks)

France is suffering from a collective, national amnesia. You have allied yourselves with a nation that invaded you twice and another that threatened you for half a century against the two countries that saved you.

What are we asking of you? Not your troops, not your children, not your money, not your bases, not even for overflight of your territory. We are asking only for you to get out of the way and let us do our job to help us, help you, and help all of humanity.

You say that inspections are working. Yet you concede that they are only having a limited impact because 200,000 US and British troops are over the border in Kuwait. You say give the inspections more time. How long are we supposed to keep our Army on alert there? Will you pay for it? Will you even contribute to the enormous financial cost? And what of their morale and combat readiness? How long can we keep them there to give your inspectors time?

Is there anybody here who truly believes that if we let Saddam disarm on his own - assuming he would which he won't - and we send our troops home that he will not thro w out the inspectors as he did before and that he will again reacquire the arms he says he'll destroy? Do any of you doubt that we would be back here within five years having the same discussion?

You do not realize how shattered the American people were by 9-11. You do not grasp the magnitude of the threat under which we feel we now live. Your national experience has been so much more brutal. You were occupied by the Germans. You lost one-quarter of your young men in World War I. But we have not had a comparable past. To us, the loss of 3,100 men and women and the ongoing threat of random terror attacks has left us with a searing case of national angst.

We look around for the allies who we have helped in their past. We look France who we saved in two wars and protected from the Soviets. We look for Germany where our sentinels stood guard and whose capital city we supplied from the air two years after it was the headquarters of our enemy. But we feel abandoned. We feel deserted. Our diplomats will forget and forgive. Our State Department will move onto new objectives. But our people will not forget your abandonment. It will be at least another generation before you can count on the friendship of the American people. You have alienated us beyond redemption.

And what are you doing to the United Nations? If France vetoes this resolution, or if the states of the Security Council reject it, we will never ask the U.N. for permission again. The Security Council will become as discredited as the General Assembly, the body which designated Iraq in charge of the Human Rights Committee and Libya in charge of disarmament. Who would ever think of asking the General Assembly? In the future who would ever ask the Security Council.

Your vote is only important because of your veto. But, use it here and it will be the last time you ever do because we will never again subject our vital national interests to your cav eat.

You ask why the Democrats don't speak up against the war. Because they are not suicidal. Well, maybe they are but not about this. The vast, vast, vast majority of Americans support Bush on Iraq and recognize that we must do what we must do.

You wonder whether there will be patience in the US for a long war or high casualties. If will only be long or deadly if Saddam uses the weapons of mass destruction you maintain he doesn't have. And should he use those weapons against our troops or against Israel, that will become its own motivation for us. We would fight forever to depose the leader who ordered our troops gassed.

President Bush is fighting to ban terrorism from the tools of war, just as poison gas and nuclear weapons were, in effect banned. Hitler didn't even use poison gas on the battlefield. Only Saddam has done that. The Soviets lost in Afghanistan rather than use nuclear weapons. We Americans know that if Bush patiently goes country by country, he will consign the random killing of civilians as an instrument of conflict to a similar fate.

We ask for only one thing and we ask it in the name of those who lie buried at Normandy and in dozens of other French military cemeteries - let us do our job.

[Salim]

Originally posted by Alfred
Salim:

I hope you are a female.

No, I am the good spirit of Germany ;)

Btw, wonderful that the Smarts' family is reunited again.
Usually kidnappings of children don't end that lucky...

[Jen]

I am new here and I cannot start a thread, and I am very sorry for posting my question in this one.

Fox News reported a while back that France has recently sold the Iraqi's some type of weapons. I have looked all over Foxnews.com's website because I desperately need a link to this story. I've told others that Fox reported this, and no one believes me.

I guess the link does not have to come from Fox News, but if anyone has a link to this story, would you please share it? I would greatly appreciate it. I have desperately been searching google too and am unable to find anything. I do know Fox says this daily though.

By the way, I love coming here and reading what you all have to say. I'm always amazed at how smart all of you are. :)

Thanks so much,
Jen

[Johnny Yuma]

Originally posted by Jen
I am new here and I cannot start a thread, and I am very sorry for posting my question in this one.

Fox News reported a while back that France has recently sold the Iraqi's some type of weapons. I have looked all over Foxnews.com's website because I desperately need a link to this story. I've told others that Fox reported this, and no one believes me.

I guess the link does not have to come from Fox News, but if anyone has a link to this story, would you please share it? I would greatly appreciate it. I have desperately been searching google too and am unable to find anything. I do know Fox says this daily though.

By the way, I love coming here and reading what you all have to say. I'm always amazed at how smart all of you are. :)

Thanks so much,
Jen

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/13/opinion/13SAFI.html?ex=1048563222&ei=1&en=a23928db5b4b035b

[JustPat]

Originally posted by Jen I am new here ...
Fox News reported a while back that France has recently sold the Iraqi's some type of weapons. I have looked all over Foxnews.com's website because I desperately need a link to this story. I've told others that Fox reported this, and no one believes me.

I guess the link does not have to come from Fox News, but if anyone has a link to this story, would you please share it? I would greatly appreciate it. I have desperately been searching google too and am unable to find anything. I do know Fox says this daily though.

By the way, I love coming here and reading what you all have to say. I'm always amazed at how smart all of you are. :)

Thanks so much,
Jen
Hi Jen:

Welcome to the family!

Here is some help for your cause.

MiG Parts -
http://www.rense.com/general35/frenchp.htm
http://www.hispanicvista.com/html3/031003bn.htm

Ballistic Missle Fuel -
http://www.washtimes.com/national/gertz.htm

The Parts Coalition Exposed -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2591351.stm

The French Connection -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/crisis_in_the_gulf/decision_makers_and_diplomacy/58568.stm
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/313ycqje.asp

And one very entertaining perspective on the question of France's position in world politics is found at:
http://www.shalomjerusalem.com/weasels/

Hope it helps.

[Jen]

JustPat and Johnny Yuma, I thank you both so much for these links. Last night, I felt like I was being called a liar (not that anyone used those words) they rather beat around the bush. I just couldn't prove my case, even though I knew I was telling the truth. You have no idea what these links mean to me.

Thanks again I do appreciate your trouble. :)

[Salim]

Here we go again.
Another one searching for the truth.

[elke]

Originally posted by Salim
Here we go again.
Another one searching for the truth.

You mean to tell me that you already found it? Was it in the same place as your moral backbone? :rolleyes:

...and if you haven't found it, and gave up looking - then what is your purpose on this Planet?

[Salim]

I only know that I...
heh, remember that old guy?
He expressed pretty much the same.
Again, your conclusions are as amazing as I expected them to be.
Keep up your good work friend :)

[elke]

Originally posted by Salim
I only know that I...
heh, remember that old guy?
He expressed pretty much the same.
Again, your conclusions are as amazing as I expected them to be.
Keep up your good work friend :)

:confused:

[Salim]

Originally posted by elke
Oh, come on Gilgamesh: let's not descend to that level.

Salim lost the truth


Originally posted by elke
You mean to tell me that you already found it?
...and if you haven't found it, and gave up looking - then what is your purpose on this Planet?

no comment.

Concerning your confusion, I will give you some hints.
dialoques, question and answer, repartee.
just have a closer look at the subject, and you will know what i mean.

I know you can do it :)

[minusthejihad]

Originally posted by Salim
no comment.

Concerning your confusion, I will give you some hints.
dialoques, question and answer, repartee.
just have a closer look at the subject, and you will know what i mean.

I know you can do it :)

What in the Hell is this guy talking about? This is a forum, if you have something to say, say it, otherwise go play inuendos and I spy somewhere else.

[Alfred]

LEADERSHIP: European Resistance to the French Empire
(Strategy Page....strategypage.com)

March 17, 2003: The European Resistance to the Return of the Carolingian Empire- Some 1200 years ago, Germans and French were united under the emperor Charlemagne in the Carolingian empire. While that empire is long gone, many Europeans fear it is returning. This can be seen in an interesting dynamic developing in the European Union (EU). The two principal continental members, France and Germany, are finding most of the other members increasingly aligned against them. This is probably less because Britain, Spain, Italy, Poland, etc., are all that worried about Iraq than about European issues. The other powers are worried about the revival of the Carolingian Empire. Between them, the French and Germans have tended to dominate the EU bureaucracy, and have been imposing a lot of restrictions on the commerce of many of the other members, in the form of "standardization" of manufacturing and quality guidelines.

The French have dominated decision-making about agricultural standards. As a result, wines and cheeses made for thousands of years in Italy, Greece, or Spain don't meet many of the EU regulations, and thus cannot be sold outside of their native countries. Together with the Germans (with whom no love is lost, but business is business, after all), the French have also imposed many manufacturing guidelines that squeeze out competing products from other EU members. For example, Spanish computer keyboards cannot be sold outside of Spain - they do not conform to the EU standards. Those standards include all the diacritical and accent marks common to French and German, but exclude some found only in Spanish. Even university curricula are being rejected if they don't conform to the Franco-German norm.

The British may have a more nuanced view of the Iraq situation, but they also have issues with the EU. The mandatory adoption of the metric system even in the pub seems an excessive intrusion, but even more difficult to swallow is the EU insistence that they adopt a written constitution and bill of rights, particularly given that the British have managed to be the freest people in Europe for nearly a thousand years without either.

The Franco-German bid to dominate the EU creates a neo- Frankish Empire, a development which does not sit well with the rest of Europe. Russia, France and Germany were the three greatest threats to European freedom over the past four centuries. Given the alternative, the "fringe" European powers would prefer to align themselves with the Yankees, even when they may be wrong.

[yehudi]

This analysis is relevant, unilke the continuous french-bashing.


some objections though :

The "Carolingian empire" things look good for communicating the idea, but I think it has very little to do with historical reality.


Even university curricula are being rejected if they don't conform to the Franco-German norm.
false

We are changing our own system to adopt the international one, which is more like the US or UK than french or german. New university system is called 3-5-8. I guess you see how it work.

[elke]

Originally posted by Salim
no comment.

Concerning your confusion, I will give you some hints.
dialoques, question and answer, repartee.
just have a closer look at the subject, and you will know what i mean.

I know you can do it :)

Maybe I can... but why would I want to try? This is a place for intelligent discussion, not "Jeopardy". You see, as someone else has mentioned, if you have something to say - say it.

By your own admission, you are scornful of those who are looking for the truth. That means you either found it, gave up looking - or, alternatively, were never interested in it. The question was: which is it, and what precisely do you base your views on.