30 Jan 2003 | Don Schenck said...

Is that the same France that wants to go easy on Hussein ... the same France that hasn't won an armed confict in 182 years? That France?

30 Jan 2003 | Steve said...

Yet another example of French unilateralism... in Africa.

31 Jan 2003 | jupiter said...

The left sign is re-usable, they move the cross up and down - just as they need it at the moment.

31 Jan 2003 | Toby said...

Yes, that France, Don. The same France that backed the Hutus in their slaughter of the Tutsis in Rwanda. The same France that would rather keep a tyrant in power than lose their oil contracts.

Yes, that very France has forced a treaty on the Ivory Coast that pressures a democratically elected (well, as democratically elected as you can get in that part of the world) to share power with a rebel group backed by Liberia.

31 Jan 2003 | KD said...

What is this good for? You behave like kids.

31 Jan 2003 | Toby said...

Am not!

31 Jan 2003 | Jonny Roader said...

France's position on Iraq stinks. In that it shares something at least with the USA and the UK. However, while I'm no supporter of this war at least the USA and the UK (and Spain, and the Czechs, etc.) are willing to stand up and be counted, for better or worse. France and Germany will profit from the safety of removing Hussain and they know it, they just want it both ways.

Unless, of course, they are right in what they say about stirring up a hornet's nest in the middle east. Who knows the truth amid all these lies?

31 Jan 2003 | Will Rogers said...

"I've never met a Frenchman I liked."

01 Feb 2003 | Mart said...

Just try going there while not able to speak fluent French. They'll laugh in your face or be rude to you - far more than any other country on Earth. Why their political voice seems to get so much respect in the world I do not understand. They have this big fascist voting contingent, they defy NATO and the UN at the drop of a hat. All they export is Evian and Perrier, over-priced acidic wine and chique, out of your price range fashion garments. Well, I guess they also have successfully exported that whole multi-cultural, politically correct subjective philosophy too. How great it is that it's ok to be a Muslm fundamentalist and not have anyone make a judgement call on you and your beliefs, just because subjective reality is evidently as valid as rational, objective, empirically researched reality. All that crap originated in the stinky French universities - or didn't you know that? It wasn't an invention of Berkely. Anyway, when was the last time they won a Nobel prize? In a real subject, like Physics, or Chemistry. Why don't we get French sitcoms or drama series or documentaries on tv? The French hate us and everybody else. They probably even hate themselves - but they hate themselves the least. This is the country of the "Gourmand", don't forget. Eat to excess and call it an art.

01 Feb 2003 | KD said...

And you wonder why the world hates you yanks? The above postings are definitely the most arrogant Ive ever read on SVN.

Just try going there while not able to speak fluent French.

I considered the french as very nice people everytime I went there. They always helped you if you at least tried to speak French. If you wont try, then stay at home.

(btw: when I travelled to the US, I had to sign a document that Im not a Nazi-murderer. How very hospitable.)

You blame foreign governments for exactly the same things your administration does (and has always done). Isnt that a bit easy? Sounds a bit like those german conservatives defending Hitler by comparing his crimes to Stalinism.

Do you believe America has more rights, just because you won tons of nobel-prizes or have won an armed confict in 182 years or call yourself "the greatest country in the world"?

Yesterday the chief of the German Protestant Church called Bush a "religious fundamentalist". I think hes not that wrong. Why do you always want the whole world to share your beliefs?

P.S. The reason why Schrder is against the war is a promise he made before the 2002 election. Now he cant go back. Also, Germany has no oil industry.

01 Feb 2003 | jimbo junior said...

right on there mate - as George Bush wouldnt say "Why do you observe the splinter in you brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own?". You wont hear him quoting that in his next state of the nation address. Its pretty obnoxious visiting somebody elses country and expecting them to speak your language. Incidentally, France export a great many things - your very own Statue of Liberty being a famous example.

01 Feb 2003 | Jd said...

Yesterday the chief of the German Protestant Church called Bush a "religious fundamentalist".

Oh, that isn't an arrogant statement. I guess when you criticize Bush for being an idiot or a fundamentalist it's ok, but dare we say something about the precious French... Oh dear.

France export a great many things - your very own Statue of Liberty being a famous example.

Yep, they had to export the statue because anything called the "Statue of Liberty" wouldn't feel at home in France.

This is fun!

01 Feb 2003 | SU said...

Oh my... This was all so much better when PC users were bashing Mac users.

Nevermind that many founding principles of the United States Constitution are grounded in French political philosophy of the time. Any Rousseau scholars out there?

Sure, we ultimately rejected the violence of the French Revolution (to a degree) and the subsequent imperialism under Napoleon (so far, anyhow), but the notion of "Libert, Egalit, et Fraternit" became a very solid part of our nation's political philosophy by way of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson (both served as ambassadors to France).

And more seriously, who could hate a country that brings us a film like Amlie?

01 Feb 2003 | KD said...

SU, tu est la lumire dans un monde sombre...

:-)

02 Feb 2003 | alisha said...

and this is how war and hatred starts. name-calling, prejudice, inability to remain calm and objective, lack of tolerance for different views, cultures and ways of life. No country has a clean slate - all countries have done evil things at one time or another.

"Yesterday the chief of the German Protestant Church called Bush a "religious fundamentalist"

This is the kind of bullshit Im talking about. The Head of Council to the German Protestant Church (not the "chief of the German Protestant Church") said that Bush is "acting" like a religious fundamentalist, and feels he (GWB) has a religious mission to carry out. (he didnt say he WAS a religious fundamentalist) What gives this guy - whos no one of importance in german politics - the right to claim he knows GWBs inner soul? Hes just trying to posture to the EKD - and the rest of Germany has to pay for stupid comments like this one, because the way they translate this crap makes him sound like someone of importance. A friend of mine said its hard for the americans because, while everyone here speaks and unserstands english, most Americans dont understand other languages. Europeans have access to american and english news, americans have no access to european news. So the little they do get, comes in a conveniently screened and twisted form.

03 Feb 2003 | Nerdy Mc-Writes-A-Lot said...

maybe in the south of france they're nice to you if you try to speak french, but if you're anywhere near paris (which, yes, tends to be the political center) they ignore you gleefully if you don't speak fluent french.

there are more than enough people in the US who don't speak english (for god's sake, in SD or SF there are friggin bus stop signs in vietnamese, thai, and spanish, to cater to those who don't BOTHER to learn english!) that I always try to be accomodating about it.

i'm all for multiculturalism, but there's no reason to be a jerk just because it's the "national pastime".

03 Feb 2003 | Steve said...

maybe in the south of france they're nice to you if you try to speak french, but if you're anywhere near paris (which, yes, tends to be the political center) they ignore you gleefully if you don't speak fluent french.

Distinctly different than my experience. I had no problems whatsoever in France. Perhaps it was because I would tell them, in their language, that I don't speak French very well and then ask them, again in their language, if they spoke English. What seems to set the French off is Americans who come barging in and expect everything to cater to them. I'd be surly if people did that to me, too.

25 Mar 2003 | German Guy said...

We love France! They are the best! No war.,

26 Apr 2003 | salut les amis said...

VIVE LA FRANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!