I think it's time to seriously reconsider our friendship with
Why would we want a friend that is openly over-critical of us, who secretly sells weapons to an enemy of the world, who defies the world's will and makes money off a program to provide food to the oppressed people of that said enemy? By the way,
What has
Don't forget folks, if not for the US and our true allies, France would be a state of Germany. Enough said, later..................
http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
The French, Our Ally?
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11 comments:
Unfortunately we are caught in a classic example of a former world power caught up in its past glories rather than the realities of the world today. France does have internal issues, like much of the Western world, where the greed of some outweigh the interests of many.
Finally, France is an ally of the United States regardless of what Chirac might say and do.
Is the world any more dangerous? France has been having issues with Islamic extremists inside their borders for decades. Britain has been dealing with the IRA for decades. Germany has a slew of terrorist groups that have been creating issues inside their border for decades. Italy, Turkey and Greece all have suffered from terrorist attacks for decades. Kidnapping and killing is a business in much of the Middle East. Killings and bombings have been reported across the Africa and Asia for decades. What truly is new is that America finally got drawn into the struggle at home.
I like having friends that are critical of me...they keep me balanced.
You know, life would be too boring and too easy if all of our friends agreed with us 100% of the time. We'd never be challenged, we'd never grow, we'd just...stagnate.
And I don't think the french are over-critical of us. They're upset about what we're doing, about how we disregard other nations to further our own cause. They have the right to be upset with us.
As for the weapons-- we have given many middle eastern countries our own fair share of weaponry. recently and during reagan's tenure to coerse the middle east into helping with the downfall of the soviet union. we deserve as much of the blame as the french.
In the last 25 years? Are you serious? December 20, 1983 Donald Rumsfeld meets Saddam Hussein as Reagan's special envoy. That was 21 years ago. How about America arming the Taliban and their good friend Osama during the Afghan war with the USSR in the 1980s? And let's not forget the US arming BOTH sides in the Iraq-Iran war. In Gulf War I and Gulf War II the Iraqi army used both British and American weapons against the coalition. All this information is available online and you are probably aware of it. So why do you choose to ignore it? You reap what you sow.
Blaming France for the terrorism and Iraqi weapons really is ludicrous. I'll leave you to your oh so mature boycott of French wine and "French" fries.
Thanks to all for your comments, I love to hear from the Anti-American crowd overseas and even from a few of the blue states here.
The point that everyone seems to be missing is that the current strain in Franco-American is a two way street. If you stopped spewing hate towards the US for two seconds and opened your eyes to the leftist propaganda that is spreading across the world, you would realize that not every problem is the US's fault.
Granted this country is not perfect and we have made mistakes in foreign policy across the planet in the past and are sure to do so in the future. But I will say this, our system of government and the freedoms we enjoy are the reasons that the US is the best nation in the world.
Much of the hate that is directly towards American is in my humble opinion is simply jealousy. Just compare the rights, freedoms, and standard of living that we enjoy as citizens to any country and the United States comes out on top. Hell our poor live better then most of Europe, Asia and Africa.
Paint me a target for the rest of the world, I am not going anywhere and I will continue to call as I see it. Thanks again to all who took the time to comment, I appreciate each and everyone, even if we disagree on a given issue.
The Mad Tech
ravingsofamadtech@gmail.com
Spare us the drama,
You post is full of inconsistencies that we have pointed out. Because we point out these inconsistencies we are "jealous", because we point out the fallacy of your arguments we are "spewing hate" who said everything is America's fault? You on the other hand imply that everything is France's fault which is childish. You are the one spewing hate; you are the one full of propaganda. America is a great country but opinions like yours are, as we say in Britain, BOLLOX. Poor people in America live better than most of Europe? HAHAHA. Listen mate stick to your techy stuff. Political analysis is for people without their heads stuck up their own asses.
By the way the standard of living in America and Europe compared to the rest of the world is the source of a lot of discontent in the world today. Do you not realise that it is impossible for everyone to have the same standard of living as Americans? There are simply not enough resources in the world. This is not propaganda this is fact. If you don’t believe me I’m sure you know how to use google so look it up yourself. What do you think is going to happen if the west continues to have much higher standards of living which means the rest of the world is left in poverty and can NEVER catch up? Why should people who work as hard as you, sacrifice as much as you have lower standards of living than you? This inequality will be dealt with in our lifetime.
Back to your original post. You ask for France to take stock of the last 25 years, we ask that you do the same for America.
Perhaps we should ask RONALD REAGAN why he lifted sanctions on Iraq to begin with, allowing Saddam to increase the country's economic strength and grow its weapons program. That looks like a big fat USA oops! to me. Need facts to back it up? I won't give you any of my own. I'll just allow you to visit Google and type in the words Ronald Reagan and Saddam Hussein. See whatcha come up with. Ooops!
Why did Reagan lift sanctions against Iraq in the eighties, easy no google serach required; becasue the Iraqis were killing Iranians. Anyone who was killing Iranians in the 1980s was our firend. Kind of like anyone killing Brits in the 1780s were our friends. Hell we liked people who killed Brits all the way through the early 1800s. Oh, how the times have changed.
MadTech, I think we've already re-considered our "friendship" to France. Face it, when they're in trouble, they come crying to us for technological and financial and military aid, despite the fact they've been a sovereign nation a few hundred years longer than us. Think about it, they've had hundreds of years longer to develop a more efficient, powerful economy, but they've been too damn snobby and stupid. And as soon as the shit hits the fan, they come running to their younger cousins to bail them out.
What do you suggest that we (US) or any other country should use as a ctiteria for another country to adhere to to be categorized as a "friend"? Do you feel that the country should be lock step following and cheerleading our every move?
Yo, Anonymous, "Friends" may not march in lockstep with us, but if we're attacked by lunatics, I would hope a "friend" would step forward to help us and help prevent a recurrence rather than accept bribe money to badmouth and hinder us.
Mad Tech, wouldn't like to rub it in or anything, but I can't help throwing my chip in with the more balanced opinions here. Don't take it personally, it's only politics.
Since 9/11 every country has stepped up its anti-terrorist measures and is sharing info, etc. Europe has been fighting different types of terrorism from different sources (ETA, IRA, Red Factions, Islamic, etc.) since the seventies. The US only really had to face it once (I know there have been numerous embassy bombings, but they were overseas and never have the same impact). Extreme militant terrorism was heavily financed by Saudi Arabia. If you want a punching ball, why not start there?
The bickering with France is a major weakness of the pre-invasion political negotiations. It's also silly, as Germany and numerous other countries were also unwillng to invade Iraq for the reasons that were presented (and ultimately, time has shown they were right on that point at least). Of the countries that did join the allies, not one did so with the support of its populations, and many are withdrawing. I wouldn't take Rumsfeld's rantings as any indication of what is really at stake. Let's face it, he's a rabble rouser.
Concerning the US soldiers that died in the Second World War, I think you should visit Northern Europe some time and take the time to visit the war cemetries. You'll see that no-one has forgotten them. You'll see respect is still alive in every village. Coincidentally, Belgium just had another commemoration of the Battle of the Bulge (I can send yuo the stamps if yuo want). In France, you'll also see that US film-makers and musicians still regularly receive the highest awards from official bodies in recognition of their art.
It's just that they didn't feel like joining Dubya's vendetta - and I can't blame them for that.
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