French hostility a chronic problem

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 11/29/04 | Robert Novak

[stm]

"My guess is that the EU will make France the laughing-stock of Europe"

They already are. I work for an international (but based in the US) company. I was at our US headquarters in NJ 3 weeks ago for some training. There were several Europeans there, including a person from Germany. They pretty much universally regarded France as the pimple on the ass of the EU and were usually pretty vocal in their disdain.

[ken21]

wee, wee!

[SolutionsOnly]

I don't think of France as a problem. If France were more consequential, it would be a problem, but things being what they are, France is just background noise - easily tuned out.

[The Hollywood Conservative]

Did you hear the Tour De France officials are going to strip Lance Armstrong of his latest Tour De France victory?


A search of his room turned up three banned substances:


Toothpaste, Deodorant and Soap.


A subsequent physical exam turned up two more:

A testicle and a backbone.

[T.Smith]

"... taunted British Prime Minister Tony Blair because ''our American friends'' do not ''pay back favors.''

"Bonjour? Monsieur Pot? This is Monsieur Kettle. You are le black!"

[wagglebee]

"our American friends" do not "pay back favors."

My memory must be a little fuzzy . . . how was it again that the Frogs repaid the favors we did for them in WW I and WW II?

[Marty]

I was in France for a bit more than a week earlier this month and everybody was more than gracious to me and my husband. I'd been concerned about our reception, but nobody was rude to us.

[snapperjk]

This hallowed ground, above the beach at Normandy is the only land in France we should ever worry about again. And to think my father, God rest his soul (died 2001 at 89), risked his life at Normandy to save the French. I'll be damned before I'll follow in his footsteps to do it again.

[fastattacksailor]

Now, now! Be fair to Jock straps!

Be nice to Jock Straps---after all the majority of them DO 'support' us

Chirac being the exception......

[Lazamataz]

What france thinks is as important to the US as what Haiti thinks.

Incorrect.

See, we kinda care about what Haiti thinks.

[dk/coro]

Well said, sir. You expressed my thoughts precisely!

And, this has been so for decades, much to the discomfort of the Frogs.

[Lazamataz]

I was in France for a bit more than a week earlier this month and everybody was more than gracious to me and my husband. I'd been concerned about our reception, but nobody was rude to us.

Yeah, but you should have heard what they said about you when you left.

[wagglebee]

I think Eisenhower should have claimed all of the beaches at Normandy (at least those taken primarily by Americans) as American soil. We should put a US consulate building there and just walled it all off.

[stm]

Weeeell isn't that special. Who poured millions of dollars in loans into France to help them turn back the Nazi's? Who kicked the Germans out of Paris in 1944? Who bailed their ass out in SE Asia when the VC kicked the crap out of them in the late 1950's and early 1960's? Who sent over thousands of grape vine stock, to be grafted on to their scions when a blight of aphids all but destroyed their wine industry? Yup, you guessed it. No need to thank us. We know better.

Exactly what favors have the French bestowed on the US? Oh yeah, I remember, they provided Saddam Hussein with Secret information about our NBC countermeasures capabilities prior to OEF/OIF. Spineless jellyfish.

[snapperjk]

I was in France for a bit more than a week earlier this month and everybody was more than gracious to me and my husband. I'd been concerned about our reception, but nobody was rude to us. You were lucky!!

[2nd Amendment]

As a Christian, I know i,m not supposed to hate . . but I think I really do HATE France! I hate their ingratitutude. I hate their smelly comeuppance. I hate their stinking cheese! I hate their arrogance for not being a part of NATO. I hate their involvement in world corruption and terrorism. I hate their stinking French bread. In fact I hate everything about France.

[lancer]

Sorry if I seem to be harping on this, but I think it is important: if you want the background to the European policy against the U.S. and Israel, read the works of Bat Ye'or at www.frontpagemag.com

[snapperjk]

I hate their stinking French bread. LOL... Even the advertised 4:00PM 'hot french bread' at Albertson's (supermarket) has been cold !

[rbg81]

Cowards are rude to their friends because they know they can get away with it. Cowards are deferential to their enemies because they are afraid of getting hurt. The latter behavior gives cowards a sense of inferiority, which they try to dispel by being rude to their friends.

France is a nation of cowards.

[Stratman]

The French have been this way for decades. As far as I have read, they were this independent in WWII.

What the US has to realize is the French see themselves as a counter-weight to American global influence. By being deliberately contradictory to American foreign policy, they are able to garner support from other nations who also disagree with American actions but are unable to voice their opinion on the world stage. This places them as the leader of those opposed, which in essence gives the French a certain amount of political clout. If it weren't the French, it would be some other country.