Posted on 05/06/2007 9:47:08 AM PDT by Cincinna
As the Normandy war cemetaries are actually American territory that was given by France to the United States after WW2, these 10’s of thousands of Americans hacve actually never left the United States.
As for the billions, then I guess you’ll allow us to deduce the many billions we also spent on our own defence, developing an independent nuclear force as well as our conventional forces, which served and still serve alongside their American brothers-in-arms in Korea, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, etc...
If that is true, why is either a cause for celebration?
I’ve got TV5 on satellite, and all they want to talk about it Royal, even though she lost. You’d think Sarkozy lost, by their maniacal and biased coverage.
I’ve got TV5 on satellite, and all they want to talk about is Royal, even though she lost. You’d think Sarkozy lost, by their maniacal and biased coverage.
The European left is in denial though.
After the collapse of the USSR its reflexive, pathological hatred of America came untethered from any anchor it might have had in the past.
To persuade people that they should fear the United States might be relatively simple, but to convince them that the U.S. is more threatening to their personal security-and by extension, the sustainability of their culture-than an Islamic supremacism flourishing in their midst is a tougher slog.
I actually see no problem in friends disagreeing with each other now and then. Areas that we will see the disagreement, IMO, are Kyoto (unless the US elected a democrat president), and Iraq war. Many Americans were angry because Chiraq went further than simply disagreed with Bush. He actively sabotaged whatever attempts Bush did to get approval from the UN SC. Still, none of those are latent. After all, the US now has close relationships with Japan and Viet Nam, two former enemies.
YAY!! Vive la France! Good for them! I pray it turns out as those who voted for Sarkozy hope. France will be in my prayers...
We’ll see how pro American he is...I think that’s the key here.
He wants France to develop a new Geisha class....sounds good to me!
I don't think that it's American soil. From the Wikipedia article on the topic:
France has granted the United States a special, perpetual concession to the land occupied by the cemetery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_Normandy_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial
Believe me, it’s not pathological hatred. You would feel the difference if France as a nation hated the United States the way it once hated Germany.
What we have here - on both sides of the ocean if I may say so - is a mix of irritation at the other nation’s pretense to be right, many incomprehensions of the way the other nation sees things, a fierce sense of each nation’s identity, a common but different sense of some Historical mission, a fierce pride of what each nation acheived and how it achieved it.
To make a long story short, we are very much alike, so we make a point to put the emphasis on what little differences we have.
AF:
You lost me there:
I made a rhetorical point about the fact that, on balance, the gifts and the sacrifice of this country far outweigh anything France has done for us, even the Statue of Liberty.
You seem to think I want France to return the remains of Americans buried in Normandy. I said give us back the lives of the Americans who saved their butts in two world wars.
I also can’t make heads or tails of your point about our giving ourselves back our own defense costs because I pointed out that America has spent billions protecting France. Huh? Please clarify.
Why drink French wine when German wine is so much better?
A special, perpetual concession, doesn’t that mean these tracts of land are under US jurisdiction for millenia to come ?
Save your optimism. Chirac was the “Conservative” in the first election he ran in.
You make a very insightful and important point. The media creates perceptions of reality that are often inaccurate or at least skewed. (This is not always intentional.) This applies to everything on which they report.
I don’t know. It’s not a big deal, now that I have read the crap other people are giving you :-)
I think if it was really American soil (like the American Embassy in Paris is) I could go there and ask for asylum and legal stuff like that. I think the special concession is a wonderful gesture though.
Folks, we shouldn’t be mean to our French brothers. They still have some of the world’s most beautiful women and most excellent historical attractions, and who are we going to hang out with when we go over there to visit!?!?
I am just saying, you got your rhetorical wish, or at least part of it : these tens of thousands of dead American soldiers actually are buried on American soil - or at least on land perpetually given to the United States.
As for the billions America spent in defense of Western Europe - including France - I am just pointing out that Western Europe also paid billions for NATO defense during the same period, and used the forces paid by these billions in operations alongside US forces, including operations that are curezntly going underway. So IMHO, it would seem only fair to take these billions into account.
Other than that, I make no assertions. I was just bringing my rhetorical 2 cents as an answer to the rhetorical points you were making.
Thanks, I didn’t have my Ben Franklin quote book handy. ;-)
Do want an jam on that?
Who knows, maybe you can ? A special concession means there is a special contract between the two nations about how to settle such cases - which means French law only applies there when and as specified by these bilateral agreements.
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