French Military & foreign policy

Email Me When A New Comment Is Made
Show Only Poster Name and Title Newest to Oldest

Pages: 1 2

verdunjp RE:French Military & foreign policy 3/1/2005 7:00:56 PM

You seem to forgot that France fight terrorism since a long time before 9/11. During the 80, serious terrorist agressions had shaked France. So, according to me, France will fallow USA at 100% in the war against terrorism. JP

Quote Reply

Yimmy RE:French Military & foreign policy 3/1/2005 7:08:54 PM

"In the cold war the Soviet Union wanted global communism or at least socialism." No they didn't, Lenin and Stalin set the course for internal Communism. The West thinking otherwise was simply a paranoid delusion.

Quote Reply

Herc the Merc RE:French Military & foreign policy 3/1/2005 7:13:40 PM

Well my question is the raison l'etre of FRance and international affairs. They got upset about Iraq (FURIOUS) yet it seems that the only alternative they had to offer to Iraqi's was continued no fly zones and Saddam, the US (ie Bush) came in with all the contrevorsy etc- said it was for democracy(the world laughed), but hey there is an election. France is still mad. In this specific instance what was the French goal in Iraq (prior to US invasion).

Quote Reply

JIMF RE:French Military & foreign policy-To verdunjp 3/1/2005 7:18:10 PM

As I recall from a previous post you are Canadian. I can't imagine a French person saying that they will "follow USA". Lead America, influence America, and maybe if they are feeling particularly generous they might say work with America, but follow USA, I don't think that particular concept can be expressed in the French language.

Quote Reply

Godofgamblers RE:French Military & foreign policy-To verdunjpJIMF 3/1/2005 7:52:42 PM

JIMF, agree with your comments. but not clear if you mean that in a positive or negative way. it can be both, right? Herc, maybe you saw that classic movie WALLSTREET where G. Gecko proclaims, "Wars, famine, the price of a paper clip... we pull that stuff out of the air and the man on the street scratches his head and wonders where we get all this stuff". basically right. iraq was a crisis because bush declared it a crisis. as for the sudden pains of conscience of the american elite over saddam's "cruelty" to his own people, that had been going on for decades, with western financial, military and ideological support. why suddenly declare it a crisis? and there are a dozen or so countries around the world where you could declare a similar crisis. why iraq? obviously there were political reasons to invade iraq. the french, along with many other countries, saw bush as having dreamt up the iraq crisis and so had no interest in getting involved. if anyone put themselves into chirac's shoes and tried to justify helping the US to the french people, they would be very very hard pressed to do so. france was the victim of multiple bombings in a spree that lasted for years. many were killed in seeminly random bombings. i went to paris in 92 (or around there) when the bombings were at their height. but the french took it in stride and went about life as normal. same for the british during the IRA bombings in 79 in london. they are no strangers to 'terrorism'.

Quote Reply

verdunjp RE:French Military & foreign policy-To JIMF 3/1/2005 8:11:15 PM

You are right. French people would not use the words "follow USA" but in fact, they will if it is to fight terrorism. JP

Quote Reply

JIMF RE:To GODOFGAMBLERS and verdunjp 3/1/2005 8:25:33 PM

Actually I meant it in a humorous way, but as I said in another post I admire France's strong sense of indedpendence. French Language Question: When Woodrow Wilson was in Paris in 1919 a French newspaper described him as a "man of candor" I suppose that might be "candeur" in French. One of Wilson's aides was very pleased and took it as a compliment meaning that Wilson was honest, a straight shooter, puts his cards on the table etc. One of the French delegates informed the aide however that the French word included the connotation that anyone who would tell you everything and was totally honest must be a fool. Is that correct?

Quote Reply

Herc the Merc RE:To GODOFGAMBLERS and verdunjp 3/1/2005 8:36:43 PM

Ok France did not have any interests to oust Saddam, and had reason to sverely doubt Bush's motives, the question remains, if Iraq was not to be invaded what was France plan of action with Iraq, and in general its role in the world as a geopolitical player.

Quote Reply

Godofgamblers faux ami 3/1/2005 8:53:56 PM

yes, JIMF, that is a good one. "candeur" is what french learners call a "faux ami". it is an English word that seems the same as a word in french but has a completely different meaning. candeur in French means, to put it nicely, naive. so basically the french were not saying that Wilson was a "straight shooter" but a naive person. i.e. a simpleton who did not understand the subtleties of the matter at hand.