What France needs to accomplish: Honoring its word. Simply put, France and the rest of Europe must deliver on the UN's cease-fire promise in Lebanon. This means actually protecting Israel from the war-mongering Islamo-nutbags. This means putting troops on the ground and disarming Hezbollah. Unfortunately, I dont think the French have the balls to pull it off. Just another weak nation which talks big. Yet contributes nothing to world peace. It's a nation of hypocrites, just like most of the UN. All screaming and working to achieve nothing. Just to see who looks more "politically correct" on the world stage. I loved Chirac on Lebanon: "We should have an international force keep peace!" Then he only decides to deploy 400 soldiers. 400! Now he has some sense and deployed more... but geez!

interesting points, gf0012. thanks for your comments. hope things don't get too heated in these debates; your knowledge on naval matters is leagues ahead of mine... so i defer to you on these matters. yes, the 'arab alliance' does seem a bit fantastic on paper, but in fact, this HAS BEEN the french gov't's intention for the past 30 years or so! they have accepted so many arab immigrants in an attempt to portray france as an arab country and to gain admittance into the arab league. so i am not completely crazy for thinking up such a plan... who knows... it may work. i believe that a number of arab countries in fact proposed a de facto merging of states in the 70s... why not now? many are anxious to create a counterbalance to the US in the ME. your comments on syria / turkey are well taken. the french don't control the Med entry points but they could wreak havoc on any force trying to enter if they wished. i believe one of france's main air bases in close to Marseille.... they could do multiple sorties against any such naval force. obviously, sea traffic would be stopped during the duration of the crisis. the moroccans et al would not accept french rule; they would enter into a 'confederation' headed by france while the rest of africa would be subjugated in my scenario. obviously, since liberation from france plays such a large part in moroccan / algerian sensibilities, some form of 'collaboration' in an 'arab alliance' would have to be fashioned. and i believe malta is predominantly roman catholic.... fits nicely with france:) so this scenario is 'tres catholique' he he

"hope things don't get too heated in these debates;" a complete absence of malice on my part. I don't have a problem at all with the french, I do however have some fundamental misgivings about french politics. don't think that my enthusiasm to vigorously and enthusiastically counter your proposal is due to a sense of animosity towards the french - as it is not. "yes, the 'arab alliance' does seem a bit fantastic on paper, but in fact, this HAS BEEN the french gov't's intention for the past 30 years or so! they have accepted so many arab immigrants in an attempt to portray france as an arab country and to gain admittance into the arab league. so i am not completely crazy for thinking up such a plan... " that has been the plan, but it has also created a festering wound and an emerging imbroglio for them. there are some broad similarities of lebanons crises on display in france. ie, the emergence of politically secular states within the state. IMV - France is about to be subjected to the folly of her immigration policies. She has a substantial cohort of immigrants who owe their allegiance to their faith and their own culture before they give allegiance and loyalty to the state. "who knows... it may work. i believe that a number of arab countries in fact proposed a de facto merging of states in the 70s... why not now? many are anxious to create a counterbalance to the US in the ME." and as a social experiment it was an unmitigated disaster. did anyone seriously expect the egyptians and libyans to satifactorily create a pharonic state (ie a state based on the notion of merged tribes and peoples from 3000 years ago?) you cannot create alliances out of cultures that are fundamentally opposite to each other. there has to be a bond of common and mutual interests that go beyond the short term strategic/tactical. In that sense, any pseudo alliance created by france with her ex colonies would always be viewed and countered with suspicion. For any enemy, that alliance becomes a somewhat delicious opportunity to open the gates of a new political form of hell. "and i believe malta is predominantly roman catholic.... fits nicely with france:) so this scenario is 'tres catholique' he he " look at the culture heritage of the tribes - not their conversions. ;) catholicisim as a leverage of situational and strategic "bondage" would be short lived IMV. In some circles the Maltese are referred to as the "shortest arabs" in the mediterranean. There is more than a scintilla of truth in that throw away comment.

"Do you forget what the syrians did a few years ago when the turks massed on their borders as a warning message?" i don't know; what happened?

"Do you forget what the syrians did a few years ago when the turks massed on their borders as a warning message?" i don't know; what happened? " the turks were quite willing to drive over the border and start punching their lights out - the syrians were smart enough to change their political posture and back off. it strated because the turks were a bit unhappy at the way that the syrians were messing about on the iraqi border and upsetting the kurdish "issue". the turks would have and could have demolished the syrian military in a matter of days.

The French take Malta, Part 2 Tony Blair looks carefully at the military match-up between the UK and France. Tony?s serious problem that really unnerves him is that he only has two small carriers now, (he used to be two, but one has been de commissioned) and only one is ready to go to war now, as these old carriers need so much maintenance that one is usually up for repairs at any given time, and they rotate in and out of ?ready? status. Then there?s the dam lack of Blue Vixen radars, which used to give the ?Sea Harriers? some real punch and potential against other planes, but now the famous sea harriers have become so old that they were sold to India. All that the carriers have are the regular harriers, which are really just light ground attack planes. Damn, Tony thinks, our army is better, our navy is better, our submarines are better, our air force is better, the only thing they can do is put some Raphael?s in a place where we cant go as easily. Were totally stymied by just 30 Raphael?s and one carrier. Tony goes to bed that night and reading a history book that relates how the British navy managed to ready some light carriers just in time for the invasion of the Falklands fighting; and how they made super fast arrangements buy some American missiles for their jets, and he gets an idea. The next day he gives a speech stating that he chooses to make no comment on the new French policy of invasion. However, the press leeks out ?reliable? information from ?people in the know? that the UK is planning on doing nothing. However, that same day, various phone calls are put in place around the world, including some American senators and weapons making corporations, as well as Spain, Egypt, Israel and British military installations in West Germany. A few days later the major ports and shipbuilding facilities of the UK report large call backs of workers; and the MOD reports that new shipbuilding programs have been started, in order to further support the war on terror. This is confusing for the Press, as the MOD also states that the English army is scaling down its commitments in Iraq and other parts of the world, in order to reduce the ?cost? of supporting such a large force overseas. Two weeks later, British troops are angry to learn that they will only be getting one, two, or three weeks leave off after their return from overseas (much shorter then usual) and are put quickly back into combat preparations. For the first 6 weeks, all is quiet, except for the French press, which is alternating between pounding the collective French chests and criticizing America for its poor quality food, and criticizing the actions of the French president. In all the commotion, the French do not realize that a larger then average portions of the Spanish army are put on ?training exercises? just on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain. But six and a half weeks later a huge UK navel task force leaves port. When news of a major UK navel group traveling south down the Atlantic worries Chirac, but the MOD insists that it is merely a supply and reinforcement group for the UK?s ongoing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other operations in the Middle East. Chirac doesn?t buy this, because he sees that this battle group is composed of not just one, but in fact two British carriers, as well as the Ocean and other amphibious assault ships, more then the usual number of personal carriers then a standard rotate the troops mission for Iraq, way more destroys then are normally seen together; just what Tony would need to support an invasion. He is even more worried when he finds out that one of the ships is their new one with the super ?Sampson? radar that is not ?supposed? to have been fitted with weapons yet. He calls his navy on high alert, puts the main bulk of the French navy around the Western Mediterranean, and sends an extra 60 tanks and a infantry Brigade to Malta, as well as moving several flights of Raphael?s to what used to be Malta?s international airport, as well as some hastily prepared SAM sites. . Several days later when the UK task force is set to enter the Mediterranean, the French issue an order that no UK group will be allowed into the Mediterranean unless closely escorted by the French navy. That night at 2 AM the Mod issues an emergency press release stating that there is suddenly intensive fighting in their region of Iraq, and an entire Battalion of men are threatened, and they are sending extra RAF fighters their to support them. French Radar detect several groups RAF jets, including the Euro fighter as well as other jets leave UK and divide into several groups, some traveling south to Spain (carefully avoiding French airspace) and other going over Denmark and into Germany. There, they land and refuel, and then take off again, but this time not heading towards Iraq but towards Malta and the French navy in the Western Mediterranean. The Fr

The French take Malta, Part 2 ?Tony Blair looks carefully at the military match-up between the UK and France. Tony?s serious problem that really unnerves him is that he only has two small carriers now, (he used to be two, but one has been de commissioned)? Sorry, I miss-typed. Meant to say ?(he used to have three carriers, but one has been decommissioned.)?

RAF winning against armée de l'air above mediterranean sea? you must be joking... your national pride clouds your judgment. and about naval air, harriers were already no match for french super etendard (within fuel range, not like argies ones), they are jokes for rafales, with hawkeyes support it would be a slaughter. in this scenario, french would have : airdefense frigates, hawkeyes, rafales. Unless the brits manage to bring on some frigates, NO CHANCES. the real battle would be around gibraltar. French will try to blockade and not allow RN ships to come. french SSN and antisubmarines ships would deploy here, and they would probably lose this one, with losses on every side. At the end, you would probably see a meditteranean sea controlled by british submarines only, the french controlling air space and though no RN surface ships could deploy. a draw.

This thread is as entertaining as any thread YAKEEPI would start. ;)