Quote:
Originally posted by Aurel
Have you ever been to France, Tabs ? Do you even know what you are talking about ? And how do you rank a power ? By the number of bombs a country is capable on dropping on a given city, or by the average weight of its citizen ?
France has used its freedom of speech, and many americans have not liked it. If France were a third rate power, you would not even have noticed it. France has a lot of history and influence in the middle east, like it or not. Did you even know that Bush just asked Chirac to send some troops in Iraq to help maintain order. It looks that our superpower is in some trouble right now: 48 deaths since the official victory, about one a day...
I am back from a trip to France, and I am sick of tired of morons who have never left their farm and call it a third rate power.
Aurel
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I believe there are things to like and even emultate (sp?) about France:
1) Collectively, the country is rooted by its language. There is a strong nationality of who the French are, that I like to think occurs when people speak the same language. IMHO, language, communication and being understood is tantamount to cohesiveness.
2) I am not entirely sure it's that bad being a 2nd or 3rd World Power. "Rate" is subjective. For one, if the economy isn't as strong as a "1st rate country," it will not suffer from the influx of peoples who are interested in their own gain and not the country as a whole.
3) Of what I saw when I went to France bolsters both Tabs and Aurel's argument: with them, however, I equate this to pride. The French seem proud to be French, and I feel there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I was so frightened to go to France knowing little of the language, I listened to every French on tape learning book I could find. I made out fairly well too. The French weren't nearly as fatal with me as I bastardized their language. They were quite patient, in fact. They recognized the effort.
Personally, I've forgotten the whole French aspect of Iraq. I do think the US is in the hot seat though concerning WMDs. The only out is the news organizations choosing not to cover the WMDs lack of recovery. Bush et al are steering away from that, choosing to instead entertain the Pakistani President and have campaign fundraisers. Powell, as we speak, is fuming. And Condoleeza Rice, in my view, has been stifled. I wouldn't be surprised if she soon resigned.