[SexyTech]

Vandals Burn Statue of Liberty Replica in France

At least the Mayor of the town comdemned the acts!

[RSM123]

About 3 years ago vandals defaced and attempted to smash a statue of Churchill in Paris. It was stated that their motive was Churchill ordering the destruction of the French Fleet in Dakar, in 1940 - after the French Admiral refused to capitulate to the British, thereby preventing the Germans getting their hands on the ships. As a result approx 3000 sailors lost their lives.

[LANMaster]

It will eventually blow over, I hope.
Once this war ends, and France is denied a part in Iraqi reconstruction, then we need to reach out our hand and rebuild what used to be a very strong alliance.

But for now, It's no more Bougelais for me!

Hello

I hope the French are not all being "tarred " with the same brush. This Site has a few people from France among its numbers. Not all the French will feel or do as these vandals mentioned did.

Mulder stated in a recent post that we should be remindful of French friends. Such actions are not supported by every French person.

Generalisations can be extremely harmful.

Penny

[Rockn]

Who in this forum is from France? I agree with the broad generalization being wrong, but the French govt. gets everything it has coming to it.

[angelize56]

Rockn: Cedric is from France and I consider him a good friend! Take care. angel

[RSM123]

Maybe there is French Bashing on this forum - but there is a lot of American and British Bashing going on around the world at this time also. However as mentioned before no protests about Russian bombing in Chechnya which has killed hundreds of thousands - why is that ?? Why is it only humanitarian to speak out some of the time ? As for the French, well the last crisis in one of their colonies was Rwanda and they hardly excelled themselves dealing with that -

Defendants Convicted in Rwanda Genocide
May Serve Their Sentences in France
Associated Press
March 17, 2003

The French government has agreed to allow people convicted in the Rwanda genocide to serve their sentences in France, the U.N. tribunal for Rwanda said Monday. France is the first European country to agree to provide prison space for those convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Jean Francois Lionnet, France's ambassador to Tanzania, signed the agreement Monday with tribunal based in Arusha in northern Tanzania, according to a tribunal statement. Lionnet said the agreement was an example of France's commitment to promote international justice.

The tribunal was set up in November 1994 to try the alleged masterminds of the 100-day slaughter earlier that year when more than 500,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed. The tribunal has convicted 10 people and acquitted one. It is currently holding 55 suspects. The maximum sentence the tribunal can hand down is life in prison.

Six of those convicted are serving their sentences in Mali, which signed an agreement with the tribunal in 2001. Benin and Swaziland have signed similar agreements with the tribunal. France will begin receiving those convicted once the agreement has been ratified by the French parliament.

Rwanda, which gained independence from Belgium in 1962, is one of eastern Africa's few French-speaking countries, but relations between Rwanda and France have been frosty since the genocide.

France supported President Juvenal Habyarimana's government, whose members orchestrated the killings. The spark that ignited the killings was the shooting down on April 6, 1994, of Habyarimana's French jet as it was approaching Kigali airport. Those responsible for shooting down the jet have not been identified.

They resolutely refused UN terms for intervening, fearing it would lead to 'Anglo Saxon' control in a Francophone colony - and as a result there was a slaughter while they prevaricated.

Yet I cannot recall seeing the Tricoleur being burned on London streets.

[angelize56]

Here...this doesn't knock the French!

On a visit to France, George W. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac are having lunch in a fine local restauraunt. After being seated and presented with menus, an attractive young waitress approaches the table.

"And what can I get for you gentlemen?" asks the waitress.

Bush looks up from his menu and smiles politely. "Hey, honey, how 'bout a quickie?"

Shocked, the waitress slaps Bush and storms off.

After the waitress disappears from sight, Chirac leans over to Bush. In a low voice, he says:

"I think you mean 'quiche,' Mr. President."

[RandyG]

Originally posted by Rockn:
Who in this forum is from France? I agree with the broad generalization being wrong, but the French govt. gets everything it has coming to it.

downwitchyobadself lives in France, but like me is American. he must have some love for the country to be there.


Racist comments like these could very easily become are not condoned by most of the world, except by little children all over the world talking in the schoolyard.


Many American politicians and company's outspoken dismissal of France's policy has sparked huge resentment over there, just as there policy has sparked huge resentment in Americans, and others. Just because a few vandals have taken this action does not condone anyone painting all French with the same brush.

If I were to use the logic that ST has, then all Americans are nothing but warmongering fanatics that think their superior Firepower gives them a sense of superior intellect and superior edict to do what the Hell they want!!

I do not believe that to be the case! That needed to be said before I got bashed around. My point is, a racist comment is unfair, and inevitably, wrong!

[$teve]

well said randy........my personal views of the french are that they are fine on the whole but its the parisiens who seem to be more intolerable and ignorant...but that is echoed by most major cities owing to the fact of cosmopolitanism..........in england londoners are considered ignorant but after doing a lot of work all over the capitol my conclusion is that most"londoners" are tourists who dont speak much english and just dont understand us.

[shortnpretty]

I myself will start buying Italian wine. Seems thats were the 173rd Airborne were based........

Click here to get the story

MMMMM Freedom fries sound pretty good right now. I must be getting hungry..

[happy wander]

Well its a well known fact that us Brits dont have much love for the french, it goes back to Agincourt and Waterloo. I was told a story by my father, that the reason we flick the V sign is to taunt the french, it goes right back to Agincourt when English bowmen were warned if they were caught by the french their bow fingers would be cut off, and after the battle of Agincourt they flicked the V sign at the french as a defiant gesture.

Not sure which way round they did it I assume it was palm upwards motion with the first and second digit forming the V shape, as most of us do now when we drive and someone cuts us up. As apposed to Winston Churchills V sign which is the other way round but still using same fingers.

I know a few french people and they are great friends of mine, alot of Brits are moving to France now because its cheaper to live their, especially Provonce thats a popular place for Brits to live I hear. I sometimes wonder how much of a grudge we need to hold and for how long?

[$teve]

i think its more jealousy than anything....on the brits part i mean.
you see,the french people run the country,if they dont like a certain law or a certain price hike......then they blockade the ports and go on strike,and the police dont do anything to stop them because they are like-minded.i wish we were more like that sometimes instead of just bending over and letting a bunch of ill-educated incompetant and unqualified politicians $hag us at every oportunity

and as for french wine no wonder they eat so much garlic

[happy wander]

I found this article on the battle of agincourt thought you might find it interesting.

http://www.aginc.net/battle/

Most pages describing the battle itself are cribbed from one or another encyclopedia article. Most of the pages talking about the battle talk about the supposed origin of the "middle finger salute" from the battle of Agincourt. (I'm not going to give pointers. Those pages seem to change hourly. If you're really interested, see your friendly local search engine.) Accurate? Given that most of the URLs have "humor" somewhere in the path and the main authorities quoted are "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers", I wouldn't trust them. One chronicler mentioned that the French threatened to cut off the fingers (plural) of any captured archers, but didn't mention which fingers. (Topic for research -- what was the normal fate of captured yeomen? They're worthless for ransom, they can't just be sent home, and they can't just be killed outright. Can they?)

Well that battle was in the 1400's and all we have is hearsay or what was said to have happened at the time, much like the war which is being fought now.

[$teve]

good one HW

i saw the documentary last night about the battle of waterloo and found it fascinating.........even my 12 yr old son watched it,enjoyed it and cant wait to quiz his teacher about it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wat...waterloo.shtml