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GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — The first notes of Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” had just played when Gabriella Papadakis suddenly became aware that people were about to see a whole lot more of her shape than she had planned. The French ice dancer’s glittering emerald costume at the Olympics had come unhooked at the neckline and later in the routine her left breast was exposed live on television. When the clasp became unhooked, the 22-year-old Papadakis was more worried about holding up her outfit than making sure her twizzles and rhumba were in sync. Her swinging short program with...

PARIS June 14 — France's defense minister criticized her American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, in an interview published Saturday as someone who considers the United States the world's only military, economic and financial power.Michele Alliot-Marie also accused American industry of waging "economic war" by trying to "take over the capital" of European defense-related industries. Europeans must regroup to resist, she said, according to the interview in the daily newspaper Le Monde.Alliot-Marie's blunt remarks recalled the bad blood between Paris and Washington over France's leading role in opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq.Rumsfeld's January dig at France and Germany as being part...

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has suggested, among other things, that we put warning labels on French wine alerting the consumer that the French use bovine blood to clarify the wine. I think that’s a great idea. Other than being generally disgusting to vegetarians who thought French wine was drinkable, it highlights the risk of mad cow disease, via that bovine blood tainting French wine.

Having liberated France from the Germans, and having sheltered the Germans for 40-odd years from the Russians, and having poured billions of dollars into rescuing the Russians from themselves, the United States now finds, as it races to protect its own citizens from madmen with doomsday weapons, its most implacable foes are ... France, Germany and Russia. You know, the peace lobby. I will leave it to others to speculate on the motives of these three nations, or to discuss their qualifications to lecture others on the evils of interventionism. (A poll shows 57% of Germans agree with the statement...

"How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?" "Nobody knows – because it's never been done yet." That joke was making the rounds at a political conference in Washington this weekend. It is a cruel and unjust jest. As Margaret Macmillan writes, in Paris 1919, 1.3 million Frenchmen – one out of every four between 18 and 30 – died in the Great War (1914-1918), and twice as many were wounded fighting successfully to defend Paris. But the French are not loved here, and neither are the Germans. And Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is making himself a populist icon with...

CAIRO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in comments published on Wednesday French proposals to increase the number of inspectors hunting for banned arms in Iraq aimed to delay a solution to the Iraq issue forever. In an interview with Egypt's semi-official al-Ahram newspaper, Powell said a call by French President Jacques Chirac on Monday to increase technical and human inspection resources did not aim to help the U.N. arms hunt. "On the contrary, (the proposal) aims to delay the process of dealing with this issue forever," Powell was quoted as saying. "The issue...

Dissenters in Europe become the first victims - of a war of words Gary Younge in New York and Jon Henley in Paris Tuesday February 11, 2003The Guardian The "petulant prima donna of realpolitik" is leading the "axis of weasels", in "a chorus of cowards". It is an unholy alliance of "wimps" and ingrates which includes one country that is little more than a "mini-me minion", another that is in league with Cuba and Libya, with a bunch of "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" at the helm. Welcome to Europe, as viewed through the eyes of American commentators and newspapers yesterday, as...

Another letter from my FL friend...He's angry... February 10, 2003 Mr. Wolfgang Ischinger German Embassy 4645 Reservoir Road, NW Washington, DC 20007-19987 Dear Mr. Ambassador: I am sending this letter to add my voice to the growing chorus of voices protesting Germany’s selfish, ego-centric stand on the upcoming war with Iraq. I am old enough to know that were it not for the benevolence of US, Germany would today be a province of the (old) Soviet Union. Our heroic airlift kept West Berlin free from Soviet incursion and maintained a free Germany until it could be reunited with it’s Soviet...

Why France Must End Its Obstructionism Posted Tuesday, February 11, 2003 | Email a Comment Why France Must End Its Obstructionism An Independent Opinion Piece By Bob Nardo, Evan Wagner, and David Hodges All too often, American higher education offers students a distorted worldview of moral equivalency. This view is reflected in media accounts of student anti-war activism. Students are taught that all cultures and beliefs are equally justified and America is arrogant to tell others how to live, to tell despots which neighbors they cannot invade, or which weapons of mass murder they cannot posses. Freedom may work for...