Meanwhile the French help China threaten Taiwan....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1098448/posts FRANCE IS JOINING WITH CHINA in an effort to intimidate Taiwan:
China and France will hold rare joint naval exercises off the mainland's eastern coast on Tuesday, just four days before Beijing's rival, Taiwan, holds presidential elections.
China's official Xinhua news agency made no link between the exercises off Qingdao -- about 780 miles from Taiwan's northernmost point -- and the election.
But the show of military strength and solidarity signaled China's desire to isolate the self-governing island before the vote and its first-ever referendum, which Beijing views as a provocative step toward independence.
Don McArthur observes: "Either the world is insane, the French are insane, or I've gone insane . . . the French are joining the Chinese Communists in an attempt to intimidate a Democracy?!?!"
There's apparently no limit to what the French are willing to do in order to feel important on the world stage. That's a form of insanity, I guess, though I suppose it's possible that these exercises were entered into without thought of the Taiwanese elections, at least on the part of the French.
Of course, it's unclear how intimidated the Taiwanese will be by the French navy. I wonder if the Charles De Gaulle will be there. . . . Heh.
posted at 09:09 PM by Glenn Reynolds
Meanwhile the French help China threaten Taiwan.... I had no idea this was happening. Good grief! Is there no end to the duplicity of the French? I surely hope that the full measure of France's involvement in the massively corrupt "Oil for Food" program is disclosed for the world to see. I have no doubt that their skimming from a $50B+ cash flow was the SOLE reason for their obstruction of our effort to go into Iraq last year (let alone their involvement in Saddam's WMD programs). Yet the Left still drivels on about Haliburton, "it's all for oil" etc.
I hate to admit it, but I really hate the French. They have always complained that it was Hessian mercenaries that led to their defeat at Waterloo -- yet they are the most mercenary people on Earth these days.