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Chirac Walks Out Of Speech In English
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 3-24-2006 | David Rennie - Toby Helm

Posted on 03/23/2006 8:04:39 PM PST by blam

Chirac walks out of speech in English

By David Rennie and Toby Helm in Brussels
(Filed: 24/03/2006)

President Jacques Chirac of France stormed out of a European Union summit last night after a French employers' leader said that English was "the language of European business".

Jacques Chirac: Intensely nationalistic mood

The walk-out, seen by Tony Blair, prompted a sheepish exit by the French foreign, finance and Europe ministers and threatened to derail the summit before it had begun.

The meeting had been called to try to fight a wave of "economic nationalism" sweeping the Continent, as France, Spain and other nations seek to erect barriers to cross-border competition.

Mr Chirac's behaviour, in front of two dozen European leaders, was seen as a sign that he and his team were in intensely nationalistic mood.

It emerged that the president's spokesman had gone out his way to inform the press of the incident.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chirac; english; out; speech; walks
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To: blam

If not for English speakers from the U.S, Great Britain, the Commonwealth and Canada, the idiot would be storming out of meetings held in German. What can one expect from a country whose greatest soldier was a girl, and whose greatest general was an Italian.


21 posted on 03/23/2006 9:29:36 PM PST by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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To: AmericanMade1776

Chirac looks like LBJ in that picture. Going to have the same political outcome I see.


22 posted on 03/23/2006 9:34:30 PM PST by truemiester (If the U.S. should fail, a veil of darkness will come over the Earth for a thousand years)
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To: blam


...would he have preferred Arabic?


23 posted on 03/23/2006 10:31:05 PM PST by Tzimisce (How Would Mohammed Vote? Hillary for President! www.dndorks.com)
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To: AmericanMade1776

"linguistic patriotism".....and he made sure it was noticed. More narcissism over substance.


24 posted on 03/23/2006 11:55:15 PM PST by tesla33373
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To: truemiester
Chirac looks like LBJ in that picture. Going to have the same political outcome I see.

You are right.


25 posted on 03/24/2006 12:01:03 AM PST by MinorityRepublican (everyone that doesn't like what America and President Bush has done for Iraq can all go to HELL)
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To: AmericanMade1776

He looks like he's about to cry.

Poor wittle Jacques-y.

26 posted on 03/24/2006 12:01:19 AM PST by Allegra ("Trollspotting." A New Movie Starring a Bunch of Kitties)
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To: PzLdr
And whose greatest military victory was the French Revolution when they were fighting.....France.
27 posted on 03/24/2006 12:12:55 AM PST by Nik Naym (Ted Kennedy's Oldsmobile has killed more people than Dick Cheney's shotgun.)
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To: blam
How does one walk in English?
28 posted on 03/24/2006 12:16:23 AM PST by Nik Naym (Ted Kennedy's Oldsmobile has killed more people than Dick Cheney's shotgun.)
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To: neodad

The international aviation language is English.

French is the international language of surrender


29 posted on 03/24/2006 12:24:32 AM PST by Loud Mime ("Countdown" - A documentary about Keith Olbermann's dwindling IQ)
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To: PzLdr

. . . and whose greatest naval victory was the sinking of the unarmed Greenpeace ship 'Rainbow Warrior' in Auckland harbour with the loss of only one life - one of the french secret-service agents who planted the bomb! :D


30 posted on 03/24/2006 3:08:00 AM PST by Vectorian
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To: blam

Pah! Us English didn't spend 500 years conquering a quarter of the world's surface and a third of her population so that everyone could speak a completely gay language like french did we? About time he learnt English is the world language and french is a cultural backwater with too small a vocabulary to be useful.


31 posted on 03/24/2006 3:11:52 AM PST by Vectorian
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To: blam

As Paris burns.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1602210/posts

Gotta love a man with priorities!


32 posted on 03/24/2006 3:18:14 AM PST by azhenfud (He who always is looking up seldom finds others' lost change.)
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To: Vectorian

Chirac is lucky. Actually, about a quarter of the Earth's population speak Mandarin - the most spoken language on the planet. The accent with French clashs wildly.

But even moreso, doing arithmetic functions in written Mandarin is hell.


33 posted on 03/24/2006 3:25:23 AM PST by azhenfud (He who always is looking up seldom finds others' lost change.)
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To: azhenfud

Which is why all the educated Chinese speak English as well and play Cricket, the worlds most widely played game according to Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/09/30/china-india-cricket_cx_pm_1003chinacricket.html


34 posted on 03/24/2006 3:32:25 AM PST by Vectorian
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To: dynachrome

Yep.


35 posted on 03/24/2006 3:34:47 AM PST by TXBSAFH (Proud Dad of Twins, What Does Not Kill You Makes You Stronger!!!!!!)
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To: blam

36 posted on 03/27/2006 6:59:07 AM PST by steve-b (A desire not to butt into other people's business is eighty percent of all human wisdom)
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