Quote: All right, where to begin ? I'm a 34 year-old Frenchman - and yep, French as a frigging frog. I used to come to FR and enjoy the debates, and so I decided to be part of it instead of a mere lurker. I chose FR because I'm politically conservative and heavily interested in world politics (and a bit of a history buff, as you could put it), and I look forward debating with like-minded Americans. As for the Franco-American flame war going on, I can only say this : I love my country as you love yours, and such love compels me to be grateful for the people that liberated France. And so (if you pardon the pun), thank you all for you made us a free Republic,too. Unquote ******************************** That photo may not be a Roland, but Newsweek published photos of the Rolands located AT Baghdad International Airport, as it was being occupoied by US Marines. Of course, why Newsweek must have made a mistake...Oooops! And of course, France said they were black market, but Ooops Again, they were proven to be latest generation Rolands....Ooops! You have a very large OOOOOOPS! factor going there!
France was playing hard with Russia and Germany to diminish US influence in the ME. They lost that gamble, tucked their tails between their legs and headed for Syria with the very WMDs that required them to leave conventional weapons behind, such as the Roland.
Then all three nations launched a propaganda war decrying US involvement in Iraq, siding with Islamofascism. Now the same players are basically hyping their wares in Iran, only the nuclear stakes make the game much higher, and China is in aid. Nuclear whore live very short lives, as will again be the case in Iran for any European nation who deems to play both sides of the fence. There is only one side of the fence, a simple truth which France seems to have missed in its machinations. And France needs to get on that right side, or take what it has coming: a diminished capacity in world affairs and world trade.I long for the France represented by LaFayette, is it truly dead?
Perhaps now, with a new conservative leader in France, the modern Vichy French politicians who perpetrated the oil for food scandal( food=WMDs)will recede into their anti-semitic holes in the ground where they belong.
“That photo may not be a Roland, but Newsweek published photos of the Rolands located AT Baghdad International Airport, as it was being occupoied by US Marines. Of course, why Newsweek must have made a mistake...Oooops! And of course, France said they were black market, but Ooops Again, they were proven to be latest generation Rolands....Ooops! You have a very large OOOOOOPS! factor going there!”
Links, Candor ? Claims that France said this and France did that and it was “proven” should be backed by links. That usually helps making a point more than capitalizing “ooops”. Just as it helps to put the right picture to illustrate said point.
To say the least, I have trouble seeing how there could be latest generation Rolands when production of the Roland missile stopped in the late 1980s... So either you prove me wrong and I’ll gladly eat crow, or I call BS on the whole story.
“France was playing hard with Russia and Germany to diminish US influence in the ME. They lost that gamble, tucked their tails between their legs and headed for Syria with the very WMDs that required them to leave conventional weapons behind, such as the Roland.”
Innuendo. What is there to back this story up ? I mean, if there is something substantial, why hasn’t the WH organized huge press conferences with damning evidence ?
Again, what would be the point for ANY government in striking deals with a regime everybody knows will go down in flames in a matter of weeks ? To gain influence in the ME ? Since you think the US has gained a lot of influence in the ME since OIF, wouldn’t have it been simpler for France Germany and Russia to just side with the US and get their share of the spoils of war ?
“Then all three nations launched a propaganda war decrying US involvement in Iraq, siding with Islamofascism.”
All three nations opposed the US in the UN, that much is true. Call it propaganda if you like. As for siding with “Islamofascism”, I call BS on that one too, Candor. French and German forces are in Afghanistan, French and German intelligence services shares intel with their US counterparts, French and Gerùan judges prosecuted Islamic terrorists.
“Now the same players are basically hyping their wares in Iran, only the nuclear stakes make the game much higher, and China is in aid.”
Funny, last time I checked France and Germany both expressed a lot of concern about Iran’s nuclear program, called it a military program, and sided with the US in the United Nations. The ones opposing sanctions are China and Russia (which provided both the technology and the fuel). Remember Russia ? The one Dr Rice said had to be forgiven, led by the guy whose soul Pdt Bush said he had a good long glimpse at ?