barman
Member
I think it was actually considered impossible to make an armored division go through the Ardennes forest.
As stupid as the Maginot line concept sounds, the rare battles which occurred there were won by the French.
How should I respond to an anti from europe?
- Thread starter PILMAN
- Start date
- Status
I think it was actually considered impossible to make an armored division go through the Ardennes forest.
As stupid as the Maginot line concept sounds, the rare battles which occurred there were won by the French.
To 195
The only thing worse than having the enemy to ones front, is a Frenchman to your left side. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Battalion
Since you’re French, I’ve always wanted to know, what was Vichy France all about? As a stupid American I can’t quite understand what went on there.
You know, in 2005 I visited your country and I liked it a lot. Everything outside Paris was great. Paris seemed like it was a nation of its own and it was typical of big cities, which I don’t care for. I liked Perone, where I visited your WWI museum, Normandy, and other places. As a former Airborne Ranger and whose grandfather was on the beaches of Normandy, in fact his brother is buried at the cemetery there I’m into military history a bit. I also visited Cantigny where our First Infantry Division stopped the German move 60 miles from Paris in the Great War. This is from the American battle Monuments Commission, http://www.abmc.gov/memorials/memorials/cy.php I do have pictures somewhere at home of the monument that still stands there. I’m surprised you guys haven’t torn it down and replaced it with a bust of De Gaulle. I wonder, do they even teach you enlightened and far more cultured French about the 85,000 Americans that partook in the Aisne-Marne Offensive? How would that have gone without US troops.
Some beautiful places for you to visit in your homeland; brought to you with American blood, sweat, and tears:
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/su.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/sm.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/rh.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/no.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ma.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/lo.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ep.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/br.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/am.php
De Gaulle never really did recover from our refusal to let him partake in the invasion, or that we more or less stopped and placed him out front to march through his Arc de Triomphe. Like it or not, you would be speaking German today if it were not for the US. But in your cultured way, you despise us for this.
Understanding the French is actually quite simple. In WWII some of your people fought on the German side after you lost and surrendered within six weeks, despite having no real numerical disadvantage to the Germans, with some ending up in North Africa fighting the Allied (Vichy troops). Subsequently these troops switched sides and fought with the Allied. However, the Allied early on under the command of Eisenhower after a battle had French prisoners. It was amazing even then to the US troops that a French prisoner found it appropriate to lecture the Americans as to what we had done wrong and how we could have fought the battle better. I guess in our uncultured minds we just can’t get it.
The only thing worse than having the enemy to ones front, is a Frenchman to your left side. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Battalion
Since you’re French, I’ve always wanted to know, what was Vichy France all about? As a stupid American I can’t quite understand what went on there.
You know, in 2005 I visited your country and I liked it a lot. Everything outside Paris was great. Paris seemed like it was a nation of its own and it was typical of big cities, which I don’t care for. I liked Perone, where I visited your WWI museum, Normandy, and other places. As a former Airborne Ranger and whose grandfather was on the beaches of Normandy, in fact his brother is buried at the cemetery there I’m into military history a bit. I also visited Cantigny where our First Infantry Division stopped the German move 60 miles from Paris in the Great War. This is from the American battle Monuments Commission, http://www.abmc.gov/memorials/memorials/cy.php I do have pictures somewhere at home of the monument that still stands there. I’m surprised you guys haven’t torn it down and replaced it with a bust of De Gaulle. I wonder, do they even teach you enlightened and far more cultured French about the 85,000 Americans that partook in the Aisne-Marne Offensive? How would that have gone without US troops.
Some beautiful places for you to visit in your homeland; brought to you with American blood, sweat, and tears:
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/su.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/sm.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/rh.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/no.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ma.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/lo.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ep.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/br.php
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/am.php
De Gaulle never really did recover from our refusal to let him partake in the invasion, or that we more or less stopped and placed him out front to march through his Arc de Triomphe. Like it or not, you would be speaking German today if it were not for the US. But in your cultured way, you despise us for this.
Understanding the French is actually quite simple. In WWII some of your people fought on the German side after you lost and surrendered within six weeks, despite having no real numerical disadvantage to the Germans, with some ending up in North Africa fighting the Allied (Vichy troops). Subsequently these troops switched sides and fought with the Allied. However, the Allied early on under the command of Eisenhower after a battle had French prisoners. It was amazing even then to the US troops that a French prisoner found it appropriate to lecture the Americans as to what we had done wrong and how we could have fought the battle better. I guess in our uncultured minds we just can’t get it.
barman
Member
Since you sound like the typical guy who hates France, let me tell you about a few things:
Every kid learns about the American involvement in both WW1 and WW2.
Vichy France was a bunch of old guys (former WW1 war heroes) thinking they could get it easier by collaborating with the ennemy. They lied to the population, sent thousands of french people to work in Germany in order to bring back war prisonners (POWs), and rounded up jews to be sent to concentration camps.
Such bitterness in your words...
As you are obviously trying to attack me on that tpoic, let me show you a few pictures of me visiting the Belleau woods battlefields and cemetary, as well as the Aisne et Marne memorial:
De Gaulle didn't Get on well with Roosevelt who thought he was a dictator in disguise.
Roosevelt originally had a plan for an American military occupation of France , called the AMGOT plan. It is thanks to De Gaulle and Winston Churchill that we got him to re-consider that option.
As much as De Gaulle was a pain in the ass of the USA, he was still a great influence on France in the long run. I don't believe in his decision to take France out of NATO, but he was at the heart of France's nuclear program.
What bothers me though is that people like you are just trying to rub our nose in the **** whereas you didn't come to save France in the first place, you came because Germany declared war on you first.
Say whatever you want but tons of people are grateful to the US over here for just letting us free of German occupation, even if that wasn't the first reason for which you came.
Blah Blah Blah...
Lots of French people fought for the allies' side as early as 1940. I guess you never heard of French pilots flying for the RAF, Free French victories in Africa and Free French troopers landing on D-Day.
Every kid learns about the American involvement in both WW1 and WW2.
Vichy France was a bunch of old guys (former WW1 war heroes) thinking they could get it easier by collaborating with the ennemy. They lied to the population, sent thousands of french people to work in Germany in order to bring back war prisonners (POWs), and rounded up jews to be sent to concentration camps.
Such bitterness in your words...
As you are obviously trying to attack me on that tpoic, let me show you a few pictures of me visiting the Belleau woods battlefields and cemetary, as well as the Aisne et Marne memorial:
De Gaulle didn't Get on well with Roosevelt who thought he was a dictator in disguise.
Roosevelt originally had a plan for an American military occupation of France , called the AMGOT plan. It is thanks to De Gaulle and Winston Churchill that we got him to re-consider that option.
As much as De Gaulle was a pain in the ass of the USA, he was still a great influence on France in the long run. I don't believe in his decision to take France out of NATO, but he was at the heart of France's nuclear program.
What bothers me though is that people like you are just trying to rub our nose in the **** whereas you didn't come to save France in the first place, you came because Germany declared war on you first.
Say whatever you want but tons of people are grateful to the US over here for just letting us free of German occupation, even if that wasn't the first reason for which you came.
Blah Blah Blah...
Lots of French people fought for the allies' side as early as 1940. I guess you never heard of French pilots flying for the RAF, Free French victories in Africa and Free French troopers landing on D-Day.
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Silvanus
Member
Don't listen to that stupid anti-Europe and especially anti-France talk. It's a bunch of BS.
Tommygunn
Member
barman said:
... Or French fifth columnists aiding the allies, communicating via codewords and others to assist the Normandy landing, etc., etc., and risking their lives in occupied France.
Barman, a number of very nice photos there -- thank you for posting them.
I feel compelled to apologize for my fellow countrymen. In some places in this country, in some venues, it has become popular to disdain the French ...maybe you've heard some of the silliness; "for sale, one french rifle in good condition, dropped once." And maybe you've heard dumber ones -- but I think I'll leave them out here.
Not that it's a good excuse but pperhaps some of it's a response to what we feel some French (in particular in my opinion Parisians) feel toward Americans. There's that old cliche': "what goes around come around."
And it's done in ignorance, without understanding ... often feeding on itself.
I think if the education system in America (which has, in the last 30 years, turnbed into a horrid incompetent joke) was better at educating American youth about 20th century European History, the kind of ignorant and stereotypical remarks made by a few in this thread, and by some other Americans in general, would not exist.
To 203
De Gaulle compromised the entire NATO defense plan with his stupid games. You had USAF bases and major supply depots smashed up into Germany to close and within rocket artillery range of the Warsaw Pact. Let me remind you that France paid 10 cents on the dollar for the appraised value of what US installations built with US tax dollars in France were worth. Just give me some De Gaulle history lesson, after all, we’re stupid Americans and you’re so cultured and educated. De Gaulle’s claim to fame post war was a nuke, a satellite and his attempts to boost the morale of a nation defeated in Algeria.
Anything can be argued as having an ulterior motive. I can say Mother Theresa was just buying a ticket to heaven and that’s why she devoted her life to Christ and God. You’re attempt at rationalization away the US sacrifice by claiming our interest was just in Germany and France was the road there does say something about you.
De Gaulle compromised the entire NATO defense plan with his stupid games. You had USAF bases and major supply depots smashed up into Germany to close and within rocket artillery range of the Warsaw Pact. Let me remind you that France paid 10 cents on the dollar for the appraised value of what US installations built with US tax dollars in France were worth. Just give me some De Gaulle history lesson, after all, we’re stupid Americans and you’re so cultured and educated. De Gaulle’s claim to fame post war was a nuke, a satellite and his attempts to boost the morale of a nation defeated in Algeria.
Anything can be argued as having an ulterior motive. I can say Mother Theresa was just buying a ticket to heaven and that’s why she devoted her life to Christ and God. You’re attempt at rationalization away the US sacrifice by claiming our interest was just in Germany and France was the road there does say something about you.
GoRon
Member
Great photographs barman, thanks for posting them.
Dr. Peter Venkman
Member
I went to France a few years back, Paris to be exact.
The worst thing about it was the Neon lighting all over, not the attitudes.
The worst thing about it was the Neon lighting all over, not the attitudes.
barman
Member
Dear Red6,
Obviously you're stuck in your opinions. That is your right. I'm not going to argue with someone who's not ready to hear my views and puts words in my mouth (where did I say Americans are stupid?) in order to make me look bad.
But, as you seem to be certain that we don't give your troops enough respect, please check this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQzF4o3qM14
Maybe it will warm your cynical heart a little bit.
Obviously you're stuck in your opinions. That is your right. I'm not going to argue with someone who's not ready to hear my views and puts words in my mouth (where did I say Americans are stupid?) in order to make me look bad.
But, as you seem to be certain that we don't give your troops enough respect, please check this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQzF4o3qM14
Maybe it will warm your cynical heart a little bit.
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Nolo
Member
Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to read this entire thread, but I will make a statement:
Humans need certain things to survive. They need to eat, to sleep, to have shelter, to defecate, to remain healthy, to fend off predators, and to reproduce.
Refrigerators help us to eat, allowing us to save excess food, thus saving time not having to hunt.
Beds help us sleep, because they are more comfortable than hard soft ground, which allows them to sleep less, thus getting more work done.
Premade housing helps us have shelter, because it is sturdy enough to be there in the long term, making shelter no real issue. Plus it's darned comfortable to have central heating.
Toilets help us to defecate without waste, allowing us to both remain healthy and to save time by bot having to clean up poop.
Medicine helps us to remain healthy. Vaccines help us to avoid being sick, thus saving us the bedridden time.
Gun help us to be able to fend off predators without having to take a martial arts class and devote the time to true mastery (which takes far more time than a simple two hour class twice a week) as well as the workouts that are needed to keep in shape to effectively use said art.
Humans are amazing creatures. Why? We're all different. All lions are hunters. All horses are good runners. All spiders are excellent trap-setters. All humans are... doctors, lawyers, businessmen/women, teachers, designers, artists, the list goes on ad infinum. We need almost all the time we have to accomplish all those basic needs. Almost all. In order to fulfill our passion, we need more time. All of these inventions give us more time. And when humans have more time, they can devote more of it to what their good at, thus saving other people time and enjoying themselves in the process.
Not everyone has the time to become an expert in self-defense. Guns save you that time, which allows you to get more palatable work done.
Nolo out.
Humans need certain things to survive. They need to eat, to sleep, to have shelter, to defecate, to remain healthy, to fend off predators, and to reproduce.
Refrigerators help us to eat, allowing us to save excess food, thus saving time not having to hunt.
Beds help us sleep, because they are more comfortable than hard soft ground, which allows them to sleep less, thus getting more work done.
Premade housing helps us have shelter, because it is sturdy enough to be there in the long term, making shelter no real issue. Plus it's darned comfortable to have central heating.
Toilets help us to defecate without waste, allowing us to both remain healthy and to save time by bot having to clean up poop.
Medicine helps us to remain healthy. Vaccines help us to avoid being sick, thus saving us the bedridden time.
Gun help us to be able to fend off predators without having to take a martial arts class and devote the time to true mastery (which takes far more time than a simple two hour class twice a week) as well as the workouts that are needed to keep in shape to effectively use said art.
Humans are amazing creatures. Why? We're all different. All lions are hunters. All horses are good runners. All spiders are excellent trap-setters. All humans are... doctors, lawyers, businessmen/women, teachers, designers, artists, the list goes on ad infinum. We need almost all the time we have to accomplish all those basic needs. Almost all. In order to fulfill our passion, we need more time. All of these inventions give us more time. And when humans have more time, they can devote more of it to what their good at, thus saving other people time and enjoying themselves in the process.
Not everyone has the time to become an expert in self-defense. Guns save you that time, which allows you to get more palatable work done.
Nolo out.
30 cal slob
Member
barman,
very nice photos!
very nice photos!
Havegunjoe
Member
"I'm actually not particularly against gun ownership from a, like, moral perspective. What is a fact though is that a gun is a tool for killing. It's a dangerous thing to have because it enables people to do serious harm in their moments of greatest weakness, when they succumb to rage or other anxieties. Of course, in the end, it is the people that do it, not the guns, but even so, society hardly needs every person to own weapons. In another post, you make it seem like it is the only thing that keeps a government from becoming a tyranny, but this is hardly what has happened in Europe, where no one carries guns. The argument is therefore hardly sound."
Yea kind of like Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, Russia, and any other country in the world that has had some despot take over. Easy to do against an unarmed populace.
Yea kind of like Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, Russia, and any other country in the world that has had some despot take over. Easy to do against an unarmed populace.
ArfinGreebly
Moderator Emeritus
barman, #206
Thanks.
A little perspective is a good thing.
Vive la France. Vive la liberté.
By the way, we have our own "Vichy contingent."
You'll find many of them in Washington D.C., seeking to appease insatiable tyrannies.
It is understood that the people of a country are seldom well represented by the government under which they find themselves.
It is also true here.
It is encouraging that the ideals of liberty are anchored on your side of the ocean as well as ours.
Thanks.
A little perspective is a good thing.
Vive la France. Vive la liberté.
By the way, we have our own "Vichy contingent."
You'll find many of them in Washington D.C., seeking to appease insatiable tyrannies.
It is understood that the people of a country are seldom well represented by the government under which they find themselves.
It is also true here.
It is encouraging that the ideals of liberty are anchored on your side of the ocean as well as ours.
To 210
Something changed in certain parts of Europe.
There was a time where the French understood, when they truly were enlightened.
What a great gift:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/3/3b/20050506131704!Statue_of_Liberty.jpg
Our liberty was not handed to us. It was achieved through force and violence. In fact we had just fought a war with ourselves shortly before this gift was given to us. What has changed from then to now?
The US was already by the mid 1800s its own nation, at that time their wasn’t globalization, no internet, transatlantic phone-line and two very large oceans separated us from Europe and Asia……. Why does this matter? Europe starting in the mid 1800s was rocked by socialist movements. Fist the Communist/Marxist movement, later the National-Socialist movement with the likes of Franco, Mussolini and Hitler. The socialist thought, its nihilist world view devoid of God, based on a collective thought that centralizes power does not value the individual. After WWII Europe was not spared, even then you had the iron curtain and Soviet occupation in the East, radio Moscow, communist front groups etc sponsored and financed from the East. Europe for more than 150 years has been consumed with socialism. The difference between the right and the left is their view and handling of security and national identity. Economically a continental conservative is just as socialist as the far left, and even though the concept that even a Nazi (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) was a socialist is unfathomable to most. In fact the later national socialist movements borrowed much of their ideas from the preceding communists whom they tangled with not because of true ideological differences, but because there can be only one living in the masters house, and the communists were the competition for power.
In 1989 the wall fell. But did the dogma get rejected? In Europe, today socialism has become culturally engrained. Many indeed identify their national heritage with some sort of socialist thought. Occasionally you’ll hear a German speak of an “Ordentliche Sozialpolitik.” There was a time where Frenchmen rose up, where portraits like the “Raft of the Medusa” inspired action. Today, you are hedonist, impotent, and no cause will make you react, not even your own. You’re societies are contemptible and decedent. The only people going to your cathedrals are American tourists and your old. You’re hollow and devoid of principals. A nation that gave us a statue like “Liberty” to celebrate freedom today slithers around with the likes of Saddam, Kadaffi, and won’t raise a finger to help the US even after 3,000 are killed until shamed into action. Talk my transatlantic friend, is cheap.
In the once Catholic nation of France your socialist health-care will pay for an abortion. Today you define apathy as morals, and weakness as strength. Your politicians show their strength by standing up to the US an ally (We won't bomb you), but cower in the face of some North Africans lighting your suburbs on fire. You define culture as “Europe won’t be a United States of Europe”, as you throw away your religion, your nation, and succumb to some Pan-European dream. You despise the label “surrender monkeys” and “socialists” but have people like Royal who have massive support of the sovereign.
I’m just a dumb uncultured American. Being dumb and with a very limited perspective, I don’t have to worry about understanding Hezbollah, and I prefer to stick with our “unlimited American insanity” as well.
Something changed in certain parts of Europe.
There was a time where the French understood, when they truly were enlightened.
What a great gift:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/3/3b/20050506131704!Statue_of_Liberty.jpg
Our liberty was not handed to us. It was achieved through force and violence. In fact we had just fought a war with ourselves shortly before this gift was given to us. What has changed from then to now?
The US was already by the mid 1800s its own nation, at that time their wasn’t globalization, no internet, transatlantic phone-line and two very large oceans separated us from Europe and Asia……. Why does this matter? Europe starting in the mid 1800s was rocked by socialist movements. Fist the Communist/Marxist movement, later the National-Socialist movement with the likes of Franco, Mussolini and Hitler. The socialist thought, its nihilist world view devoid of God, based on a collective thought that centralizes power does not value the individual. After WWII Europe was not spared, even then you had the iron curtain and Soviet occupation in the East, radio Moscow, communist front groups etc sponsored and financed from the East. Europe for more than 150 years has been consumed with socialism. The difference between the right and the left is their view and handling of security and national identity. Economically a continental conservative is just as socialist as the far left, and even though the concept that even a Nazi (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) was a socialist is unfathomable to most. In fact the later national socialist movements borrowed much of their ideas from the preceding communists whom they tangled with not because of true ideological differences, but because there can be only one living in the masters house, and the communists were the competition for power.
In 1989 the wall fell. But did the dogma get rejected? In Europe, today socialism has become culturally engrained. Many indeed identify their national heritage with some sort of socialist thought. Occasionally you’ll hear a German speak of an “Ordentliche Sozialpolitik.” There was a time where Frenchmen rose up, where portraits like the “Raft of the Medusa” inspired action. Today, you are hedonist, impotent, and no cause will make you react, not even your own. You’re societies are contemptible and decedent. The only people going to your cathedrals are American tourists and your old. You’re hollow and devoid of principals. A nation that gave us a statue like “Liberty” to celebrate freedom today slithers around with the likes of Saddam, Kadaffi, and won’t raise a finger to help the US even after 3,000 are killed until shamed into action. Talk my transatlantic friend, is cheap.
In the once Catholic nation of France your socialist health-care will pay for an abortion. Today you define apathy as morals, and weakness as strength. Your politicians show their strength by standing up to the US an ally (We won't bomb you), but cower in the face of some North Africans lighting your suburbs on fire. You define culture as “Europe won’t be a United States of Europe”, as you throw away your religion, your nation, and succumb to some Pan-European dream. You despise the label “surrender monkeys” and “socialists” but have people like Royal who have massive support of the sovereign.
I’m just a dumb uncultured American. Being dumb and with a very limited perspective, I don’t have to worry about understanding Hezbollah, and I prefer to stick with our “unlimited American insanity” as well.
Tommygunn
Member
Red6 said:
Oooooh, well said, well said!
Now ... if only we could get our own government not to bed down with the rest of the world's tyrants .......:banghead::banghead:
barman
Member
Dear Red6,
I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of time to address your points. I will try to be brief, and please don't take my terseness as flippancy. Okay, here goes...
Same here! In fact, I'm sure that France has the U.S. beat on the violence aspect, if that is so important to you.
And, far from being its own country, France was an Empire. The birth of globalization, if you will.
I agree with most of what you have written above. I don't care for socialists of the internationalist OR nationalist variety myself! Because, when you go to the extreme right or the extreme left, they are all pretty much a bunch of centralized-power, anti-Semitic douchebags, aren't they? However, you are totally wrong in saying that a center-right continental politician is just as socialist as the far left. Since you don't like history lessons, I'll just let you look into that for yourself.
I really think that you are exaggerating here, and throwing around generalities. I could point to the New Deal as an American socialist program, and say that "socialism is culturally engrained in America". Remember that France currently has a right-wing president, who, in his 3 months in office has passed mandatory minimum sentencing, tax breaks, and a reform of overtime laws (and that is just off the top of my head). But, considering what you go on to say, I don't think that you are equating "socialism" with any kind of economic theory at all, but rather some sort of malaise or apathy...
Far be it for me to defend Chirac's actions in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. You threw a lot of extra stuff in there, but I would remind you that the French are famous for standing up to their government in street demonstrations, and that American leaders have also easily cozied up to dictators, when it served her interests.
What a hodgepodge! Look, you might want concentrate on affairs that concern you (French health care and religiosity not being of them). As for the US being an ally, haven't you read "Our Oldest Enemy"? France has always forged her own foreign policy, and I'm sorry, but I think that a lot of Americans are foolish in thinking that, in this Hobbsean world, countries are going to always act like "best friends forever". "A country does not have friends nor enemies, it only has interests". Or "Beware of entangling alliances", if you prefer the American version of the same sentiment.
If you insist. I think that your argumentation is histronic and that you know very little about France. I have not always agreed with French foreign policy, as I'm sure you were not a big fan of Jimmah Carter when he was president. Thank God Chirac is gone.
But don't even start talking to me about the international jihad that is happening today. France deports radical imams, unlike the UK, for example. Currently in the US, you have terrorist training camps, footbaths in universities for muta, the Council on American Islamic Relations leading your elite around by their noses, a president who won't shut up about "the Religion of Peace(TM)", debates in Congress whether John Does can be sued for reporting suspicious behavior, a guy arrested on 2 FELONIES for leaving a couple of Korans in the ****ter, etc. etc.
I gotta go. No offense, but I've heard a million guys like you before, with your arguments based on little more than emotion, and you are nothing special.
I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of time to address your points. I will try to be brief, and please don't take my terseness as flippancy. Okay, here goes...
Same here! In fact, I'm sure that France has the U.S. beat on the violence aspect, if that is so important to you.
And, far from being its own country, France was an Empire. The birth of globalization, if you will.
I agree with most of what you have written above. I don't care for socialists of the internationalist OR nationalist variety myself! Because, when you go to the extreme right or the extreme left, they are all pretty much a bunch of centralized-power, anti-Semitic douchebags, aren't they? However, you are totally wrong in saying that a center-right continental politician is just as socialist as the far left. Since you don't like history lessons, I'll just let you look into that for yourself.
I really think that you are exaggerating here, and throwing around generalities. I could point to the New Deal as an American socialist program, and say that "socialism is culturally engrained in America". Remember that France currently has a right-wing president, who, in his 3 months in office has passed mandatory minimum sentencing, tax breaks, and a reform of overtime laws (and that is just off the top of my head). But, considering what you go on to say, I don't think that you are equating "socialism" with any kind of economic theory at all, but rather some sort of malaise or apathy...
Far be it for me to defend Chirac's actions in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. You threw a lot of extra stuff in there, but I would remind you that the French are famous for standing up to their government in street demonstrations, and that American leaders have also easily cozied up to dictators, when it served her interests.
What a hodgepodge! Look, you might want concentrate on affairs that concern you (French health care and religiosity not being of them). As for the US being an ally, haven't you read "Our Oldest Enemy"? France has always forged her own foreign policy, and I'm sorry, but I think that a lot of Americans are foolish in thinking that, in this Hobbsean world, countries are going to always act like "best friends forever". "A country does not have friends nor enemies, it only has interests". Or "Beware of entangling alliances", if you prefer the American version of the same sentiment.
If you insist. I think that your argumentation is histronic and that you know very little about France. I have not always agreed with French foreign policy, as I'm sure you were not a big fan of Jimmah Carter when he was president. Thank God Chirac is gone.
But don't even start talking to me about the international jihad that is happening today. France deports radical imams, unlike the UK, for example. Currently in the US, you have terrorist training camps, footbaths in universities for muta, the Council on American Islamic Relations leading your elite around by their noses, a president who won't shut up about "the Religion of Peace(TM)", debates in Congress whether John Does can be sued for reporting suspicious behavior, a guy arrested on 2 FELONIES for leaving a couple of Korans in the ****ter, etc. etc.
I gotta go. No offense, but I've heard a million guys like you before, with your arguments based on little more than emotion, and you are nothing special.
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