Be aware that the French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from 'Run' to 'Hide'. The only two higher levels in France are 'Surrender' and 'Collaborate'. The rise was precipitated by a recent fire which destroyed France's only white flag factory, effectively paralyzing their military.

The French Post Office have also just issued a new first day cover postage stamp which lists every single French war hero and battle honour.

They have also just invented a new tank; 1 forward gear, 5 reverse.

lol i LOVE that old joke!

Pisses the hell out of the French, but who cares if it wasn't true!

The French do great chips ("Les Frites") but their steaks looked like they'd been carved from their butts

They have good ski resorts and good weather in south of France. Holidays is about the only thing it can be good for.

great nightlife and tourism also.

don't the women there have hairy arm-pits though?

no silly....thats the germans

Ah, jealousy is never pretty.

Au moins nous ne sommes pas les marionnettes britanniques pour les Américains!

the french don't belive in shaving, or personal hygine

NEVER SAY SUCH THINGS
THEY SMELL LIKE SPRING BLOSSOMS

Yawn. After two years of bashing the French for not joining into the Iraq war, isn't it time for the simple minds to move on to something new? If you're so fond bashing them, then maybe you can find some new material in the French 'non' against the E.U. Charter.

If they stand up to the country that commands the strongest military in the history of mankind and tells them to shove it with their war, then maybe they're not that cowardly. Conversely, maybe that country with the biggest military force is not that courageous for standing up to a third-world country with a crippled military and political system.

:-)

Touche, mon ami, and the Scottish don't bathe. Our military has more courage than you British or American posers all put together.

$comedy++

1!11

umm i do think you'll find that the scots do "bathe". and also the fact that all armys (appart from posibly the savy army :P) are full of "brave soliders"

No I won't find that, because I have no intention of visiting your manky mountain.

"the french don't belive in shaving, or personal hygine" is a blatant generalization that smacks of nationalism, ned. It's the likes of you and the wanking English and those whiney Americans with their "freedom fries" that makes this world a difficult place to inhabit, going about constantly blasting everything that moves with a 500 lb laser guided bomb.

Vous aimez insulter, mais vous ne pouvez pas le prendre vous-même.

You can have all the courage you want, but thats not what wins wars

Maybe you are not old enough to know of the French Foreign Legion, some of the bravest soldiers in history. It is not courage to launch a cruise missile from a ship or airplane. Hand to hand combat, cest la vie.

How I would love to sit you down and learn you a few things.

Ah, c'est dommage, Monsieur fpscops.com, I have traveled extensively in my life, but I am getting too old for that now. These days I just tend my garden and toy with my server. If you are ever in Marseilles, you should be my guest at the L'OM cafe, where I will treat you to the best bouillabaisse in the world. Then you can 'sit me down and learn me a few things', as I show you my medals from past wars.

This is 2005 I would love to see some frenchie with a spear try and attack someone with a gun.

Well, as the past few decades seem to indicate, it is to everyone's interest for real armies to NOT go to war with one another. Imagine the U.S. fighting countries that have real armies, real economic power and real nukes. The MAD principle ensures that countries are only going to be in proxy-wars (i.e. funding/helping the enemy of your enemy) with one another, but never full-scale war. I wouldn't give the war in Iraq the "won" label just yet. It's the most terrorism-hit country in the world right now.

I never did quite understand the entire background of why some Americans are that upset with the French government being against the war in Iraq. Are the U.S. and France that close to eachother? Why not joke about the Germans? Is Germany more "honourable" because they started major wars?

Speaking of which, I'll be heading to the south of France for a vacation in a few days. Maybe I'll post some pictures :-)

Because they make good beer

I'll go and take some photos of my garbage can, they'll be a lot nicer than photos of france.

I guess home is where the heart is :-)

I can't speak for our American friends, but I think you'll find that most people in Britain were against the Iraq war and secretly (very secretly!) admired the French for standing up to Bush and his lapdog Blair.

Umm you do know that theres more than one mountain in scotland :P, and for the record, i don't live near any
i think you will find that the english are the ones your refering to, the scots, irish, and welsh do bugger all to annoy, we all just get drunk (except my self).

and i can take insults, relativly well, as i say, i'm not english

I dont really think this thread is all that usefull at this time!

But.. But.. It's funny to see teenage americans try to outwit Pierre.

I think its hilarious how serious a couple of ya'll take this stuff. I don't get upset if anyone cracks american jokes. Of course, I didn't vote for the war-monger currently sitting in the oval office, so maybe thats why.

For my rash comments, je suis désolé Monsieur Welby. At the moment I was upset by the insensitive jokes and lashed out in the wrong direction. My family is from Scotland, waaaaaaaay back. If I did do any more traveling, I would enjoy visiting the beautiful Highlands. I would despair flying in through London, though, the English food is so.... dégoûtant.

I passed though London often during the second war, on missions that even today I’m not allowed to discuss. I won’t go into detail regarding English food, except to ask have you ever seen the American television show “Fear Factor”? I’ll always remember my greatest thrill of those London jobs was my airplane’s wheels lifting off the ground to return home.

Don’t get me wrong, London can be nice to visit, the West End is le cat’s butt, just be sure to bring a sack lunch with you, or hit the KFC on Tottenham Court.

That would be the same French *Foreign* Legion that only accepted non french citizens...

Well, it is called the FOREIGN Legion!

Détails. We have never blocked opportunities for people based on their nationality. We are a brave nation, proud to fight with other brave men.

Remember la Hacienda De Camerone!

Details.

Google it. Suffice to say the Foreign Legion fought bravely to the end, outnumbered 200 to 1, creating many casualties among the Mexicans.

I don't like derogatory generalizations, also not if phrased jokingly. If someone made derogatory statements about all Americans over e.g. the Iraq war, I'd be inclined to point out that the entire population cannot not be judged by who their government is, when a statistically very relevant part openly disagrees with their government's actions.

It still hasn't been answered why exactly the French are cowards for realizing two years before the bulk of the American population that the Iraq war is a mistake and that the stated goals and reasons turned out to be a figmentation. Obviously, they hit a nerve somehow.

Did the mexicans take a siesta half way through then

Because it suited the American (and British) governments for the French to be misrepresented in that manner. The truth is is that the French stood up to intense pressure from the Americans and British governments and stood their ground.

History appears to have proven them right to have done so.

Too bad they didn't stand up to the intense pressure Saddam gave them...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20...1291280,00.html
http://www.clipx.net/politics/oil_for_food.php

Can't expect someone to go to war with someone else sending them big bucks to be their friend.

Everyone was trading with Saddam at one point or another.

Some points I'd like to make here:

1. Surely you aren't claiming that the French public has the same reasoning for their position as their government? The former is not entirely aware of all the dirty politics of the latter. Don't forget that the French public is unhappy with its current government. The rejection of the E.U. Charter has been largely attributed to their discontent with their current government.

2. If a government decides to go into a war in spite of a majority of their population being against it, does that suddenly make that population courageous?

3. If you're going to judge citizens of a country by the actions of their politicians, then you'd have a number of issues with the U.S. foreign policy as well, because it has supported both Saddam and O. bin Laden when it suited their interests (i.e. proxy wars). As I understand, O. bin Laden used his U.S.-funded/backed forces to help drive the Russians from Afghanistan. The U.S. is also a long-time ally of Saudi Arabia, which is fundamentalist theocratic state. Are Americans knowingly or actively supportive of Sharia Law because their government is cozy with Saudi Arabia?

I think that if you really have to make generalizations about the citizens of a country, at least don't confuse them with their politicians or misrepresent their reasoning.

google "French Military Victories" and hit I'm feeling lucky.

There is little in international politics that is as it appears. Certainly Iraq was not 'liberated' because of WMDs or concern for oppressed citizens. Foreign policy of all governments will always be driven by interests that are not always popular, honest, or necessarily long-term benificial for the citizens of the countries involved. France will however, always act courageously.

Viva La France!

Threads like this are ridiculous. No one ever takes home an enlightened point of view. It's armchair Internet political apocrypha and inane generalizations; regurgitated clichés parroted from someone on talk radio. I'm afraid I'm going to have to lock this thread now.

Oh, I'm sorry... But that appears to be all that is going on in this thread!

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Well, some posters are the exception to the rule. But that's rare. Why cast those pearls? If it's enjoyable I suppose that's reason enough.

Wait. I thought I locked this.

This is the top levels of the current French Military.

If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny.