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The French are very eager these days.

 RossDas wrote:
The French are very eager these days.

Well they usually are eager to do such things, when it's not against someone they've illegally been trading weapons with. *cough* Iraq *cough*

I just hope we denied them access to our airspace.

djones520 wrote:

 RossDas wrote:
The French are very eager these days.

Well they usually are eager to do such things, when it's not against someone they've illegally been trading weapons with. *cough* Iraq *cough*

And here was me thinking that decades of erroneous national stereotyping was starting to get on their nerves.

djones520 wrote:

Well they usually are eager to do such things, when it's not against someone they've illegally been trading weapons with. *cough* Iraq *cough*

So you're saying that international law is binding?

djones520 wrote:

Oh don't worry, the French will still surrender. They always do. They never have a problem picking fights. They just have a problem winning them.

Yeah, that joke is one of the reasons that the French get away with operations that English speaking public opinion would never tolerate.

Quite savvy, really.

djones520 wrote:

Oh don't worry, the French will still surrender. They always do. They never have a problem picking fights. They just have a problem winning them.

Keep it polite. -Mannahnin That was polite

The whole French cowardice thing is rank stupidity. It is based soley on the rapid defeat of France in WWII due to superior German doctrine (which also beat Poland, the BEF and came damn close to beating the USSR). Incidentally how well did the US stand up to German panzer divisions in North Africa, even though they were understrength and worn out? We also all know what happened when the US decided to refight the Indo-China war.....

The French have a modern, professional army and they have shown far more backbone than most western nations when it comes to answering calls of support and I respect them for it. It could go wrong, like all foreign interventions, but in this case they have probably done the right thing.

 dogma wrote:
Yeah, that joke is one of the reasons that the French get away with operations that English speaking public opinion would never tolerate.

Quite savvy, really.

That's true. Algeria certainly showed us they don't have our qualms about torture.

Edit: True save for the implication that the French are really the masters of super sekrit squirreldom, anyway.

Keep it friendly and polite, please. -Mannahnin

Keep it polite and friendly or don't post. -Mannahnin

There is no such thing as an "Adult" sense of humor. You either have one or you don't.

 Grey Templar wrote:
There is no such thing as an "Adult" sense of humor. You either have one or you don't.

So everyone has the same sense of humour? Are you entirely sure about that?

You either find something funny or you don't. Now most people would find the French cowardice joke funny, even the french.

Palindrome wrote:

djones520 wrote:


Sense of humor.

Grow one.

An adult sense of humour,

Grow one.

if you can't manage it at least attempt to be informed.

Ok... so there is no such thing as an "adult sense of humor" but not withstanding, you want to talk about being informed, and then you throw out straw men like you did.

Firstly, the US Military did not lose in Vietnam. We won every major engagement we ever had with the N. Vietnamese, and by the N. Vietnamese own admission we had them pushed to the breaking point, when our politicians threw in the towel. So don't try casting aspersions on the US militaries efforts in Vietnam when it performed exactly as it was expected to, to win.

And the US efforts in N. Africa makes no sense. Despite fighting a veteran force who had extensive experience with warfare in that region, and air superiority, we inflicted massive casualties on them, and met all of our objectives, pushing the Germans out of Africa back into Italy where we shortly followed. What difficulties that were encountered were encountered by all, including the near equal sized British force taking part in the Tunisia. Victory was eventually achieved by a force that was until that point combat untested, using tactics that they had never had to use in warfare before. So your attempts at insulting our capabilities again falls short.

Honestly... how are you going to call our conduct in WW2 into question when your own country had things like Dieppe and Dunkirk occur fully under their watch*.

*I am in no way stating that the British actions during WW2 were in anyway a slight on her people. They fought admirably and despite the odds faced, your country did not give up, which is something to greatly be respected.

djones520 wrote:

Firstly, the US Military did not lose in Vietnam. We won every major engagement we ever had with the N. Vietnamese, and by the N. Vietnamese own admission we had them pushed to the breaking point, when our politicians threw in the towel. So don't try casting aspersions on the US militaries efforts in Vietnam when it performed exactly as it was expected to, to win.

The only sense in which "military" was brought up is that the French have a modern one. No one said anything about the US military performing poorly in the Vietnam War, just that the US lost it.

djones520 wrote:
So your attempts at insulting our capabilities again falls short.

What made you assume that this was a conversation about military capabilities, and not about nationalism? Or, more accurately, why did you think that a stupid joke about a nation wouldn't elicit any kind of angry response?

djones520 wrote:

Ok... so there is no such thing as an "adult sense of humor" but not withstanding, you want to talk about being informed, and then you throw out straw men like you did.

Heh, what was that about strawmen?

You may want to read up on the Kasserine pass, not exactly the US army's finest hour which even Patton thought was an embarassment.

As you have failed to notice I was making comparisons between the events that lead to Frances undeserved reputiation for cowardice and the results of what happened when the US was in a similar situation.

Frace suffered 500,000 casualties in a single 10 month long battle, which it eventually won, anyone who calls that cowardice is a cretin.

Image-only posts are considered spam on Dakka. -Mannahnin

The French probably don't want to be known for their badassery. It will make them look cooler when Germany invades next!

Palindrome wrote:

djones520 wrote:

Oh don't worry, the French will still surrender. They always do. They never have a problem picking fights. They just have a problem winning them.

Keep it polite. -Mannahnin

The whole French cowardice thing is rank stupidity. It is based soley on the rapid defeat of France in WWII due to superior German doctrine (which also beat Poland, the BEF and came damn close to beating the USSR). Incidentally how well did the US stand up to German panzer divisions in North Africa, even though they were understrength and worn out? We also all know what happened when the US decided to refight the Indo-China war.....

The French have a modern, professional army and they have shown far more backbone than most western nations when it comes to answering calls of support and I respect them for it. It could go wrong, like all foreign interventions, but in this case they have probably done the right thing.

Do they still have the Legion? He was based in North Africa with them for some time. Dad thought they were the only troopers who were equal to marines.

 Frazzled wrote:

Palindrome wrote:

djones520 wrote:

Oh don't worry, the French will still surrender. They always do. They never have a problem picking fights. They just have a problem winning them.

Keep it polite. -Mannahnin

The whole French cowardice thing is rank stupidity. It is based soley on the rapid defeat of France in WWII due to superior German doctrine (which also beat Poland, the BEF and came damn close to beating the USSR). Incidentally how well did the US stand up to German panzer divisions in North Africa, even though they were understrength and worn out? We also all know what happened when the US decided to refight the Indo-China war.....

The French have a modern, professional army and they have shown far more backbone than most western nations when it comes to answering calls of support and I respect them for it. It could go wrong, like all foreign interventions, but in this case they have probably done the right thing.

Do they still have the Legion? He was based in North Africa with them for some time. Dad thought they were the only troopers who were equal to marines.

Yes, the French Foreign Legion still exists. They've been involved in military operations all over the place, including Afghanistan and Bosnia and a lot of African countries.

I saw a lot of stuff about France in this thread, just felt like posting this:

According to the British historian Niall Ferguson, France has participated in 168 major European wars since 387 BC, out of which they have won 109, drawn 10 and lost 49: this makes them the most successful military power in European history.

France was usually quite terrifying as a power pre 1815, and currently is one of the top military powers of the world.

There is two things I can't stand: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch.

- Michael Caine as Austin Power's Dad

 Seaward wrote:

That's true. Algeria certainly showed us they don't have our qualms about torture.

Funny how most of the western nations would have the exact same claim regarding the US and Iraq...

PhantomViper wrote:

 Seaward wrote:

That's true. Algeria certainly showed us they don't have our qualms about torture.

Funny how most of the western nations would have the exact same claim regarding the US and Iraq...

Not really. I'm the first to say that the US employed torture in the course of the WoT, but not at all to the same degree that France employed it in Algeria...and before that Indochina.

 dogma wrote:
Not really. I'm the first to say that the US employed torture in the course of the WoT, but not at all to the same degree that France employed it in Algeria...and before that Indochina.

I don't know. Most of the stuff about Nama and the like isn't really known.

The French have always been pretty brutal when it came to controlling their foreign colonies that weren't composed of actual Frenchmen.

Britain is kind of the odd man out in that respect.

 Ratbarf wrote:

Britain is kind of the odd man out in that respect.

I wouldn't exactly call British colonial rule benign, just ask the Kenyans.

Britain just had a better PR department. They also "won" the Age of Imperialisim so they kinda got to write the history books.

Palindrome wrote:

 Ratbarf wrote:

Britain is kind of the odd man out in that respect.

I wouldn't exactly call British colonial rule benign, just ask the Kenyans.

The thing is that compared to everyone else coming out of Europe they were the best of the bunch,

Grey Templar wrote:Britain just had a better PR department. They also "won" the Age of Imperialisim so they kinda got to write the history books.

True, but there are also many cases were the British have been much more lenient than any other colonial power would have been to dissidence. Ghandi is a great example. The French or the Belgians just would have killed him and moved on.

Indeed, they were not as cruel as others were.

So, it sound slike the French Involvement in Mali, has caused some blowback for Westerners working inthe oIl industry in Algeria.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/16/world/africa/algeria-attack/index.html