French bravery - the classic oxymoron

[Bill Glasheen]

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations appealed to European countries Friday to contribute to an expanded peacekeeping force in Lebanon that would have a balance of European and Muslim troops so that Israel and Lebanon will view it as legitimate.

Italy endorsed sending troops to Lebanon but did not commit itself to specific numbers. Finland decided to send up to 250 peacekeepers to Lebanon, but said they would not be deployed until November.

Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said the news was promising but more European soldiers are needed for a vanguard force of 3,500 troops that the U.N. wants on the ground by Aug. 27 to enforce a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants, who are part of the Lebanese government.

"It's very important that Europe now steps forward," he said. "We want this force that we deploy to have a kind of multinational, multilateral character so that it enjoys the confidence of both sides," he said.

The United Nations has been seeking "a Muslim-European or European-Muslim force" because the combination provides "a legitimacy that satisfies both sides," he said.

At a meeting of 49 nations on Thursday, the only countries to offer mechanized infantry battalions, which will be the front line of the expanded force, were three predominantly Muslim countries — Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia — and Nepal, which is predominantly Hindu.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman told the BBC on Friday that "it would be very difficult if not inconceivable for Israel to accept troops from countries who do not recognize Israel ... to guard Israel's safety."

Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia do not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. The foreign minister of Malaysia said Friday that Israel should have no role in deciding which countries make up the force.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said after Gillerman's statement that "Israel hasn't ruled anyone out, Israel hasn't ruled anyone in."

France, which commands the current 2,000-strong force known as UNIFIL, had been expected to make a significant new contribution that would form the backbone of the expanded force. But French President Jacques Chirac disappointed the United Nations and other countries by announcing that France would contribute just 200 combat engineers to its current 200-member contingent in Lebanon.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie defended the country's decision to send just 200 additional troops.

"I can't let it be said or implied that France is not doing its duty in the Lebanese crisis," Alliot-Marie said.

She noted that France was willing to continue leading the force, while Denis Simonneau, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, reiterated that France could always send more troops.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday night that Germany would not send combat troops. Germany instead is prepared to offer "a strong maritime component to control the supply of weapons to Lebanon by sea" and ensure that Hezbollah is not supplied with arms by ship, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Friday.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

In honor of French bravery (NOT) and their willingness to lead a force that they don't want to contribute soldiers to, I offer you a series of quips that are making it around the web these days.

And these aren't the half of it...

- Bill

The French: Classic Comments

" France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these
drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by
prostitutes."
--Mark Twain

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French
one behind me."
--General George S. Patton

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your
accordion."
--Norman Schwartzkopf

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it."
--Marge Simpson

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure."
--Jacques Chirac, President of France

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee."
--Regis Philbin

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore . True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whisky I don't know."
--P.J O'Rourke (1989)

"You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it."
-- John McCain , U.S. Senator

"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America , he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people."
--Conan O'Brien

"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq . After all, France wouldn't help us get Hitler out of France either"
--Jay Leno

"The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag."
--David Letterman

"Only thing worse than a Frenchman is a Frenchman who lives in Canada."
--Ted Nugent

"War without France would be like ... uh ... World War II."

"The favorite bumper sticker in Washington D.C. right now is one that says 'First Iraq , then France.'"
--Tom Brokaw

"What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of its national will fighting against Disney World and Big Macs than the Nazis?"
--Dennis Miller

"It is important to remember that the French have always been there when they needed us."
--Alan Kent

"They've taken their own precautions against al-Qa'ida. To prepare for an attack, each Frenchman is urged to keep duct tape, a white flag, and a three-day supply of mistresses in the house."
--Argus Hamilton

"Somebody was telling me about the French Army rifle that was being advertised on eBay the other day -- the description was, 'Never shot. Dropped once'."
--Rep. Roy Blount (MO)

"The French will only agree to go to war when we've proven we've found truffles in Iraq."
--Dennis Miller

Q. What did the mayor of Paris say to the German Army as they entered the city in WWII?
A. Table for 100,000, monsieur?

"Do you know how many Frenchmen it takes to defend Paris ? It's not known, it's never been tried."
--Rep. Roy Blount (MO)

"Do you know it only took Germany three days to conquer France in WWII? And that's because it was raining."
--John Xereas, Manager, DC Improv.


French Ban Fireworks at Euro Disney - (AP), Paris, March 5, 2003
The French Government announced today that it is imposing a ban on the use of fireworks at Euro Disney. The decision comes the day after a nightly fireworks display at the park, located just 30 miles outside of Paris, caused the soldiers at a nearby French Army garrison to surrender to a group of Czech tourists.
--Jean B.

[f.Channell]

Whatever happened Bill?

They used to have guys like the Marquis De Lafayette who joined us at 19, an extremely wealthy Frenchman dedicated to the ideal of liberty, joined the ranks of the fledgling United States Army as a major general.

He too failed in an invasion of Canada!

F.

[Stryke]

They probably regard this in a broader regional sense and are still remembering Americas damn the UN stance


for right or wrong it`s not a surprise .

I actually think it`d be a positive if more Muslim states led the initiative for peace keeping . Why not many countrys , Germany , Russia , heck lets see a Chinese peace keeping force .

[Bill Glasheen]

A lab report found that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis had too much testosterone in his body during the race. In Landis' defense, everyone seems like they're full of testosterone when they're surrounded by Frenchmen.
-- Conan O'Brien

[Willy]

He too failed in an invasion of Canada!

Everyone has failed at that Fred

[CANDANeh]

He too failed in an invasion of Canada!

And we singed the White House in 1812
The Americans may want payback...They can have Quebec City anytime they wish but they must be certain to have French only logos on thier tanks or face fines.

[Bill Glasheen]

They probably regard this in a broader regional sense and are still remembering Americas damn the UN stance

I'm not sure that's it, Marcus.

France led the way with the U.S. in constructing the peace initiative that everyone signed. They have ownership in the plan; nobody foisted it on them. It's their idea. But God forbid they be the ones actualy to execute it. It's beneath them, of course...

Truth be told, the French leaders are likely in fear of their own voters. Every time a Frenchman might actually have to work a reasonable number of hours in the week, they go on strike. It's the ONLY time you'll see them take up arms. Many international travelers I know avoid connecting flights in France because you just never know when workers of any sort might be striking, which can throw your travel plans to hell. They also have their own Muslim slums which are festering with the kind of no future hate that brews in many of the regions in the Middle East that foment terror. It's their own dirty little secret.

I actually think it`d be a positive if more Muslim states led the initiative for peace keeping .

Lebanon is a special case. It's a diverse population that is at war with itself. Hezbollah is a political/terrorist force that represents a minority in the Lebanese community. The real problem here is Syria and Iran creating mischief by funding terrorist activities. Turning police activity of south Lebanon to a Muslim force (particularly if it was Shia) would be like turning the hen house over to the fox.

In this case, it's extremely important for the force keeping the peace and disarming Hezbollah to look like the multi-ethnic, multi-religious community that Lebanon is. This would help their fledgling demorcracy get on its feet, and allow Lebanon to assert its own identity independent of the terrorist-funded activities of Syria and Iran.

Or... You could just let things fester and allow Israel to go right back in there and bomb the civilian homes that the Hezbollah fighters are launching their missiles from.

And ultimately right now this is about Iran buying time to build their nuclear program. They want to bog the rest of the world down with mischief funded by their oil money. They don't have to dirty their hands, and then pretty soon you'll have nuclear weapons in some pretty ugly hands. Israel isn't going to let that happen. There will be war between the two nations before it all ends. That Mid-East mess ultimately will spill out into Europe, Asia, and beyond.

As they say, pay me now or pay me later. It's in the best interest of the French (who harbor a large population of destitute muslims) to get off their asses and enforce the plan they came up with. It's their problem too. It's not the job of the rest of the world to solve something that is very much their own mess.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Though of lesser importance than religious belonging, ethnic background is still a factor in Lebanon. The country encompasses a great mix of cultures and ethnic groups which have been building up for more than 6,000 years. Although most of the population is today considered Arab, in the sense that Arabic is the national language, the actual ethnic backgrounds vary. The Arabs only reached Lebanon in the 7th century, and their culture was superimposed on an already diverse ethnic population. The intense mixing of populations has since then ensured that few really distinct ethnicities remain in Lebanon, and the question of ethnic identity has come to revolve more around cultural self-identification than on provable genetic linkage.

Generally it can be said that all religious sects comprise many different ethnic backgrounds, and that clear ethnic boundaries are difficult to define. Still, religious and ethnic distinctions sometimes coincide, since religious sects have tended to marry within the group, thus preserving not only religious but ethnic characteristics. Also, one could claim that over time many of the religious sects have evolved into ethnic communities in their own right: the Druze are a prime example of this.

Some Lebanese, especially among Maronite Christians, see themselves as descendants of the Phoenicians/Canaanites/Mardaites/Syriacs and tend to de-emphasize or deny Lebanon's Arab heritage. Melkite Greek Catholics, the Greek Orthodox, and some Maronites tend to focus more on the Greek heritage of the region from the days of the Byzantine Empire, and the fact that Greek was maintained as a liturgical language until very recently. This identification with pre-Arab civilizations also exists in other religious communities, albeit not to the same extent. Sunni and Alawite Muslim, as well as Greek Orthodox and rural Roman Catholic Christians are believed to be of a mixed Levantine (Syrian/Shami) origin.

Lebanese Armenians, Assyrians, Jews, Kurds and Persians form more distinct ethnic minorities, all of them in possession of a national home area outside of Lebanon. However, they total less than 4% of the population.

*********

The 1932 census stated that Christians made up 55% of the population. Maronites, largest among the Christian sects and then largely in control of the state appartus, accounted for 29% of the total population. But since the 1800s, Muslim birth rates have been continually higher than Christian birth rates, with the fastest population increase among the Twelver Shi'a. Also, far larger numbers of Christians emigrated from Lebanon than Muslims.

Today, there is general consensus that Muslims constitute a solid majority of the population; the CIA world factbook estimates their share to be 60% [2]. Still, there is no single sect constituting a majority of the population by itself. The Shi'a is the largest community, thought in 1990 to be about 35% of the population. Since then, their numbers have increased even more, while other communities have decreased due to emigration, and some sources indicate they may be close to 50% of the population. There is no consensus on this number, and the Shi'a proportion of Lebanon's population is among the most widely disputed figures of Lebanese demographics. The Shi'a has, as the traditionally poorest community, had a high birth rate, and they have had no natural emigration outlet (while most Christians had extensive contacts with Europe, the United States and Latin America; and the Sunnis could easily relocate to any neighbouring Arab country, since they constitute a majority in most of the Arab world).

-- Wikipedia

[Mary S]

Jean d'Arc, Victor Hugo, Molière, Marie Curie and Charles de Gaulle, Alexandre Dumas, Jean-Paul Sartre and Belmondo, Napoleon,
José Bové, Luc Besson, Simone de Beauvoir, Coluche, Abbé Pierre, Jacques Cousteau, Louis Pasteur and singer Edith Piaf, François Mitterrand, Pearl Witherington, Nancy Wake.


....got a little something going against the French?

[RACastanet]

“Madame Marie Curie” was named Maria Sklodowska at birth. Her family and friends called her by a nickname, Manya. She was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, the city that had once been the capital of Poland.

Rich

[RACastanet]

Re Napolean:

He was born in Corsica—an Italian

Mary: You need to consult wirh Melon Cat before you post!



Rich

[benzocaine]

[jorvik]

Was it Mark Twain who said that " you only have to find one white crow to know that all crows are not black"
How ridiculous to say all French are cowards....Napolean was corsican Yeah right and who were the folks that he led?? Greeks??
The French fight their own corner and are true to themselves
Look at the useless princess tony...........sunning himself in the caribean while his deputy philandering prime minister rules over chaos in the UK while his Home secretary ( ex-communist party member) john Reid tries to convince a less than gullible UK public that this latest anti-muslim threat was genuine ( yeah like the weapons of mass deception and the death of DR.Kelly was suicide )..........and what do we have here the very capable former foreign secretary being demoted ....and why should this occur.because he had the temerity to mention that a lot of the voters he represented were Muslims ......and conny rice didn't like this........and neither did princess tony.he has a lot invested in the US he backed genetically grown crops when all of Europe was against it, and mainly in the UK.......and now .he is on the way out with so it is rumoured several million dollars of debt..How to recoupe
an autobiography .but who will buy..fatuous ugly Americans.
Sad but true

Do you honestly expect the folks in Lebannon to trust folks like this

[benzocaine]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=french+military+victories

Check out the google search

[jorvik]

check tis one out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horrible_Histories

but you won't be able to get the "horrible history of America".................guess it is just too unAmerican