Democrats like to whine about how the entire world hates the United States. What they really mean is that the socialists in Europe hates us. Most of the world actually loves the United States, as you can see by the amount of people anxious to immigrate here year after year. Part of this is surely because the United States is one of the most generous countries in the world, if not the most. Whenever there is a crisis or catastrophe, Americans are there to help, giving money, donating food, sending our military on humanitarian issues, and some will actually fly to the area in crisis to help rebuild. During the tsunami in 2004, for example, the United States provided $350 million. The earthquake in Haiti is no different. We’ve been sending troops to help with humanitarian relief. We’ve pledged money.
And how are the socialists responding to our generosity? They’re whining.
The first time U.S. Marines landed in Haiti, they stayed nearly 20 years.
It was 1915, and President Woodrow Wilson dispatched 330 Marines to “re-establish peace and order” after the Caribbean nation saw six presidents in four years either killed or forced into exile. The U.S. occupied Haiti until 1934. American troops returned in 1994 in an ultimately abortive attempt by then-President Bill Clinton to reinstall Haiti’s exiled president to power.
Now the Marines are back for a very different mission.
Black Hawk helicopters whirred down onto the manicured lawn of Haiti’s presidential palace Tuesday, delivering hundreds of U.S. troops who have transformed the National Palace into an earthquake aid depot in the center of Port-au-Prince. About 12,000 American troops are already on the ground or anchored offshore, organizing everything from aid drops to air traffic.
But for some skeptics of American power, the image of U.S. soldiers taking over the wrecked symbol of Haiti’s sovereignty conjures less than favorable comparisons to other places where America has used its military might — Iraq, Afghanistan and the like. France’s international cooperation minister, Alain Joyandet, even accused Washington of trying to “occupy” Haiti and urged the United Nations to investigate.
… Joyandet complained after a French aid flight carrying a field hospital was turned back from Port-au-Prince’s overtaxed airport last week. The angry minister reportedly got into a physical confrontation with the U.S. official in charge of air traffic control. The French plane landed safely the next day.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy intervened quickly, praising Washington’s “exceptional mobilization” and “essential role … on the ground” in Haiti. But the whole row was embarrassing, especially with so many Haitians still suffering.
Other prominent U.S. critics have voiced similar, if predictable, concerns. In his weekly television address, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez accused the U.S. of “occupying Haiti in an undercover manner.”
Occupying Haiti? Are these people literally insane?! The Haitians certainly don’t mind us being there.
On the Haitian side, government officials pleaded for U.S. help and throngs of survivors cheered when American helicopters ferried hundreds of soldiers onto the palace grounds. People who have gone eight days without food or water have far more pressing concerns than politics.
“We are happy they are coming, because we have so many problems,” hairdresser Fede Felissaint told a Scottish newspaper reporter in Port-au-Prince. He said he did not mind that U.S. troops were taking up positions at the palace.
“If they want, they can stay longer than in 1915,” Felissaint said, smiling.
So, the Haitians are glad that we’re there. Their government is pleading for us to help. They’re cheering our soldiers as they arrive. There are hundreds of thousands of people dead, and millions more still in need. Buildings have been completely leveled.
The real question is this: is the French reaction over nothing more than pride and jealousy?
Underlying the episode is a tangible sense of hurt pride that France — Haiti’s former colonial master — is relegated to a secondary role there while U.S. officials take charge. France has long regarded Haiti as part of its own sphere of influence, and French is still the official language there.
Regardless, Joyandet’s comments have stoked ire among Americans proud of what their military is doing in Haiti. “One has to wonder if Minister Alain Joyandet perceived the U.S. Army as an occupying force in France in 1944-1945 when it liberated his country,” wrote Tim McDonald, a columnist for Indiana’s News and Tribune newspapers.
Sure seems like pride and jealousy to me. It’s sad, too, because this is immaturity at its worst. The United States is doing good work in Haiti, work that is desperately needed, and all Monsieur Joyandet is doing is whining. Why? Does he feel we should have stood back and let the French do everything, and deprive Haiti of the valuable resources we can give them? It doesn’t really seem like he has the well-being of Haiti as his first priority.
Americans are some of the most generous people on the planet. Perhaps the French should follow our example if they want to be number one in humanitarian efforts. If they did that, perhaps the people in the video below would be chanting France instead of USA.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...You know we’ve crossed the line into truly pussified territory once France is tougher on another country than we are. This is nothing against Nicolas Sarkozy, a far better leader than Jacques Chirac could ever dream of being, but still… it’s France.
Under President Nicolas Sarkozy, France has adopted an increasingly hard-edged approach to Iran, often out ahead of the Obama administration with uncompromising language criticizing Iranian leaders and warning that their nuclear program threatens world peace.
The French attitude reflects Sarkozy’s assessment that acquiescing to unsupervised nuclear development by Tehran would be perilous, risking an Israeli attack on Iranian installations and increasing instability in the Middle East. In addition, French analysts said, Sarkozy feels that Europe got nowhere with Iran in several years of what was called “constructive dialogue” and that it is time to move on to stronger measures in tandem with Washington.
… The tough new French approach marks a clear change from the days of Presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush, when France was often a reluctant U.S. ally compared with Britain and Germany. In contrast, Sarkozy in recent weeks has used a sharper tone than have British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel — and President Obama — in denouncing Iran’s nuclear program and advocating sanctions to force Tehran to allow inspectors in.
Sarkozy’s fundamental position — seek dialogue but impose stronger sanctions unless Iran opens its nuclear program to international inspection — dovetails neatly with the stances of Obama and other major U.S. allies, Heisbourg and French officials said. But his recent public comments have suggested impatience with Obama’s extended-hand policy and a conviction that the time has come to deal firmly with Tehran’s nuclear program.
Under the Obama administration, Iran has become bolder and more dangerous. There was the rigged election leading to protestors fighting — and being murdered — for their freedom. Iran has even test-fired nuclear-capable missiles in the face of — gasp! — threats of sanctions from the west. Ahmedinejad is still denying that the Holocaust has ever happened and he still wants to wipe Israel off the map.
Yet Obama still is willing to meet with Ahmedinejad with no preconditions. He’s willing to let the Iranian foreign minister, Manoucher Mottaki, visit the capital even though they’ve been blocked from the capital for thirty years. Every time Iran has shown that they’re a dangerous threat (and definitely not a tiny, insignificant country) Obama has done nothing more than send them the equivalent of a strongly worded letter saying to stop… please?? Obama’s foreign policy is not only a horrific failure at accomplishing anything, it’s also embarassing. We may have the strongest and best fighting for in the world, but all the same… what does it tell you when France has found more backbone than we have?
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Apparently, the French love Obama as much as they hated BOOOOOOOSH. They love him so much, they’ve caught the Obamamessiah fever as well — one even said, when speaking of seeing Obama, that he “saw God” before him.
People gawked and cameras clicked as the Obamas cut a wide figure through the French capital even while confined to a presidential motorcade. It was more personal for the few kept not so distant — the restaurant owner who “saw God,” the chauffeur reveling in a “magnificent mission.”
President Barack Obama, wife Michelle and their two daughters touched lives in simple ways during a private stay in the French capital that closed out a six-day presidential tour rich in history, symbolism and giant messages to the world.
… When dining out Saturday night at a no-star bistro, La Fontaine de Mars, the presidential party was served water, Coke and table wine to accompany foie gras, lamb and steak with shallots, and paid for meals “like any client,” said owner Jacques Boudon. “It’s just what they wanted.”
… “I saw God before me,” he said, “because I saw this smile that a million people have seen around the world. I saw her (Michelle) radiant. … It’s idiotic, but it’s like that.”
It was no surprise that the streets of Paris were lined with well-wishers. When the Obamas dined out, neighbors in nearby apartments hung from windows hoping for a glimpse. Some real fans hung their building with a handmade sign reading “We love you Obama.”
I think the article really says enough on its own, don’t you?
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...As if snubbing the Prime Minister of Britain wasn’t bad enough, Obama had to go and take it to the next level: snubbing Queen Elizabeth herself.
Queen Elizabeth is not amused.
Indeed, she is decidedly displeased, angry even, that she was not invited to join President Obama and France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, next week at commemorations of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, according to reports published in Britain’s mass-circulation tabloid newspapers on Wednesday. Pointedly, Buckingham Palace did not deny the reports.
The queen, who is 83, is the only living head of state who served in uniform during World War II. As Elizabeth Windsor, service number 230873, she volunteered as a subaltern in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service, training as a driver and a mechanic. Eventually, she drove military trucks in support roles in England.
While serving, she met the supreme Allied commander for the D-Day landings, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and developed a fondness for him, according to several biographies. This prompted Queen Elizabeth, who was crowned in June 1953, to say in later years that he was the American president with whom she felt most at ease.
But on June 6, when Mr. Obama and Mr. Sarkozy attend commemorations at the iconic locations associated with the American D-Day assault — Utah Beach, the town of Ste.-Mère-Église, where the first United States paratroopers landed, and the American war cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer — the highest-ranking British representative will be Prime Minister Gordon Brown. His main role will be at ceremonies at the town of Arromanches, near the beaches where British troops landed.
… In Britain, commentators have suggested that Mr. Sarkozy did not want to share the telegenic moment when he hosts Mr. Obama. This was all the more so, the British commentators have said, because the queen’s presence might risk turning the occasion into a celebration of the Anglo-American alliance, whose troops carried out the landings, losing about 37,000 men in the battle for Normandy.
Whoever dropped the ball here is irrelevant. Both Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy share blame here. Both of them should have recognized the importance of having Queen Elizabeth there, and should have taken the initiative to send an invitation. The D-Day invasion has much deeper meaning and importance than the stupid squabblings of egotistical politicians, and yet that is apparently what D-Day is being relegated to: the stroking of two politicians’ egos.
Hat Tip: Ace of Spades
(6 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5) Loading ...Worried about offending Germans, Obama decided not to visit Normandy during his whirlwind tour of Europe. And why should he? It’s not like the bodies of over 9,000 American heroes are buried there or anything.
Oh, wait…
Barack Obama, concerned about offending Britain and Germany, rebuffed strenuous attempts by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to persuade the new American president to make a trip to Normandy this week.
White House officials travelled to France at the start of March to discuss a visit by Mr Obama to Omaha Beach, the site of the American Cemetery, established in 1944 just after D-Day and where 9,387 American personnel are buried. Among them is Theodore Roosevelt Jr the eldest son of the 26th US President.
French officials and senior American military officers walked with White House staff through the cemetery discussing how the two presidents might follow the same route. But even before their trip, the White House had decided that Mr Obama would not travel there this week.
“It wasn’t going to happen,” said an American official in Washington. “We went through the motions to placate President Sarkozy but giving special treatment to France was not on our agenda.
So, Obama pretended like he cared about Normandy only to placate President Sarkozy? Apparently our “citizen of the world” president isn’t too concerned with honoring American history and sacrifice. I mean, really, what does it tell you when the president of France has more respect for fallen American heroes than the actual President of the United States? President Sarkozy apparently understood the need to visit Normandy.
Yet Obama saw it only as giving special treatment to France?
Apparently, our genius president doesn’t understand that visiting Normandy has nothing whatsoever to do with giving special treatment to France. It’s about honoring the sacrifices of American heroes who died on that beach, who sacrificed their lives to stop the onslaught of evil. Of course, giving your life to stop evil men is something that Obama and his liberal friends would never understand, because to them, there is no such thing as “evil”. They want to understand bad people, they want to sympathize with criminals, because they think that if you can sympathize with them, you can rationalize with them. They may have good intentions, but they’re completely misguided, and they cannot understand that, when confronted with evil, you cannot rationalize with it. There is no diplomacy you can practice. The only thing you can do is destroy it. And thousands upon thousands of American heroes who understood this sought to exterminate evil forces on that beach in WWII.
Obama couldn’t even bother to stand there and honor them.
Hat Tip: Right Wing News
(15 votes, average: 3.93 out of 5) Loading ...And no, it’s not a joke. The former French President has been mauled by his poodle.
Former French President Jacques Chirac was rushed to a hospital after being mauled by his pet dog who is being treated for depression, in a dramatic incident that rattled the ex-president’s wife.
The couple’s white Maltese poodle, called Sumo, has a history of frenzied fits and became increasingly prone to making “vicious, unprovoked attacks” despite receiving treatment with anti-depressants, Chirac’s wife Bernadette said.
“If you only knew! I had a dramatic day yesterday,” she told VSD magazine. “Sumo bit my husband!”
Mrs. Chirac, 74, did not reveal where the former president was bitten, but said, “the dog went for him for no apparent reason.”
Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me that a poodle was able to maul a former President of France.
Hat Tip: Right Wing News
(5 votes, average: 4.60 out of 5) Loading ...French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Obama:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama’s positions on Iran, according to reports that have reached Israel’s government.
Sarkozy has made his criticisms only in closed forums in France. But according to a senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate’s stance on Iran as “utterly immature” and comprised of “formulations empty of all content.”
Obama visited Paris in July, and the Iranian issue was at the heart of his meeting with Sarkozy. At a joint press conference afterward, Obama urged Iran to accept the West’s proposal on its nuclear program, saying that Iran was creating a serious situation that endangered both Israel and the West. According to the reports reaching Israel, Sarkozy told Obama at that meeting that if the new American president elected in November changed his country’s policy toward Iran, that would be “very problematic.”
He may be an immature, arrogant, vapid socialist, but he still stands for Hope’N'Change, and that’s all that matters.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...In a landmark election, the French people voted in Nicolas Sarkozy. And I like him. I truly do. And the fact that the French voted him in, and that he said the following things, makes me wonder if the French really hate us nearly as much as the media would like us to believe they do — and if they do, then perhaps that tide is turning.
Parts of this speech brought tears to my eyes. It was moving, it was heartfelt, and it showed an understanding of the United States that very few Democrats have. A good number of Republicans as well seem to have lost this message.
It’s a long speech, so I’m not going to post the entire thing, though I do suggest you read it. Instead, I’ll just post the highlights — Cassy’s favorite snippets (some of which will probably be rather long, but it’s a worthwhile read). Enjoy.
Friendship, first and foremost, means being true to one’s friends. Since the United States first appeared on the world scene, the loyalty between the French and American people has never failed. And far from being weakened by the vicissitudes of History, it has never ceased growing stronger.Friends may have differences; they may have disagreements; they may have disputes.
But in times of difficulty, in times of hardship, friends stand together, side by side; they support each other; and help one another.
In times of difficulty, in times of hardship, America and France have always stood side by side, supported one another, helped one another, fought for each other’s freedom.
The United States and France remain true to the memory of their common history, true to the blood spilled by their children in common battles. But they are not true merely to the memory of what they accomplished together in the past. They remain true, first and foremost, to the same ideal, the same principles, the same values that have always united them.
…
From the very beginning, the American dream meant putting into practice the dreams of the Old World.
From the very beginning, the American dream meant proving to all mankind that freedom, justice, human rights and democracy were no utopia but were rather the most realistic policy there is and the most likely to improve the fate of each and every person.
America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who—with their hands, their intelligence and their heart—built the greatest nation in the world: “Come, and everything will be given to you.” She said: “Come, and the only limits to what you’ll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent.” America embodies this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance.
Here, both the humblest and most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned. That’s what constitutes the moral value of America. America did not teach men the idea of freedom; she taught them how to practice it. And she fought for this freedom whenever she felt it to be threatened somewhere in the world. It was by watching America grow that men and women understood that freedom was possible.
What made America great was her ability to transform her own dream into hope for all mankind.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The men and women of my generation heard their grandparents talk about how in 1917, America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strength, which it had exhausted in the most absurd and bloodiest of wars.
The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944, America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it.
Fathers took their sons to see the vast cemeteries where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.
Fathers took their sons to the beaches where the young men of America had so heroically landed. They read them the admirable letters of farewell that those 20-year-old soldiers had written to their families before the battle to tell them: “We don’t consider ourselves heroes. We want this war to be over. But however much dread we may feel, you can count on us.” Before they landed, Eisenhower told them: “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”
And as they listened to their fathers, watched movies, read history books and the letters of soldiers who died on the beaches of Normandy and Provence, as they visited the cemeteries where the star-spangled banner flies, the children of my generation understood that these young Americans, 20 years old, were true heroes to whom they owed the fact that they were free people and not slaves. France will never forget the sacrifice of your children.
To those 20-year-old heroes who gave us everything, to the families of those who never returned, to the children who mourned fathers they barely got a chance to know, I want to express France’s eternal gratitude.
On behalf of my generation, which did not experience war but knows how much it owes to their courage and their sacrifice; on behalf of our children, who must never forget; to all the veterans who are here today and, notably the seven I had the honor to decorate yesterday evening, one of whom, Senator Inouye, belongs to your Congress, I want to express the deep, sincere gratitude of the French people. I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one’s family.
…
My generation shared all the American dreams. Our imaginations were fueled by the winning of the West and Hollywood. By Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, Hemingway. By John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth. And by Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, fulfilling mankind’s oldest dream.
What was so extraordinary for us was that through her literature, her cinema and her music, America always seemed to emerge from adversity even greater and stronger; that instead of causing America to doubt herself, such ordeals only strengthened her belief in her values.
What makes America strong is the strength of this ideal that is shared by all Americans and by all those who love her because they love freedom.
…
Today as in the past, as we stand at the beginning of the 21st century, it is together that we must fight to defend and promote the values and ideals of freedom and democracy that men such as Washington and Lafayette invented together.
Together we must fight against terrorism. On September 11, 2001, all of France—petrified with horror—rallied to the side of the American people. The front-page headline of one of our major dailies read: “We are all American.” And on that day, when you were mourning for so many dead, never had America appeared to us as so great, so dignified, so strong. The terrorists had thought they would weaken you. They made you greater. The entire world felt admiration for the courage of the American people. And from day one, France decided to participate shoulder to shoulder with you in the war in Afghanistan. Let me tell you solemnly today: France will remain engaged in Afghanistan as long as it takes, because what’s at stake in that country is the future of our values and that of the Atlantic Alliance. For me, failure is not an option. Terrorism will not win because democracies are not weak, because we are not afraid of this barbarism. America can count on France.
…
Allow me to express one last conviction: Trust Europe.
In this unstable, dangerous world, the United States of America needs a strong, determined Europe. With the simplified treaty I proposed to our partners, the European Union is about to emerge from 10 years of discussions on its institutions and 10 years of paralysis. Soon it will have a stable president and a more powerful High Representative for foreign and security policy, and it must now reactivate the construction of its military capacities.
…
My approach is purely pragmatic. Having learned from history, I want the Europeans, in the years to come, to have the means to shoulder a growing share of their defense. Who could blame the United States for ensuring its own security? No one. Who could blame me for wanting Europe to ensure more of its own security? No one. All of our Allies, beginning with the United States, with whom we most often share the same interests and the same adversaries, have a strategic interest in a Europe that can assert itself as a strong, credible security partner.
…
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I want to be your friend, your ally and your partner. But a friend who stands on his own two feet. An independent ally. A free partner.
France must be stronger. I am determined to carry through with the reforms that my country has put off for all too long. I will not turn back, because France has turned back for all too long. My country has enormous assets. While respecting its unique identity, I want to put it into a position to win all the battles of globalization. I passionately love France. I am lucid about the work that remains to be accomplished.
It is this ambitious France that I have come to present to you today. A France that comes out to meet America to renew the pact of friendship and the alliance that Washington and Lafayette sealed in Yorktown.
Together let us be worthy of their example, let us be equal to their ambition, let us be true to their memories!
Long live the United States of America!
Vive la France!
Long live French-American friendship!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
