[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Liberator

What the French and much of the rest of the world need to re-learn is that sometimes preventing a war doesn't do anything but force the causes of the war to fester instead of being done away with like would happen in a conflict.  Sometimes it's better to do nothing than to force a very unhappy medium.

Wars just tend to lead to a different problem.  Depending on the nature of the war, it can be an even worse problem... look at the Kashmir situation, for example.  

Or Iraq, where a totalitarian dictatorship has been replaced with a lawless state which is suffering from both a lack of key services (police, water, power, etc) and violence.

War is certainly no better a solution than a peaceful compromise - provided the right compromise is found, peace is always better.

[TopAce]

"In no way is France there to destabilize Ivory Coast and its institutions or take sides,"

I like this line the most.

[Liberator]

Sometimes, aldo, there can be no compromise.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]How do you confuse peacekeepers with oil thieves?
[/color]

[Flipside]

Everyones got to have someone to hate.......

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]How do you confuse peacekeepers with oil thieves?
[/color]

Heeheehee!

This development just tickles me pink and maroon. Weee!

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Sandwich


Heeheehee!

This development just tickles me pink and maroon. Weee!

[color=66ff00]You scare me sometimes.

*walks away confused*
[/color]

[Flipside]

LOL I wonder who gets to lock the thread if it becomes a flame?

Oh yes, and since Sandwich is in a silly mood.....

Monkey!

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Maeglamor

[color=66ff00]You scare me sometimes.

*walks away confused*
[/color]

'Twas the idea of France invading another country.

[Clave]

Umm, that's happened many times before surely?

[Ford Prefect]

Indeed. People seem to forget that the entire course of Western civilization was set in motion by the Norman invasion of England.

[Genryu]

Plus, and I don't want to direspect, but, I don't think there was a better general than Napoleon in history. I mean, the guy invaded most of Europe, and he was only brought down by an alliance of many countries. Not bad for cheese eating surrendering monkey, hey ?

[vyper]

The whole Franco/Ivory-Coast situation is essentially a US/Indonesia situation, unfortunately for the French political engine the difference is the French have actually sent in regular army to deal with a public rebellion.

[vyper]

And Napoleon lost. There went his chance for being the greatest general ever. He didn't do anything the romans hadn't or the germans wouldn't...

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
Indeed. People seem to forget that the entire course of Western civilization was set in motion by the Norman invasion of England.

The Normans weren't French. They were actually vikings who had settled in France because the french had given them land in the hope that they would protect them against further viking attack.

[NGTM-1R]

The French are the reason you don't speak Arabic, you know.

They stopped Islam back in the early Middle Ages after it managed to swallow up Spain.

[Bobboau]

the french of today are not the french of pre-ww1

[NGTM-1R]

Sadly, the Great European Civil War In Two Acts did much to change the place...

[Gank]

I love the way the yanks hate france because they didnt support the invasion of Iraq, and just ignore the fact that they were right behind them in invading afghanistan, home of the guys behind 9/11 and remain the second largest contributor of foreign troops to the US operation. I guess cheap oil is more important than fighting terrorism.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Bobboau
the french of today are not the french of pre-ww1

They're not the WW2 French either. Neither are the Americans, should I add

[note: the following is a reply to the general idea of that thread, not to anybody in particular]

Oh, and I want to clear a little thing: the French troops there were not on a peacemaking mission. That was a year or so ago. They were there just like US troops that are still in Germany. Excepted  one more factor: we have french civilians there. A lot of them. And we know how ****ed up tribal conflicts can be in Africa ( I don't need to explain, I hope, with the recent events? ). We didn't take side when the rebels fought the regular troops. Disregarding of the side, we've crushed ( yeah, we've already done that before, so what's the big deal with those crappy planes? Wake up, pals! ) anybody who attacked us. Last year, it was the rebels, they attacked french patrols, they were erased. Last week, it was the national airforce. The French army job, right now, is to give shelter to  foreigners ( or even some Ivorian ones ) civilians ( there's US ones in the lot, maybe that will strike you, since you only care about your own asses ), and PROTECT them until they're moved out of the country, or until the situation cools down ( coz most of those idiots don't want to leave, they prefer their homes to their lives, well, too bad for them ). There's one way to protect people from armed groups: you destroy those groups. So yes, we're not in our country, and yes, we use force. But we don't try and influence the politics there, we don't say how the ivory people should live, we don't say that the current president is a dick and we don't kick him out, we don't blame the rebels for being such barbars. We kill any that will try and hurt our ( and YOUR, for god sake ) people. ***** about that.
Now compare this situation to Irak all you want, doing so would prove only one thing, that you have not the smallest bit of knowledge of foreign policy, and there's no use in arguing with clueless people.
Why do I have to waste the short time I have to reply to such foolish threads anyway?