France's WW-II Ceremony Acompanied by Protests vs. USA

by Gerard 70 Replies latest social current

• 

  Crazy151drinker

  Germany took over France in what, 30 days? *LOL*

  At least the Brits stuck it out........

  To be fair the French were totally out manuvered, were not prepared, and couldnt handle German tactics and equipment.

  Ive said it once, and i'll say it again, the French need to Clone Napolean.

  I'll agree with Simon's point that it took us almost 60 years to build the Memorial. What a shame. The thing that bothers me is that they are repeateded claiming the WWII was the deadly war for the U.S. and well thats a bunch of BULL. The CIVIL WAR was the deadliest. They put 4000 Gold stars on the monument to represent the 400,000 Americans who died. HOWEVER, about 150,000 of those deaths were not combat related. If you want to include non-combat deaths the Civil War took over 500,000 American lives (about 2% of the population). I understand its an important event but to distort the facts bothers me.

  The EU needs to build a memorial, and with the 50 Million killed it needs to be the size of a football stadium. A WWII City of the Dead.
• 

  frenchbabyface

  MITERRAND (was a nazy somehow : believe it or not everybody forgot and he became PRESIDENT in 1981)

  And PETAIN a coward ... A REAL ONE ! He said ENOUGH when the CITIZEN and MILITARIAN was SAYING NO WAY !

  and 30 Days ! LOL ... NO WE HAD OUR RESISTANCE : Remember CHARLES DE GAULLE (who was saying keep on trying blow them however you can ... LOL easy for him (he was away) They give orders ... We pay the bill

  But hey our RESISTANT did a Good Job ! Otherwise we would have been GERMAN for real way before the COALITION occured !

  There is a reason why we are French and not American or British ...
• 

  Simon

  The French resistance was a vital part of the war effort. The French people also paid a heavy price, with heavy retribution for attacks on Germans.

  In terms of "how many died", there are some facts here:

  http://www.world-war-2.info/statistics/

  Country	Military	Civilian	Total
  USSR	12 million	17 million	29 million
  Poland	597,000	5.86 million	6.27 million
  Germany	3.25 million	2.44 million	5.69 million
  Yugoslavia	305,000	1.35 million	1.66 million
  Romania	450,000	465,000	915,000
  Hungary	200,000	600,000	800,000
  France	245,000	350,000	595,000
  Italy	380,000	153,000	533,000
  Great Britain	403,000	92,700	495,000
  United States	407,000	6,000	413,000
  Czechoslovakia	7,000	315,000	322,000
  Holland	13,700	236,000	249,000
  Greece	19,000	140,000	159,000
  Belgium	76,000	23,000	99,000
• 

  hillary_step

  Gerard,

  France has an enormous and troublesome militant Muslim population. France has been dealing with fanatical Muslim terrorist acts for decades, albeit a problem arguably of their own making. Many of these groups have religiously vowed to overthrow the French Government and force France into a Muslim state. These Muslims are obviously opposed to the war with Iraq, and they can write. I would be very interested in knowing who actually defaced these graves.

  Do you know?

  Best regards - HS
• 

  Gerard

  I admit that disregarding the UN consensus was a mistake. In France and Germany, there is 85 percent unfavorable rating for George Bush. Britain lags behind, still at 57 percent. Russia, 60 percent, and in the Muslim nations, Jordan, 96 percent of the respondents had an unfavorable view of George Bush.

  What is troublesome to me is is that just two years ago, USA had 52 percent of Jordanians with a favorable view of the United States. It's really stunning to see what has happened to world opinion of the United States. Americans had a tremendous amount of goodwill and sympathy following 9/11 and they haven't just squandered it, it's completely disintegrated. They've lost the good will . So it's a very discouraging picture. Still, Miterrand had alterior motive$ to opose the war and that skeleton, will fall out of his closet sooner than later.
• 

  Realist

  gerard,

  Miterrand had alterior motive$ to opose the war and that skeleton, will fall out of his closet sooner than later.

  Miterrand? the guy is dead for several years now.

  by the way...i would assume french economical interests are just as valid and legitimate as US economical interests.
• 

  avishai

  The US faught with the allies against Hitler. It did not do it to come and rescue us or to save us. In fact, the US did not enter the war until Germany attacked IT. One could claim that the UK stood alone defending the US from Nazi Germany and you should be bloody thankful. But we don't. We have more sense and more respect.

  Amen, Simon, here's to our bro's in arms across the pond

  Trying to compare US involvement in WWII with Bush's grand-plan (or lack thereof) in Iraq is IMO a gross insult to all those who faught to first defeat the Nazi threat and also halt the Stalin expansion across europe.

  I also agree with this, which is why I'm pissed that the french are using this opportunity to protest. GW Bush is there as a figurehead, to commemorate D-day, and protesting his other policies on that day is tantamount TO comparing the two. It's disrespectful. I don't agree with many of his policies either, but I sure as hell would'nt use that day and steal the thunder from a bunch of 80 year old men who risked their lives, British and American, and disrespect those who DID die for my country. That's my point.
• 

  Gerard

  Trying to compare US involvement in WWII with Bush's grand-plan (or lack thereof) in Iraq is IMO a gross insult to all those who faught to first defeat the Nazi threat and also halt the Stalin expansion across europe. > > Simon

  I agree in that the WW-II had a definite enemy and borders. But things change, welcome to the 21st century.

  If the Americans & British do not police rouge countries, please tell me who is going to keep North Korea in check? Who will discourage N. Korea from nuking S. Korea or Japan? Who was to contain Libia? Or Fidel Castro's Marxism? Who will discourage Pakistan from nuking Delhi?

  A radical change in American foreign policies are a must but there are evil terrorists and if you think that praying and smiling will give you safety, you are terribly naive so think again.

  Iraq will be autonomous this month and will likely hold FREE elections in a year or two. Could France have done any better?
• 

  Crazy151drinker

  Baby,

  May 10th Germany invades France

  Franco-German Armistice June 25th, 1940

  Okay, 46 days, so sue me....
• 

  Crazy151drinker

  Realist,

  Something I dug up for you......

  The war caused more civilian casualties than any war in history. This was partly due to its unprecedented scale, partly due to the first uses of mass aerial bombings against civilian populations (a policy initiated by the German Luftwaffe against Poland, and later used more extensively against German cities by the Allies)

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II