Thread: America's 'New' Friend
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Old 06-15-2008, 11:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by editec View Post
Without the US, there would be no France.

To be sure!



Yes, and the French people know that just as well as you or I do.




I could, but since the question is the relations between France and the USA, why bother?



True again.



The French might disagree with that somewhat. that is exactly why they developed their own nuclear arsenal. But I get your point. France and the USA, despite our policy differences were BOTH allied against Soviet aggression.



We did not HAVE to take it.

But if you complaint is that France was WRONG to try to take back View Nam, I am in total ageement with you.

And, let's chasten France just a bit more for that mistake, too, shall we?

They were TOTALLY wrong to try to reimpose their lost empire in SE ASIA, and the USA told them NOT to do it. They basically held out before joining NATO to force us to stop objecting to their stupid policy of retaking Viet Nam.

They should have let HO take over that nation, and the USA should have become his ally, just as he asked of us during WWII.

Why on earth we then decided to jump into that briar patch after the French got their asses kicked by Ho, I'll never understand.



Agreed.




I'll second that emotion, too.

But complaining about our stupid policies is NOT anti-americanism as such.

I complain about some of our foreign policies often enough, and that does not make me anti-American, either.
I agree. We did not have to take the handoff. IIRC, our involvement began as basically a UN peacekeeping force after the French left. I don't think at that point we had any intention of getting involved any further.

I also agree in regard to Ho Chi Minh. When you dust off all the crap, he was a Vietnamese Nationalist intent on unifying his nation. If we were going to help anyone, I would say he more embodied our ideals than Diem. That guy was an idiot and his wife and her brother could have taught Himmler a trick or two.

I do not consider complaining about stupid policies anti-American. I consider anti-Americanism anti-American. I can differentiate between the two.
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