France: Friend or Foe?

That would be because we're getting less friendly. A fair amount of Canadians are getting rather sick of American antics worldwide, and we especially hate it when your President comes to our country and leans on our PM, trying to force him to commit to somethign the majority of Canadians are against. Anyways, it's pretty tiring to see Fox and CNN badmouthing our country.

DE

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
I have been scouring the net recently in an attempt to answer this question. So far, to me all indications say France has switched sides, and it has been largely precipitated by the US war in Iraq, with which France has clearly disagreed.

France's recent ties with China are probably the single most concerning
thing:

- France has been supplying weapons to China
www.newsmax.com...

- France has conducted military exercises with China, in what are described as China's largest military drills ever with a foreign power.
www.chinadaily.com.cn...

- France and China signed billions of dollars' worth of trade contracts
www.chinadaily.com.cn...

- France and Germany have been the most vocal supporters of lifting the EU's arms embargo on China.
www.channelnewsasia.com...

Which leads me to the next point, and that is- with France switching sides, there is a balance of veto power shift at the UN Security Council. The US/UK and Russia/China/France. This could either get better or worse depending on proposed new reforms at UNSC.

So, if anyone would like to argue the point, and insist that France is still our friend in any way, I am all ears. IMO France has become an enemy. Smelly, hairy, cowardly ones, at that. Good riddance. Who's next? the UK? Germany?

Americans think that everyone is the enemy - France is merely making beds with the next Superpower (China) don't tell anyone ok...
If America gets any further backed into their corner then I'm sure the rest of the world will become an enemy.

The countries that take are taking a back seat are merely biding their time on things to come in the next 5 years and it will not be pretty.

Anyway that's my point

France doesnt trust America and they are afraid that they will become too powerfull.
In my eyes they have a valid argument not too trust the us(policies) and are trying to keep a sort of power balance in the world.

I find it comforting that there are countries who can critize america without being afraid of the (political and economical) consequences.
France uses its eyes and ears to te fullest and knows that the US is becoming way to powerfull behind the sceens(secret militairy technology) and sees in china a friend who wont be afraid to stand up to the us when the time comes.

does any one agree with me when i say England and the US are the closist allies in the world i think france are cawords we helped them in the world wars and they didnt want to help iraq we did the exsact same thing in iraq as we did with them and thats how they repay us selling them optical sights and other things so yes they are foe!!!

Originally posted by DeusEx
That would be because we're getting less friendly. A fair amount of Canadians are getting rather sick of American antics worldwide, and we especially hate it when your President comes to our country and leans on our PM, trying to force him to commit to somethign the majority of Canadians are against.

Agreed.

But Canadians aren't alone in facing 'pressure to conform' from the US.

My own country, NZ, has *since the Iraq hostilities* experienced a somewhat 'rocky' relationship with the US...particularily economically...in the way of economic pressure, Trade Agreements being stalled/diverted towards Australia *a more US-friendly 'Ally'* etc...quite possibly due to our country's reluctance to get overly involved in the Iraq conflict (though we ARE in fact there in a number of roles). Also the Anti-Nuke stance we have that forbids nuclear-powered/equipt vessels from entering our territorial waters is a continuing issue.

This is to be expected I guess...and indeed is somewhat understandable...possibly a simple case of "Scratch our back and we'll scratch yours".

However...I think it can be said - indeed for all countries - that one of the surest ways of creating a 'foe' is to no longer see them as a 'friend'.

Just a bit to the above poster regarding France and China. Its not just the French, the German PM was there recently and basically mirrored Chiracs antics regarding the arms embargo. Rember that countries do not have friends, they have mutual interests.

Originally posted by Argus
Did you know that whilst the United Kingdom was engaged in the Falklands Conflict, France was actively selling Exocet anti-ship missiles to Argentina? the campaign.

France sold the exocets to Argentina some years before the war, not during it. In that times, nobody would think of a war between Argentina and the UK.

Besides, the Argentinian Air Force and the Navy used A-4 Skyhawks, which came from the United States, doesn´t that make US a traitor too? No, it´s just business, the same with the French exocets.

Originally posted by TrueAmerican

Which leads me to the next point, and that is- with France switching sides, there is a balance of veto power shift at the UN Security Council. The US/UK and Russia/China/France. This could either get better or worse depending on proposed new reforms at UNSC.

And, when has France really been our friend? I don't view them as switching sides at all.

I doubt you'll see a day when the U.S., the U.K. and Australia are not allies.
Britain is the lion and we are her cubs.

They are the Enemy.
To Quote Al Bundy - "France is another country we should have bombed. Can't wait to see what happens next time they hold their hands out asking for help.

France is not a friend to anyone lets face it they probably have some of the most bitter people in there country they all seem to still be thinking there a great Imperial power who think there something special.
Remember France was one of the most powerful countries under a century ago they were considered a superpower (believe it or not) and during/after WW1 they saw the Americans start to develop into a superpower and alot of the fighting was on french soil which damaged the country immensly where as the Americans didnt suffer damage on there soil.
After WW1 frances superpower status was disappearing because they didnt have the money or economy to sustain it, where Britain did which made them dislike England, plus over the past few centuries france could never beat England in a war no matter how many times they tried haha, plus they never got over the British navy bombing the french navy during WW2 to stop the germans invading.
Anyway france built there empire up over years and were a superpower and they lost it all in under 40 years, WW2 finished them off for good superpower wise, they saw the USA take over as being a world superpower of the west overnight.
You can understand why they seem like an enemy to the USA and England and there dislike towards us, but there french that says it all

France is a declared enemy of the United States. They have declared that they want to be the center of a coalition determined to be a counterweight to U.S. power. I translate that to be they will disagree with the U.S. position no matter what it is. They want to be in control of and speak for the EU to meet this objective as well as cozying up to tyrants in China etc. Even Germany whom has been siding with them so far seems to be getting wary of Chirac's French ambitions, realizing the U.S. is an important ally, even if they disagree with us from time to time on certain policies like Iraq.

France has always been and always will be an enemy of the US. Even thier much vaunted support of the US during the revolutionary war was not the act of a frend merly the expression of the ancent dctum "the enemy of my enemy is my ally" The only reason they supported us was to harm the british. In WW2 they didnt even put up a fight having foollishly wasted all of thier resources on the ill fated maginot line.
Face it, the french are bad.
......................................................and thats why the french dont bathe.

Originally posted by space cowboy666
France is not a friend to anyone lets face it they probably have some of the most bitter people in there country they all seem to still be thinking there a great Imperial power who think there something special.

I take it you've surveyed the opinion of an adequate number of French people in order to make that assertion?

Funnily enough, the bitter and imperialist attitudes I observe on here come mainly from Americans moaning about the French.

Now I'm not going to even think about defending the policies of French politicians, or their wartime involvement. The policies of all countries are self serving, so it is unfair and useless to vilify one single nation because of the actions of it's leaders. Or, if you are going to apply vilification, why not direct it at those leaders responsible, rather than a nation of 55 million people who have no involvement in, or approval for what it's leaders get up to?

[edit on 12-1-2005 by Paul]