France’s role in Afghanistan to change
I love France, it’s a beautiful country with wonderful food, lots of historical sights to visit, but the only problem I have with it is that France is full of French people. And they lived up my expectations yesterday when they elected a Socialist, Francois Hollande to be President, replacing their relatively conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy. The French committed to join us in the war against terror in Afghanistan, but even Sarkozy was withdrawing from Afghanistan a year earlier than he had agreed (the end of next year).
Hollande promised during the campaign to withdraw France’s 3,308 troops by the end of this year, according to Stars & Stripes;
“I will not comment on any possible decisions that the very newly elected French government might take in the future,” German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said at a news conference Monday. “But France has committed itself very clearly in one of the first strategic partnership agreements with Afghanistan to a long-term commitment way beyond 2014.”
Funny to see the words “France” and “committed” being used in the same sentence without a mention of three month vacations and 30-hour work weeks, doesn’t it? The French are already fighting the war against terror in their streets, a war that followed them back from Afghanistan, so I guess they’re comfortable with that.
When I was in Paris, the tour guide told us that there were ten bombs going off every day in Paris. I have no evidence to confirm that, but I know that we had to go through metal detectors and hand searches to get into a Parisian department store, so I don’t doubt it. If that’s the kind of life they enjoy, more power to them.
Category: Foreign Policy, Terror War
… and I was just getting used to NOT calling them “Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys.” Sheesh.
They elected Hollande, but we don’t have much room to talk…we elected Obuma and he might have a second term! I am a Cajun from South Louisiana, I’m glad my ancestors left when the getting was good!
I lived in Bordeaux, France from 1993-1995. The French have been fighting the “war on terror” on their own streets since the late 60’s, and especially through the 70’s. This is the first left-wing president they’ve elected since 1981. Realize though, as most here already know their terms of “left-wing” v. “conservative” are very different from ours. Sarkozy was a conservative that made Obama look like Santorum by comparison.
Viva la France! Thank goodness someone has the guts to disagree with us. Thank goodness some people recognize that strangling national economies with draconian austerity measures is a dead end.
Yeah, now they are going to strangle the national economy with massive debit and deminished income.
Joe how was hanging out with insipid out at the bus stop this weekend? Seeing how you couldn’t force yourself to say good job on saving a young girls life, and killing a single cell organism isn’t the same as a human being, I hope the glory hole was just as fun. So now you are cheering the French economy crashing even faster? Yep back here then you will scamper away as usual.
We’ll see…. If you believe Paul Krugman, they’ll be on the right track when they ditch the austerity thing. But then again, he’s just a Nobel prize-winning economist, what does he know?
Enron financial advisor Paul Krugman. Please give the man his props. Oh and Ferretface deserves his Nobel almost as much as B+rry deserves his.
I don’t know should I just take your word thats what he said joe? Because you are known for your honesty and stand up nature. You wouldn’t stretch the truth at all just to prove your point, or post links to articles that might just slash up thing to illustrate what you want to say.
Or how about you just answer the first two points, because your credibility is so far shot that if you told me that the sun r
I don’t know should I just take your word thats what he said joe? Because you are known for your honesty and stand up nature. You wouldn’t stretch the truth at all just to prove your point, or post links to articles that might just slash up thing to illustrate what you want to say.
Or how about you just answer the first two points, because your credibility is so far shot that if you told me that the sun rose in the east I would have to get up with a compass just to make sure.
“Thank goodness some people recognize that strangling national economies”-was done by joining a hyper bureaucratic
EUSSR. The European Union with it’s collapsing Euro currency will end up in the dustbin of history like the Soviet Union did in ’91.
Fixed it for ya, Joe!
Paul Kurgman?
Like he said, how dare those Europeans revolt against a failed economic strategy!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/opinion/krugman-those-revolting-europeans.html
Strangling national economies with draconian austerity measures? Wow. Obama is a Nobel prize winner as well. Fine job he’s done, too. And…..mmmm….just wonderin’ aloud here if there aren’t more people out there with “the guts” to disagree with “us.” For starters, I’l bet that Mssrs Hollande and Obama agree on more than their mutual disdain for the Israelis. And secondly, it seems that a good many people disagree with “us” on any number of things, perhaps the Cubans, Venezualans, Chinese, Russians, and so forth.
shhesh. “venezuelans.”
Joe, I ask this in all seriousness. If you admire another country that much, why don’t you move there? If I admired another country more than the US, I’d go there to live.
Now, I was American before the invasion of the intolerant, right-wing, you’re-with-us-or-agains-us, chrito-fascist neo-con corporate Reaganite 1% zombies, and I’m gonna stay and try and reclaim the country from them if it’s alright with you.
Greece is revolting against “the austerity thing” too, Joe.
Even in the case of Greece, you can’t destroy the country to save the country.
Steady, there, big fella. I wasn’t trying to start anything. I know a man that moved to Japan for almost twenty years. He admired the Japanese, and wanted to immerse himself in the culture. I know of a man that married a German lady, and instead of packing her up and bringing her here, he became a German ciitzen. That was my thought behind my question; you sounded like you greatly admire the French, and so I was curious as to whether you had ever considered moving there or elsewhere. That’s all.
In a word, “No”. Politics, aside, I am permanently smitten with the southwestern U.S. – the scenery, the geology, the weather, the wildlife, the history, the people…. I’ve talked to those who’ve travelled the remote mountain ranges and deserts of the world and come back to the make a home in the southwest because it was the most intriguing place they found.
Yeah, Joe, I guess I see your point about how getting people of the government tit is a bad thing. I mean, a person shouldn’t be allowed to keep the money they earn; it should all be turned over to the government to distribute as they see fit. In the old days, they called that slavery.
Now, if you want to make such bullshit statements about “I’m gonna stay and try and reclaim the country from them if it’s alright with you”, you might need to dig a little deeper, because people being able to keep what they earn and personal responsibility were hallmarks of this country long before you were an un-aborted baby in this world. Saving this country from the bottom feeders is what I’m sticking around for.
“…people being able to keep what they earn…”
I don’t know of any viable nation, past or present, where people didn’t have to give up at least some of their income to taxes. It’s not all or nothing, black or white, it’s about the details.
@Joe – It IS about the details…but when the state decides that it knows not only how best to spend the money you earn, but also how to take care of you [better than you can, it says]…then those details erode any tangible liberty you have over your body and your lifestyle.
I’m glad you brought up the subject of viable nations, Joe. Can you name a single country in the world that has been able to flourish after its debt to GDP ratio went above, say, 75%? We’ll be waiting here, but not exactly holding our collective breath for you to give us a real answer…
Joe was listening to KPFK Connect the Dots this morningMay 7, 2012.
If you want to know what the “can’t do no math, never” group is broadcasting, you can pick it up in today’s podcast.
I’m surprised they have surrendered yet. They were pretty much less than useless in Bosnia…they just ate in our mess halls and got in the way.
Joe’s doing his usual wave his hands and dance around. He likes to think that the piece of corn in the pile of shit is edible, even though again and again it has been tried and failed. There may be a kernel of truth to his arguments, but like I said usually he buries it in shit.
@20, PintoNag
I’ve lived in France before and I would again if given the chance. But personal circumstances with my family and my career prevent it. The career part could easily change, I have job skills that are needed anywhere. But the family is the hard part. My wife wouldn’t leave Utah right now, let alone the US. But I truly loved France before. I’ve visited several times and never been disappointed. Paris sucks. Judging France by Paris is like judging the United States by New Orleans. Also if you get near Marseille, that whole area sucks as well. But Bordeaux is wonderful, as is Nice, Nante, and many others. I do hope to retire there. Someday.
“I don’t know of any viable nation, past or present, where people didn’t have to give up at least some of their income to taxes. It’s not all or nothing, black or white, it’s about the details.”
The USA from 1789-1913
Bingo, mikep. Took a Constitutional Amendment – specifically, the 16th Amendment – before income taxes were legal in the USA. Previous to that, income taxes (and other direct taxes) were prohibited by Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution.
Maintenant, Joseph – notre admirateur américain de fromage mangeant des monkies de reddition voudrait-il du fromage? Un petit brie, peut-être?
Mike, that’s not fair to Joey. He’s never studied history, he’s only studied math and economics from a failed math and economics instructor, beginning 3 and 1/2 years ago.
“Even in the case of Greece, you can’t destroy the country to save the country”. But, the socialists will damn sure do their best to see if they can’t destroy Greece, then Spain, Ireland, Portugal and France.
All I’d read of this one was the title; I thought, “They’re going to start fighting?”
Austerity measures are a tool that can be used to help treat some economic problems…but in France (as with Greece) the treatment is killing the patient. You cannot get blood from a stone and wielding austerity measures until a country is destitute is not the answer. Focusing on economic growth is an idea worth implementing.
That said…I don’t think this new French president has what it takes. His proposed taxes on businesses and the wealthy have already got people looking to move their money outside of France. He has had to back track from his campaign statements of “I hate the wealthy” and “my enemy is the world of finance” (I bet Germany and outside investors/businesses loved that gem). On top of all that, his political rhetoric does not address who really controls the purse strings in the European Union (Germany lest we forget). So he wants to negotiate a change in the fiscal pact for the European Union? Okay…I’m sure Germany doesn’t mind paying for that as well as everything else.
In a nutshell, austerity isn’t cutting it and I don’t think Francois Hollande’s plan will pan out. I really hope I’m wrong…but I think this will all end in blood.
http://www.infowars.com/new-french-president-hates-wealth-creation-loves-taxation/
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Francois-Hollande—New-French-President-150360765.html
Oh no the French are leaving Afghanistan!!! Oh wait no one will notice.
Paris is my least favorite city I’ve ever been to. Constantly having to watch my back and check my pockets, being bothered by people trying to swindle me around every corner, beggars everywhere… and to top it off I actually paid 9 euro for a beer.
Ooid: when a nation runs out of money and credit, it can no longer spend beyond it’s income. Draconian austerity is then imposed perforce. Seems to me that it’s best to cut back on unsustainable spending in stages and ensure the softest possible “landing” rather than wait for the crash when it’s imposed perforce overnight. France under Sarkozy was attempting the former; Greece is an example of the latter.
There’s a good chance for France to go the way of Spain, Portugal, and Greece if they continue down the path proposed by Hollande. I hope they’re smart enough to figure that out pronto and make the fool change his plans.
As the great Maggie Thatcher once said “the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people’s money”. France had to pay the piper for their cradle to grave entitlements and when they looked in the cupboard; they found it empty. The reality is that the French people don’t want to give up their handouts and they don’t care that they’re spending more than they have and that there is no way to sustain their champagne lifestyle on a beer budget. Greece doesn’t want to give up theirs, either. Spain is next in line, because their socialist experiment payment is coming due, also.
When the earners are told they have to give up more and more of their money to the government to hand out to non-earners in the form of taxes, without curbing spending, it makes the earners slaves to the government and non-earners. There are those in our government, including leftists congresscritters, that actually have said that they feel that our money isn’t ours, but rather it is the government’s.
What made our country unique and the greatest in the world was that anyone could work hard, sacrifice, risk, and succeed. It used to be if you did those things, you were lauded and held up as an example of what you can accomplish. Now, if you do that, you are vilified and called greedy. Equal opportunity does not guarantee equal outcome. Why should someone who made poor life choices be rewarded for the hard work and sacrifice of others by getting more from those that did what was necessary to succeed? That’s the fantasy that Joe, and those like him, want, but it was never part of the fabric of this country as he claims. It was part of the fabric of communists everywhere, though, which, when it comes to Joe, doesn’t surprise me that he would confuse things like that.
I am not suggesting that austerity should stop or even be reduced in France and certainly unsustainable entitlements should (but won’t) be reexamined. I just thought that a technocratic president could hope to create an environment conducive to foreign and local investment/business enterprise even in the current economic state of Europe. Instead France has chosen a socialist (and self identified enemy of finance) whose practices are going to make the situation much worse. Look, France is heading for an unavoidable shit storm…and instead of reaching for the umbrella they looked up and opened their mouths.
Joe Says:
May 7th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Viva la France! Thank goodness someone has the guts to disagree with us. Thank goodness some people recognize that strangling national economies with draconian austerity measures is a dead end.
————————————-
Well said, Joe. One can never kill an economy by merely strangling it. Better to take off and Marx it from orbit… It’s the only way to be sure.
Ooid: Thanks for the clarification. Your comment 34 certainly seems to imply that you’re against austerity measures (“in France (as with Greece) the treatment is killing the patient”).
There are two ways to stop an unsustainable deficit: increase income more than outlays, or reduce outlays. Austerity measures generally seek to do the latter (or at least slow the growth to match income). And they’re the only feasible tool when the anticipated rate of growth of outlays exceeds any reasonable increase in income. IMO France – as well as most of Western Europe – passed that point a fair amount of time ago. And we’re fast approaching that, if we haven’t passed it ourselves already.
Yes, because destroying your economy by taxing someone to death is so much better than destroying it by no taxes at all.
Joe has yet to learn the concept of moderation. “What? I don’t get my free shit? Tax those fuckers! Make THEM pay for what I want!”
Ooid…of course they did. Because like Joe and the rest of the Obowmanauts, they realized the sugar teat might be squeezed if not cut off, and then voted with their wallets.
I looked at the exit polling data from 2008.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=USP00p1
For incomes above $200K, the results were almost exactly as they were nationally (52/46 in favor of Obama.)
Between $50-200K, the vote was split almost 50/50. But when you get below $50K, the lower you get, the more the vote broke for Obama, to the point where it went over 3-1 for Obama.
We’re now at the tipping point–49.5 percent of Americans have either zero or a negative tax burden. “Tax the rich” won’t work anymore, not that it ever would have, frankly. What we have are a bunch of baby birds who are going to see that if Romney is elected, there’s a possibility, however slight, that they won’t get their bennies anymore–or would actually be expected to have “skin in the game” as Obama keeps proclaiming.
European voters aren’t any smarter than American ones–all France did is vote for free shit without even considering how to pay for it. Same thing happened in 2008, and might well happen again.
“I don’t know of any viable nation, past or present, where people didn’t have to give up at least some of their income to taxes.”- Psst, Joe, your federal income taxes go to the worst aspect of Amerikan crony kapitalist-fascism, the bankster owned, private “federal reserve.” The money the privately owned “federal reserve” gets is interest payments on money the us.fed.gov borrows each year to fund itself and we taxpayers get the bill for it. This debt can never be repaid, it is a Ponzi scheme.
Hondo,
Mais oui, j’adore brie!
mikep,
If there was ever any doubt conservatives live in the past, you just erased it! Hey, Cro-Magnon man didn’tpay any taxes either.
Joey, if “cro-magnon man” didn’t pay any taxes,then what does that make you and the rest of the leeches who stand around all day with their hand out, saying “gimme, gimme”? You know, the 50% or so, who pay nothing, or have a negative tax burden, but get all kinds of bennies from Uncle Stupid?
If there was every any question about Joe addressing a comment directly, he just erased it.
Up yours Up. I work hard, never took a penny of aid or unemployment, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have compassion for people who really need help. There’s a happy medium. A lifetime limit (5 yrs? 10 yrs?) on welfare? Workfare and job training? Decent, affordable day care for working moms, a la France? A lot of creative ways to address the issue. There’s more to it than a) no benefits for anyone no matter how dire their plight, or b) free gov’t money for everyone. Thier is a middle ground. Extremists just don’t see it.
Joe: “no benefits for anyone no matter how dire their plight”
Who said that…outside of that voice in your pointy head?
“free gov’t money for everyone”
Isn’t that what electing Obama was all about?
“Thier is a middle ground”
Yes, THERE is.
“Extremists just don’t see it.”
No, you don’t.
Joe: thought you would. Most cheese eating surrender monkeys enjoy brie.
“Joe: ‘no benefits for anyone no matter how dire their plight’
Who said that…outside of that voice in your pointy head?”
Uh, some of you guys did. Like all the incessant caterwauling about the gov’t taking your hard-earned money. Never heard any middle ground there. Just I-me-mine, I-me-mine.
Cute Hondo. And you guys accuse me of not having an original thought.