No plane are perfect, especially the olds ones, you should know that perfectly if you are a pilot. American companies are not clowns, if they have buy these planes , they have taken in considerations the security point of vue. Unfortunately you cannot control everything, and accident may happens whether it's an airbus or a Boeing. If you detect a problem, you will practice the modifications.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The Boeing 747 that exploded was a VERY old aircraft.
The Airbus is new. Too new to have such a catastropic failure. For such a "high tech" aircraft it should have limiters for vertical fin deflection for any given airspeed like the Boeing 777 does.
The ONLY reason the Airbus was bought by American Airlines was that the 777 was not in suffcent quantity to be purchased at the time.
Interesting PDF file. Perhaps you can answer me a question ;
In this file, they only told recommendations about training, and not technical transformations. The national safety board of aviations have no interest to protect the airbus companie i suppose, and they only propose recommandations about training : does it means that it is considered for normal that planes collapse if they are not use in the right conditions ?
Are you sure that the airbus A300-600 is belonging to the last generations of plane with electro-mechanical controls : no physical wires , just electrical wire (pardon my english).
For me modern airbus are the A320, A318, A 340. I think this kind of limitators will be easy to put in this lattest planes (just a software update);
If the A 300-600 belong to the old generation with physical wire, the modification you suggest will need a big modification.
From what <a href="http://www.janes.com/aerospace/civil/news/jawa/jawa011112_1_n.shtml"; target="_blank">Jane's</a> says, its a new aircraft. Boeing requires the full rudder at high speed test to make sure it will not fail. Airbus was well aware of this problem with the composite material verticle fin. Even the F117a's have had catastropic failures due to their carbon composite structures.
This article is true, the problem is that anti-semitism is coming from north-africans originate people, and it's not politically correct to say that this people are responsible of anti-semitism.If that was skinnheads who where in cause, you can be sure that our media and political leader will be full of it. I remember that a few years ago , i was in a manifestation against the profonation of jew's tombs to support my friends. That's the only manifestation where i went in my entire life.
The media where talking a lot of this event, because the skinheads where supposed to be the author of this evil act, in fact it was made by Satanic's lovers , (totally crazy kids).
If i claim that north-africans originate people are anti-semit , i'll be accusated to be racist
But as the article say except this minority the majority of population is not particulary anti-semit. The problem is the cowardness of some of our political leader and our media.
I would be tax racist if i may suggest that some of the less educated of this north-africans originate people are not well integrated French (you might see in this article that the jews are more integrated : totally true) people, and thus non-representative.
So you see it's hard to speak of racism or anti-semitism
PS ; i know also well integrated north-Africans people with a huge culture and a lot of tolerance. But a cat is a cat, and the violence is coming mostly from one direction. This article is interesting it make understand why frenchs are implicated in a way in the middle east conflict.
So let's see. The arab/muslim world exports it's terror to France. A country that encourages the terror though apathy and a blind eye. It's Crystal Night all over again.
Oh boy. Are you blaming Powerdoc for the attack on the synagoge? Why else would the word frenchmAn be the link. Who is this Frenchman if not Powerdoc?
In Europe we have a large portion of Palestinian refugees as well as from other countries that are not always integrated good enough into the society. All European countries have this problem with parts of its population. They get the worst (if any) jobs, housing aso. Unfortunetly it can cause reactions like this. And of course those who did it should be persecuted just like any attack on a Mosche or Church and from the article it seems like it were. They just wasn´t getting a harder sentence because like the Jewish community wanted.
Compared to other minority groups Jews are one of the best integrated and accepted of all minority groups in Europe (more accepted than homosexuals or any non european etnich minority for example). Those who attacked the synagogue are part of some of the least. My mothers side of the family is Jews so I know what I am talking about. Seldom is the Jewish singles out in public debates while muslims are every day (and always seen as the cause of all problems). You will never hear arguments like "the Jewish controlled press" for instance.
To use that article to say anything about France as such would be just as justified as if I said "Americans hate public servants and nothing is done to protect them" based on <a href="http://www.aerial-photography-oklahoma.com/47516.JPG"; target="_blank">This</a>
[quote]The American jetliners can be full ruddered at full throttle to the point of inversion with no damage. American jetliners are looped, rolled and inverted recovered before they are ever put into production.<hr></blockquote>
Yeah, those were maintainance problems. The Hydraulics would reverse on the older aricraft for no apparent reason. These are much older aircraft than the Airbus. If you read the PDF file Airbus knew there was a serious srtuctural flaw.
"Speak softly and carry a big stick."</strong><hr></blockquote>
Thought so. Problem was TR really wasn't all that big on speaking softly himself.
[quote]"Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." - "The Strenuous Life"
"Is America a weakling, to shrink from the work of the great world powers? No! The young giant of the West stands on a continent and clasps the crest of an ocean in either hand. Our nation, glorious in youth and strength, looks into the future with eager eyes and rejoices as a strong man to run a race." - Letter to John Hay, American Ambassador to the Court of St. James, London, Written in Washington, DC, June 7, 1897<hr></blockquote>
This last one is in danish and a rough and inaccurate (due to my poor english) translation of the main part is:
"The growing criticism of the "simplistic" foreign policy of USA is now backed up by UN general secretary Kofi Annan. You can´t divide the countries of the world into Good and evil ones Kofi Annan states. In a interview to the Swiss newspaper Blich, Kofi Annan is trying not to criticize the American President GWB directly but the criticism is obviously targeted towards USA. Kofi Annan is asked what he thinks about President words about Iraq, Iran and North Korea being a "Axis of evil": -You can´t divide the world in black and white because inbetween there is a lot of gray, Annan tells Blick."
And he continues about UN not being part of a widening of the war against terrorists to other countries outside Aghanistan.
why are some people such ideological buffoons that they can't see that a simplistic duality is being invoked in the ugliest of manipulative ways!!!?!?!?!?
I can't believe the nonsense this thread has been sputtered with. I can't believe powerdoc has been able to keep his calm in front of all the ridiculous rhetoric used here. I can't believe the arrogance I'm seeing here...
[quote] Pull your head out of you own ass and realize that France is useless. We DO NOT need them for anything at all. And they don't like it. <hr></blockquote>
:eek: that's quite probably why France loaned its intelligence sattelites to the US during the Gulf War... wow, I've seen the US's telecommunications infrastructure, and you need all the help you can get from us, believe me... The US' intelligence services aren't even capable of providing non-outdated maps to your bombers... oops, there goes the chinese embassy... The US' SWAT teams are trained according to RAID training methods. Hell the US is suffering an energy crisis in the 21st century. The very protocol you're using to post this nonsense was created in Switzerland. You're a joke, buddy.
[quote] France needs to worry about selling defective Airbus Industrie products to the US.
If they continue handle foreign policy like they build aircraft, God help them
I hold a pilot's certificate and fly an aerobatic American Champion Aircraft Super Decathlon.
I know the reality of turning the fan off, so go pound some pebbles up your ass with a pick axe, ground dweller.<hr></blockquote>
Wow, you must be such a competent engineer then... These claims are so ridiculous it's not even funny anymore. No planes are perfect, and when Boeings or DC-10's reliability is questionned, it has nothing to do whatsoever with the engineering. Care to point me to the number of fatal accidents this has caused?
So much ignorance. So much arrogance.
This reminds me of legends in the US about the Concorde... The FAA just couldn't handle not having its own supersonic jet, so it just forbid the Concorde from flying supersonic over American airspace...
[quote] Back from whence ye came, MacMonkey!
Leave the frenchman alone.<hr></blockquote>
And? I hope the point you're trying to make is not that france is an anti-semit country, because race-problems are an order of magnitude more frequent AND violent in the US than anywhere in France... I seem to recall afro-americans being town behing pull-up trucks for over 50 miles, their body parts scattered across the way. And of course the KKK just doesn't exist anymore. wow...
[quote] It's kind of silly to simply ignore his pespective just because it conflicts with yours. Yes, I would say competition between our 2 systems also exposed key weaknesses of the USSR. Others (Gorbachev in particular) have maintained that it was Reykavik that signaled the beginning of the end. But words matter too and Reagan's words mattered a lot.<hr></blockquote>
I'm quite sure after hearing a mediocre-actor-turned-president's speech, Gorbachev just went "oh boy, they're right, we ARE evil, let's just implode"...
There were thousands of factors involved in the fall of the USSR, Reagan's speech most definitely was not one of them.
Making great speeches about the "Evil Axis" does get people all dandy and stuff. It does however convienently omit to say where the Axis came from.
The US's foreign policy is what got it where it is today in the first place. Bin Laden was trained and funded by the CIA. Most bilogical weapons in Irak today were graciously given by the US during the Iran-Irak war to get rid of Iran, along with the scientists. Most weapons the taliban used were given by the US at some point or another.
But of course all this is conveniently forgotten. The US is the center of the world. The US rules the world. The American president is not even capable of being elected with a clear vote, let alone be a competent president...
Perhaps instead of being so egocentric and completely estranged to the world's geo-political equilibrium, you guys should start educating yourselves about what goes on OUTSIDE the US... Try opening your eyes and not be so confident that you are superior to everybody else... Try realizing that every action has a reaction, and that two 767s didn't crash into the WTC just for the sake of it. Arrogance is what killed so many people in the first place. The US' foreign policy has no political agenda. It is a financial maneuver. What happened in Afghanistan would have happened sooner or later, there were important pipelines to be built. The world doesn't revolve around the US. Deal with it.
Actually, I like powerdoc a lot (I think he knows that. He is the first French person I've spoken with online was openly critical of his own nation instead of just the US), it was just an interesting article I saw in the Dallas News.
I'm just trying to keep the dialogue going both ways. America has problems, France has problems. I think we focus on the problems of America sometimes as problems specific to the US when in fact they are common all over the world. And in that, we are all brothers of the human race, not just separate nationalities.
Did that make sense? I'm not sure if it does, but it sounds good!
MAttacks:
I didn't know "go pound some pebbles up your ass with a pick axe, ground dweller." was civil.
Lighten up, you freaks are quite sensitive for conservatives.
<strong>The US's foreign policy is what got it where it is today in the first place. Bin Laden was trained and funded by the CIA. Most bilogical weapons in Irak today were graciously given by the US during the Iran-Irak war to get rid of Iran, along with the scientists. Most weapons the taliban used were given by the US at some point or another.</strong><hr></blockquote>
AHHHHH! How many times to I have to read this complete crap! Get your facts straight or STFU!
Oh and before you say "prove me wrong" I'll ask you to prove you're right.
Hahaha... Scott I finally get you... I finally understand that you insult everyone and thing outside of the US because you like to joke around... I mean how could I ever have thought that you were actually that ignorant about world affairs! Wooah! Hahah... yes, you had me for a moment there.
While I generally don't like the way the French think they are the US of Europe (trying to get everything there way and be absolutely stubborn and arrogant), I enjoy it when they launch pro europeanism throughout the world and sometimes win some and sometimes lose some.
Chirac and, before him Mitterand, are impressive leaders that have great knowledge of world affairs and know that sometimes it is best to be low key in foreign affairs than boisterous like the US is sometimes.
And Groverat... while you might think the US (or texas in your case) is the center of the world... well, its the center of your world... If the US were to dissappear, which I hope will never happen, I assure you life WILL go on.
I'm quite sure after hearing a mediocre-actor-turned-president's speech, Gorbachev just went "oh boy, they're right, we ARE evil, let's just implode"... </strong><hr></blockquote>
You complain about the "nonsense" in this thread and then offer this?
[quote]<strong>There were thousands of factors involved in the fall of the USSR, Reagan's speech most definitely was not one of them.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Just because you say so? I guess the only factors we need to consider are the ones you've decided were involved.
Comments
<strong>
No plane are perfect, especially the olds ones, you should know that perfectly if you are a pilot. American companies are not clowns, if they have buy these planes , they have taken in considerations the security point of vue. Unfortunately you cannot control everything, and accident may happens whether it's an airbus or a Boeing. If you detect a problem, you will practice the modifications.</strong><hr></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/2002/A02_01_02.pdf"; target="_blank"> Here you go</a> Poor design.
The Boeing 747 that exploded was a VERY old aircraft.
The Airbus is new. Too new to have such a catastropic failure. For such a "high tech" aircraft it should have limiters for vertical fin deflection for any given airspeed like the Boeing 777 does.
The ONLY reason the Airbus was bought by American Airlines was that the 777 was not in suffcent quantity to be purchased at the time.
[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: Mars_Attacks ]</p>
In this file, they only told recommendations about training, and not technical transformations. The national safety board of aviations have no interest to protect the airbus companie i suppose, and they only propose recommandations about training : does it means that it is considered for normal that planes collapse if they are not use in the right conditions ?
Are you sure that the airbus A300-600 is belonging to the last generations of plane with electro-mechanical controls : no physical wires , just electrical wire (pardon my english).
For me modern airbus are the A320, A318, A 340. I think this kind of limitators will be easy to put in this lattest planes (just a software update);
If the A 300-600 belong to the old generation with physical wire, the modification you suggest will need a big modification.
Leave the <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/world/stories/france_11int.ART0.a9b51.html"; target="_blank">frenchman</a> alone.
<strong>Back from whence ye came, MacMonkey!
Leave the <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/world/stories/france_11int.ART0.a9b51.html"; target="_blank">frenchman</a> alone.</strong><hr></blockquote>
This article is true, the problem is that anti-semitism is coming from north-africans originate people, and it's not politically correct to say that this people are responsible of anti-semitism.If that was skinnheads who where in cause, you can be sure that our media and political leader will be full of it. I remember that a few years ago , i was in a manifestation against the profonation of jew's tombs to support my friends. That's the only manifestation where i went in my entire life.
The media where talking a lot of this event, because the skinheads where supposed to be the author of this evil act, in fact it was made by Satanic's lovers , (totally crazy kids).
If i claim that north-africans originate people are anti-semit , i'll be accusated to be racist
But as the article say except this minority the majority of population is not particulary anti-semit. The problem is the cowardness of some of our political leader and our media.
I would be tax racist if i may suggest that some of the less educated of this north-africans originate people are not well integrated French (you might see in this article that the jews are more integrated : totally true) people, and thus non-representative.
So you see it's hard to speak of racism or anti-semitism
PS ; i know also well integrated north-Africans people with a huge culture and a lot of tolerance. But a cat is a cat, and the violence is coming mostly from one direction. This article is interesting it make understand why frenchs are implicated in a way in the middle east conflict.
[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: powerdoc ]</p>
<strong>Back from whence ye came, MacMonkey!
Leave the <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/world/stories/france_11int.ART0.a9b51.html"; target="_blank">frenchman</a> alone.</strong><hr></blockquote>
So let's see. The arab/muslim world exports it's terror to France. A country that encourages the terror though apathy and a blind eye. It's Crystal Night all over again.
[QB]Back from whence ye came, MacMonkey!
<hr></blockquote>
Don't make me post your picture.
Only the mods can ask me to leave, asshole.
It was civil until you stuck your nose where it didn't belong. I misunderstood his grammar at first, now everything is fine.
<strong>Back from whence ye came, MacMonkey!
Leave the <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/world/stories/france_11int.ART0.a9b51.html"; target="_blank">frenchman</a> alone.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Oh boy. Are you blaming Powerdoc for the attack on the synagoge? Why else would the word frenchmAn be the link. Who is this Frenchman if not Powerdoc?
In Europe we have a large portion of Palestinian refugees as well as from other countries that are not always integrated good enough into the society. All European countries have this problem with parts of its population. They get the worst (if any) jobs, housing aso. Unfortunetly it can cause reactions like this. And of course those who did it should be persecuted just like any attack on a Mosche or Church and from the article it seems like it were. They just wasn´t getting a harder sentence because like the Jewish community wanted.
Compared to other minority groups Jews are one of the best integrated and accepted of all minority groups in Europe (more accepted than homosexuals or any non european etnich minority for example). Those who attacked the synagogue are part of some of the least. My mothers side of the family is Jews so I know what I am talking about. Seldom is the Jewish singles out in public debates while muslims are every day (and always seen as the cause of all problems). You will never hear arguments like "the Jewish controlled press" for instance.
To use that article to say anything about France as such would be just as justified as if I said "Americans hate public servants and nothing is done to protect them" based on <a href="http://www.aerial-photography-oklahoma.com/47516.JPG"; target="_blank">This</a>
<strong>
Why TR instead of Reagan?</strong><hr></blockquote>
"Speak softly and carry a big stick."
Uh huh. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/US/9806/15/boeing.faa/"; target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/US/9806/15/boeing.faa/</a>;
Or: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/february97/rudder_2-21.html"; target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/february97/rudder_2-21.html</a>;
<strong>
Uh huh. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/US/9806/15/boeing.faa/"; target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/US/9806/15/boeing.faa/</a>;
Or: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/february97/rudder_2-21.html"; target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/february97/rudd er_2-21.html</a></strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, those were maintainance problems. The Hydraulics would reverse on the older aricraft for no apparent reason. These are much older aircraft than the Airbus. If you read the PDF file Airbus knew there was a serious srtuctural flaw.
<strong>
"Speak softly and carry a big stick."</strong><hr></blockquote>
Thought so. Problem was TR really wasn't all that big on speaking softly himself.
[quote]"Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." - "The Strenuous Life"
"Is America a weakling, to shrink from the work of the great world powers? No! The young giant of the West stands on a continent and clasps the crest of an ocean in either hand. Our nation, glorious in youth and strength, looks into the future with eager eyes and rejoices as a strong man to run a race." - Letter to John Hay, American Ambassador to the Court of St. James, London, Written in Washington, DC, June 7, 1897<hr></blockquote>
<strong>France needs to worry about selling defective Airbus Industrie products to the US.
If they continue handle foreign policy like they build aircraft, God help them.</strong><hr></blockquote>
<elegantly getting the thread back on track>
If only your president provided as much security as your flying machines
</elegantly getting the thread back on track>
Why oh why was it so easy for Mars_Attacks to lead this so astray? Back to the subject:
Looks like Annan is a frog eater too:
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1783000/1783781.stm"; target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1783000/1783781.stm</a>;
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1788000/1788945.stm"; target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1788000/1788945.stm</a>;
And:
<a href="http://www1.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/article.jhtml?articleID=48650"; target="_blank">http://www1.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/article.jhtml?articleID=48650</a>;
This last one is in danish and a rough and inaccurate (due to my poor english) translation of the main part is:
"The growing criticism of the "simplistic" foreign policy of USA is now backed up by UN general secretary Kofi Annan. You can´t divide the countries of the world into Good and evil ones Kofi Annan states. In a interview to the Swiss newspaper Blich, Kofi Annan is trying not to criticize the American President GWB directly but the criticism is obviously targeted towards USA. Kofi Annan is asked what he thinks about President words about Iraq, Iran and North Korea being a "Axis of evil": -You can´t divide the world in black and white because inbetween there is a lot of gray, Annan tells Blick."
And he continues about UN not being part of a widening of the war against terrorists to other countries outside Aghanistan.
why are some people such ideological buffoons that they can't see that a simplistic duality is being invoked in the ugliest of manipulative ways!!!?!?!?!?
[quote] Pull your head out of you own ass and realize that France is useless. We DO NOT need them for anything at all. And they don't like it. <hr></blockquote>
:eek: that's quite probably why France loaned its intelligence sattelites to the US during the Gulf War... wow, I've seen the US's telecommunications infrastructure, and you need all the help you can get from us, believe me... The US' intelligence services aren't even capable of providing non-outdated maps to your bombers... oops, there goes the chinese embassy... The US' SWAT teams are trained according to RAID training methods. Hell the US is suffering an energy crisis in the 21st century. The very protocol you're using to post this nonsense was created in Switzerland. You're a joke, buddy.
[quote] France needs to worry about selling defective Airbus Industrie products to the US.
If they continue handle foreign policy like they build aircraft, God help them
I hold a pilot's certificate and fly an aerobatic American Champion Aircraft Super Decathlon.
I know the reality of turning the fan off, so go pound some pebbles up your ass with a pick axe, ground dweller.<hr></blockquote>
Wow, you must be such a competent engineer then... These claims are so ridiculous it's not even funny anymore. No planes are perfect, and when Boeings or DC-10's reliability is questionned, it has nothing to do whatsoever with the engineering. Care to point me to the number of fatal accidents this has caused?
So much ignorance. So much arrogance.
This reminds me of legends in the US about the Concorde... The FAA just couldn't handle not having its own supersonic jet, so it just forbid the Concorde from flying supersonic over American airspace...
[quote] Back from whence ye came, MacMonkey!
Leave the frenchman alone.<hr></blockquote>
And? I hope the point you're trying to make is not that france is an anti-semit country, because race-problems are an order of magnitude more frequent AND violent in the US than anywhere in France... I seem to recall afro-americans being town behing pull-up trucks for over 50 miles, their body parts scattered across the way. And of course the KKK just doesn't exist anymore. wow...
[quote] It's kind of silly to simply ignore his pespective just because it conflicts with yours. Yes, I would say competition between our 2 systems also exposed key weaknesses of the USSR. Others (Gorbachev in particular) have maintained that it was Reykavik that signaled the beginning of the end. But words matter too and Reagan's words mattered a lot.<hr></blockquote>
I'm quite sure after hearing a mediocre-actor-turned-president's speech, Gorbachev just went "oh boy, they're right, we ARE evil, let's just implode"...
There were thousands of factors involved in the fall of the USSR, Reagan's speech most definitely was not one of them.
Making great speeches about the "Evil Axis" does get people all dandy and stuff. It does however convienently omit to say where the Axis came from.
The US's foreign policy is what got it where it is today in the first place. Bin Laden was trained and funded by the CIA. Most bilogical weapons in Irak today were graciously given by the US during the Iran-Irak war to get rid of Iran, along with the scientists. Most weapons the taliban used were given by the US at some point or another.
But of course all this is conveniently forgotten. The US is the center of the world. The US rules the world. The American president is not even capable of being elected with a clear vote, let alone be a competent president...
Perhaps instead of being so egocentric and completely estranged to the world's geo-political equilibrium, you guys should start educating yourselves about what goes on OUTSIDE the US... Try opening your eyes and not be so confident that you are superior to everybody else... Try realizing that every action has a reaction, and that two 767s didn't crash into the WTC just for the sake of it. Arrogance is what killed so many people in the first place. The US' foreign policy has no political agenda. It is a financial maneuver. What happened in Afghanistan would have happened sooner or later, there were important pipelines to be built. The world doesn't revolve around the US. Deal with it.
I'm just trying to keep the dialogue going both ways. America has problems, France has problems. I think we focus on the problems of America sometimes as problems specific to the US when in fact they are common all over the world. And in that, we are all brothers of the human race, not just separate nationalities.
Did that make sense? I'm not sure if it does, but it sounds good!
MAttacks:
I didn't know "go pound some pebbles up your ass with a pick axe, ground dweller." was civil.
Lighten up, you freaks are quite sensitive for conservatives.
(by the way, I like that picture)
<strong>The US's foreign policy is what got it where it is today in the first place. Bin Laden was trained and funded by the CIA. Most bilogical weapons in Irak today were graciously given by the US during the Iran-Irak war to get rid of Iran, along with the scientists. Most weapons the taliban used were given by the US at some point or another.</strong><hr></blockquote>
AHHHHH! How many times to I have to read this complete crap! Get your facts straight or STFU!
Oh and before you say "prove me wrong" I'll ask you to prove you're right.
While I generally don't like the way the French think they are the US of Europe (trying to get everything there way and be absolutely stubborn and arrogant), I enjoy it when they launch pro europeanism throughout the world and sometimes win some and sometimes lose some.
Chirac and, before him Mitterand, are impressive leaders that have great knowledge of world affairs and know that sometimes it is best to be low key in foreign affairs than boisterous like the US is sometimes.
And Groverat... while you might think the US (or texas in your case) is the center of the world... well, its the center of your world... If the US were to dissappear, which I hope will never happen, I assure you life WILL go on.
<strong>
I'm quite sure after hearing a mediocre-actor-turned-president's speech, Gorbachev just went "oh boy, they're right, we ARE evil, let's just implode"... </strong><hr></blockquote>
You complain about the "nonsense" in this thread and then offer this?
[quote]<strong>There were thousands of factors involved in the fall of the USSR, Reagan's speech most definitely was not one of them.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Just because you say so? I guess the only factors we need to consider are the ones you've decided were involved.