French Response to Google is Microsoft 530
efp writes "Mark Liberman posted over in the Language Log that, in considering alternatives to Google's library initiative in Europe, French President Jacques Chirac would consider a partnership with Microsoft 'since he has so many views in common with its president, Bill Gates'. This comes out of talks between the French president, the head of the French National Library and the Minister of Culture, in in part 'building an alter ego to the American project, before thinking of an eventual collaboration with Google, so as not to negotiate from a position of weakness' as they plan to digitize their cultural resources."
Pssst Jacques (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Pssst Jacques (Score:3, Funny)
France surrendering? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:France surrendering? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:France surrendering? (Score:2)
Re:France surrendering? (Score:2, Funny)
Google search for "French military victories" [albinoblacksheep.com]
-----
Check out the Uncyclopedia.org [uncyclopedia.org]:
The only wiki source for politically incorrect non-information about things like Kitten Huffing [uncyclopedia.org] and Pong! the Movie [uncyclopedia.org]!
Re:France surrendering? (Score:4, Insightful)
Slashdot FUD (Score:5, Informative)
Here is the snippet from Le Monde's article : Dans l'esprit du chef de l'Etat, il s'agit de bâtir un "alter ego" au projet américain, avant d'envisager une éventuelle collaboration avec Google, pour ne pas discuter en situation de faiblesse. Le président serait-il prêt à s'entretenir avec le concurrent de Google, Microsoft, puisqu'il a tant de convergences de vues avec son président, Bill Gates, qu'il a longuement reçu à l'Elysée ? "Pourquoi pas ?", répondent les conseillers de M. Chirac.
Translation : "In Chirac's mind, the idea is to build an "alter-ego" to the American project, before thinking about a collaboration with Google, to have a good position in negociations. Would the president be ready to talk with Microsoft, since he has many common ideas with Bill Gates, whom he has met at the Elysée ? "Why not ?" is the answer from Chirac's advisors."
In summary, Chirac wants to build a French language online library, to have a good collaborative work with google. Should that work be done with Microsoft ? Maybe yes, maybe not. But the stated goal is to work with google, whatever that goal that can be achieved with Microsoft or not.
If you need to work with Oracle, what do you do ? You call an MS sales man to leverage your negociations with Oracle. Well, France wants to work with Google, so it doesn't forbid itself from working with Microsoft, if that gives it a better negociations position.
Slashdot has become more and more a FUD machine, with more or less every headline in contradiction with linked article. Worse, since the actual content of the article is from Le Monde, and is in French, many non-French speaking readers won't be able to see the utter non-sense that the Slashdot article is. This is more and more becoming the Fox News for Nerds, and it's starting to seriously upset me.
Re:France surrendering? (Score:3, Insightful)
France had abyssimal air power compared to the Germans. They could have killed Nazi Germany while it was in the early stages of re arming, but they chose not to. They paid the price for forcing the treaty of Versailles on Germany, with all its reperations, which kept the Democratic Wiemar Republic (sp?) so weak that it was easi
Yup, lots of similarities (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yup, lots of similarities (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not because he don't like what's being done by google/gutemberg/whatever that he should pledge alliance to the evil empire. What's the point of going with Microsoft?
Forget negociations! This is *wrong*, period. Nothing can justify it.
What's next? An alliance with McDonalds if Jojo [allinfo.net] decides to open restaurants in France ?
Re:Yup, lots of similarities (Score:5, Funny)
Quick! What's a clue-by-four in SI?
Re:Yup, lots of similarities (Score:5, Informative)
That would be a ken-by-ten . [answers.com]
Re:Yup, lots of similarities (Score:4, Interesting)
basically there's enough blame to go around I guess.
Re:Yup, lots of similarities (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe you could explain to me, honestly, why France seems to feel the need to reinvent EVERYTHING and give it a French spin? It's as though nothing is good enough unless there's an accented character in the name. This is just another perfect example, although I'm stunned they'd partner with MS, as that's just another US giant. I'd expect them to go with some French company.
Basically, why must France do things differently just for the reaso
Re:Yup, lots of similarities (Score:3, Interesting)
My guess is that it must be some ego problem for some politician who feel bad his/her pet project is so lame when compared with google's one.
Re:Yup, lots of similarities (Score:5, Insightful)
On one hand, the first item in that list is a documented fact. On the other hand, the comment is, as a whole, a troll. Curiously, most of the posts that follow are even less interested in the facts.
It is interesting how unapologetically ignorant so many my fellow US citizens are willing to be when they:
1. Didn't realize that the Slashdot summary misrepresented the nature of Chirac's comment, because they
2. Obviously didn't read the linked article, and
3. Have the opportunity to hurl invective at the most popular target of insecure American white trash.
American journalism, thy name is Slashdot.
Soo.... (Score:2, Funny)
He, you Anglosaxons might have a point :-) (Score:4, Insightful)
I've never met anyone from France that was rude and refused to try to speak English -- quite the opposite.
I've heard it argued that Americans go to Paris to "see France" -- and their opinions about the French is more or less similar to the common French opinion about people living in Paris... :-)
It has been a bit frustrating, when the "frogs" don't live up to the image I get from being steeped in the literature of English speaking (or mangling) cultures.
But I'll have to change opinion now. :-(
It do give a bit of perspective at the local politicians. There are worse examples.
Re:He, you Anglosaxons might have a point :-) (Score:3, Informative)
England has -always- had a rivalry with france and to a lesser extent other european countries.
this rivalry got transferred to america when it was colonised.
It doesnt have any real basis , it just exists. Its in the blood so to speak.
Re:He, you Anglosaxons might have a point :-) (Score:5, Interesting)
Chirac to my (typically uninformed American) eye seems to be in the mold of de Gaulle, and I'd guess that part of his popularity is from him "standing up" to the US.
England, otoh, does have a looooong history of conflict with France. The English version of the finger is two fingers held defiantly (with the palm inwards, as opposed to peace or victory, where the palm is outward), from the days when the French would cut off the fingers of any English longbow troops they captured.
Re:He, you Anglosaxons might have a point :-) (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Here is an absolutely fantasic fact. Must read. (Score:4, Interesting)
You might note that the Free French 19th Corps participated in Operation Torch. And it's been said that the fight was easier because many Vichy soldiers went over to the Free French side, rather than fight the Allies.
Still, one of the funnier Churchill quotes is, "The heaviest cross I had to bear during the war was the Cross of Lorraine." The Cross of Lorraine was the symbol of Free France, and de Gaulle was Free France.
Re:Here is an absolutely fantasic fact. Must read. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:He, you Anglosaxons might have a point :-) (Score:4, Insightful)
But when Americans are arrogant, it's excusable--they're from the most powerful country in the world. France, on the other hand; what has France contributed to the world that makes them so special?
They were the most important country in the western world, for a good long time. They may not always have been the most powerful, but they were the cultural center of Europe. Even when the sun never set on the British Empire, cultured Britons studied French, sat on French furniture, drank French wine and generally revered all things French (except perhaps the French themselves).
That sense of cultural superiority dies hard, probably because it is so comfortable to think of yourself as coming from a superior people. At least a part of current middle-eastern frustration arises from the fact that people there are accustomed to thinking of themselves as a powerful, influential culture -- which they were when the Europeans were arguably near savages. Chinese also have a long-standing sense of superiority, derived from thousands of years of civilization, that often puts them subtly (or not so subtly) at odds with the current young upstart superpower. Greeks tend to have a high opinion of the relative value of their culture based on the heights they reached 2-3000 years ago. I haven't really noticed the same effect among Italians; maybe they don't really think of themselves as the same people as the Romans? They're quite proud of their history, granted, but don't seem to draw any personal superiority from it. Maybe I just haven't met the right Italians :-)
For that matter, I think that if we Americans honestly analyze our own position in the world, we have to conclude that we're in decline now, and not in as powerful a position as we pretend to be (though we're clearly in a pre-eminent position). It's just so nice to think of yourself as superior that in spite of both the silliness of the notion and the fact that it may not be true, people hold onto it.
Re:He, you Anglosaxons might have a point :-) (Score:5, Insightful)
However, all of the French people I've dealt with at work and otherwise (in person) have been extremely nice people. Then again, I've never found any group of people from any place in the world that, in general, struck me as stupid, stubborn, snobbish or anything else. There may have been an individual or two that did - but no more so than any general population.
I think most people adhere to this stereotype of French people simply because it's what they hear on Fox News, talk radio and other random people - with no experience of their own.
I would probably feel uncomfortable and out of place in France - but I have no doubt that I'd find the people themselves easy to deal with - just as I've found them easy to deal with when they visit my country.
Where there's smoke there's fire (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not saying everyone in France is rude, I'm saying that on average in France you are going to find more people who are seemingly rude (seemingly is key, more in a second) to you than perhaps if you travelled elsewhere.
I have a few friends who have travelled to France (including outlying regions beyond paris) and the only one who enjoyed the experience is someone whose wife spoke fluent French.
This effect is aggravated by the "seemingly rude" point - there are some things people do in other cultures that strike Americans as rude. Part of that for my friends was some sort of service issue at restaurants, I forget the detail but some seemingly inconsequential thing they wanted was looked on in outrage by the waiter. Perhaps he also viewed the request as rude, but the response basically discolored my friends opinion of restaurants in France.
My own example along those lines is from a trip to Barcelona - myself and a few friends (two of which spoke Spanish pretty well) went into a toy store to browse. Now there was this cool thing in the window that I wanted to buy, so I took it from the display to take up to the cash register -well let me tell you the owner of the store flipped out! He was yelling and cursing at me like I had just set fire to his dog. Even after we explained calmly that I had not meant to offend he was incredibly angry and demanded we leave the store that instant! Well no toy is worth an altercation but to this day none of us can figure out what set him off to that degree. While it did not make me think of all Spaniards as lunatics, it certainly made me think a little bit inside that shopkeepers there were on something of a power trip with little respect for customers.
So reputations of other countries being difficult may stem from the degree of cultural differences between two countries. And to some extent, I have to say that given that the reputation is correct as far as the average person goes. Even though the behavior there might not really be rude, to the traveller it might seem that way and really that's the same thing as far as the traveller is concerned!
Re:Where there's smoke there's fire (Score:3, Informative)
In a small store, whatever is on display, is there to bring the customer in. Its not to be touched and many shopkeepers spend hours to arrange the things in the display. He probably had another piece just like this in the b
Re:Where there's smoke there's fire (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing is that places do acquire reputations for a reason.
The problem is that too often, the reputation is founded on false rumors and very limited experience. That's what - both in French and English - leads to Clichés: caricatural descriptions.
I have a few friends who have travelled to France (including outlying regions beyond paris) and the only one who enjoyed the experience is someone whose wife spoke fluent French.
First, it is harder to enjoy a trip in a foreign country when you don't speak its language. It may sound weird to you, but the vast majority of humans do not speak or even understand English. The French popular culture relies heavily on spoken language, so it is hard to enjoy it if you don't understand it.
Moreover, there has been a strong Anti-Americanism sentiment in France (and more generally in Western Europe) since the start of the war in Iraq, mirroring the Anti-French sentiment in the US. It could have played a role in the bad experience as well.
Finally, even French citizens recognize that some Parisians are maybe a little too proud of themselves - but that's not a problem specific to Paris or France and certainly cannot be generalized to all the Frenchs.
This effect is aggravated by the "seemingly rude" point - there are some things people do in other cultures that strike Americans as rude. Part of that for my friends was some sort of service issue at restaurants, I forget the detail but some seemingly inconsequential thing they wanted was looked on in outrage by the waiter. Perhaps he also viewed the request as rude, but the response basically discolored my friends opinion of restaurants in France.
When travelling to a foreign country, you have to accept its customs and habits. If you step on them, you'll definitely turn people angry or annoyed. If you make a mistake and offend somebody, apologizing solves it in most cases. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I didn't see a lot of american tourists caring much about the local behavior in restaurants, hotels or museums.
(...)
While it did not make me think of all Spaniards as lunatics, it certainly made me think a little bit inside that shopkeepers there were on something of a power trip with little respect for customers.
Never *ever* touch the window display in a shop in Western Europe. That's a *major* mistake. For the shop keeper, it is about as offensive as taking a item exposed in a museum "to better see it" or to touch a XIVth century painting with your fingers "to check what kind of pigment it is". For him, that would be about the same if you threw a stone on his shop's display window.
Your experience is definitely one of "cultural gap", not a "those people are unfriendly" one. Don't expect the shop keeper to have any respect for a customer who obviously had none for him !
So reputations of other countries being difficult may stem from the degree of cultural differences between two countries. And to some extent, I have to say that given that the reputation is correct as far as the average person goes. Even though the behavior there might not really be rude, to the traveller it might seem that way and really that's the same thing as far as the traveller is concerned!
I definitely disagree with your conclusion. *Everybody* in *every* foreign culture will be annoyed, offended or angry when you stomp on their customs. The vast majority of people (at least in Spain and France, which I know pretty well) are very friendly and will be open and helpful - as long as you don't behave as some kind of barbarian from their point of view.
Before taking conclusions about the friendliness in foreign countries, always think about your own behavior first: did the inhabitants find it offensive ? Did you ask them first when you were uncertain on what was the proper thing to do ? Did you present apologises in the formal way used by the inhabitants ? In most cases, you'll find it very instructive and it will help you to enjoy your future trips much more than any "Those guys are unfriendly" kind of Cliché.
Re:He, you Anglosaxons might have a point :-) (Score:4, Informative)
2 first hand accounts, and 1 second hand.
I know a French-Canadian girl who just *hates* the people of Paris. She just can't believe how people will talk to her when they hear her accent.
I know a woman at work who is *from* France, but not Paris, and will tell you that Paris earns it's reputation when it comes to the "rude Frenchman".
Also at work I've heard a few stories of French-Canadians going to see the "homeland" and are just left dissappointed with the reception they recieve.....
Two years ago I spent 2 weeks in Paris and although I don't speak French (You should have seen me trying to get McDonald's to go... "Umm....'dans le sac'????") I never really had any trouble... tho I did find the younger people to be more willing (or maybe they just knew more English) to help me.
Re:He, you Anglosaxons might have a point :-) (Score:3, Insightful)
I think that what we're seing is the gradual degradation of civilization; we are approaching a time of great change, the ultimate domination of humanity by a brainless corporate-style world governement. Business interests feed the channels of power (through money) in the world now. The gradual "dumbing down" of the mob/populace ensure the continuation of an upward feeding, parasitic capitalism.
My vote's wit
Re:No-France is intent on its opinion of being Fre (Score:2)
Sacre bleu!
Re:No-France is intent on its opinion of being Fre (Score:2)
wow (Score:2, Funny)
Oh well (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds fun!
Re:Oh well (Score:2)
So does Google then become... (Score:5, Funny)
What I see (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What I see (Score:5, Informative)
The BNF http://www.bnf.fr/ [www.bnf.fr] has attempted too early to scan lots of books, without the right plan.
The result? a bunch of low res image in locked PDF (can't select and copy) of some two hundred years books.
What google has done, is making a few people think in France: hey! We have completly fucked up our electronic library!
Given that it has costed several millions to citizen without any results,
maybe we should try to not suck so that the docile citizen do not notice the millions of euros which have been stupidly spent for a totaly useless project!
Re:Ayn Rand comes to mind (Score:3, Informative)
Anyway, there's a counterargument, although it's purely anecdotal: the NIH's PubMed [pubmed.gov] system. It's an online index of most biomedical research published in the last 50 years. Probably the most essential web page for every biologist in the country, created solely by the US government.
So this type of project isn't necessarily a bad idea. The major differences, of course, are that PubMed was probably created by scientists who knew exactly what they needed, and there's a hu
This thread is a placeholder (Score:5, Funny)
bargaining chip (Score:3, Insightful)
It seems to me that it is unlikely that the French government will align themselves with such a symbol of US cultural imperialism. Therefore, I suspect that the implied use of MS as a bargaining chip with google is correct.
Re:bargaining chip (Score:2)
Hey, there's a first time for everything.
politics and business (Score:2)
Manager: "Well, our techies say we could move some of our stuff over to linux."
MS: "How about some fat discounts?"
You're right, this is negotiation and its part of businesss as well as politics.
The article is essentially some non-denials from Chirac's advisors. Not exactly a done deal.
Re:bargaining chip (Score:2)
I would think there would be at least one company in Europe that is capable of doing something like this and I bet they would love the contract.
Re:bargaining chip (Score:3, Insightful)
Huh? What culture does Microsoft export? None that I really know of. At least not compared to Disney, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, etc., etc.
Of course, the whole notion of "Cultural Imperialism" is bullshit anyways, at least when it comes to the United States.
Re:bargaining chip (Score:2, Informative)
I'll try to quote the phrase:
"Would the president consider a meeting with Google's concurrent Microsoft, as he converges in so many point of views with its president Bill Gates, [...]? 'Why not?' answered the president."
AFAICS Chirac didn't even say they have so many views in common. And replying "Why not?" from a politician counts next to nothing...
Alright, this is getting downright bizarre (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Alright, this is getting downright bizarre (Score:2)
"not to negotiate from a position of weakness" (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:"not to negotiate from a position of weakness" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:"not to negotiate from a position of weakness" (Score:2)
I had a letter from the Software Gestapo once. When I replied that they were welcome to audit my infrastructure as long as they a) obtained a court order and b) made their auditing tools available under the GPL and runnable under Linux
Re:"not to negotiate from a position of weakness" (Score:2)
Well that, and no-one's been fired for choosing Microsoft.
Proprietary Formats (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Proprietary Formats (Score:3, Funny)
That's a needlessly harsh way to refer to the French language. The proper term is "an obsolete format".
Re:Proprietary Formats (Score:3, Insightful)
Shouldn't these other countries also have a say about what happens to the French culture?
Nice, Zonk! (Score:2)
best. department. evar.
The irony (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The irony (Score:2)
"would of"?
Do you speak Anglais?
Re:The irony (Score:2)
However, if they did look to MS, that would be pretty ironic. That's a big if. Nothing really indicates that they're going to do this, other than statements that they're not ruling it out. The whole under
Re:The irony (Score:3)
Rooting for the Underdog (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Rooting for the Underdog (Score:2)
Great.... (Score:3, Funny)
Time to rename something. (Score:2)
World Domination (Score:2)
Re:World Domination (Score:2)
Well,,, (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well,,, (Score:3, Informative)
"Pour ma part, je souhaite la bienvenue à nos nouveaux maîtres français des bibliothèques borg."
French? (Score:3, Insightful)
What's [slashdot.org] wrong [slashdot.org] with [slashdot.org] the [slashdot.org] french? [slashdot.org]
French good deeds this year: 2French bad deeds this year: 5
Le sigh . . . .
Re:French? (Score:2)
To quote Westwing (Score:3, Funny)
Great French Decisions Throughout History (Score:2, Funny)
1803: Let's sell the Louisiana Territories
1934: Let's overlook Germany's military buildup
Oooh La La (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like a matched set to me.
Something that would make more sense .. (Score:3, Insightful)
The rest has been said by others, I've nothing to add.
Wha?? (Score:2)
Chirac siding with an American president. Now I've seen it all!
If I were Bill... (Score:2)
On the other hand, if were Bill, I'd probably just declare war on France instead.
Now, everybody hates the French (Score:2)
Jokes aside, a large part of opensource software devleopers have been french, just read the sourcecode and search for
In corporate circles, Bill Gates is admired for being a shrewd businessman, books on him are read by managers and enterpreneurs. However rank-and-file software developers know better and admire good product design.
Not a position of weakness, but... (Score:2)
So, they prefer to negotiate from a position of stupidity?
Google should just tell France+MSFT (Score:2)
That will solve everything I *assure you!
* assurance not guaranteed
Read the actual article before you comment!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
This post relates to ANOTHER post which translates ANOTHER article in a French newspaper which says that some UNNAMED assistant to Chirac when asked about the possibility of partnering with Microsoft answered "why not?" (which does not seem like a terrible answer..., there is no reason to dismiss anybody before the project is launched...).
Re:Read the actual article before you comment!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Read the actual article before you comment!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Most people don't care for fact, they prefer canned explanations for what is happening.
CHOWDA (Score:3, Funny)
NO as said general Patton (or was it YES ?) (Score:5, Informative)
What happened up to now is that: The president of France said that he'd rather have his own "very large digital library" rather than let google do it all on their own. What some of his "minder" said in answer of a journalists question was: yes Microsoft could be a partner. Most probably if the journalist would have asked if Oracle, or Mysql or any other organisation/person/BEM the answer would have been more or less the same.
The first issue being: Should the governement fund a public "digital library" The second issue being: How.
So I do find it very unfortunate that people make a lot of "advertizement" for a mediocre propriaitary software provider (as in you can write good things or bad things about me, but first of all write about me !), based on partial information.
For the record, I do like the google search engine, but I do think that any government should make the effort of putting as much as possible of cultural content as possible online.
Of course I do hope that when the project will start it will use Free and Open Source Software, but for the time being there is not even a call for tender
BTW the french national library is called "La tres grande bibliotheque"/"Bibliotheque François Mitterand", (socialist predecessor of Chirac) no wonder Jacques wants his own.
For those actually interested in what is there http://gallica.bnf.fr/ [gallica.bnf.fr]
Dying super powers of the world unite! (Score:2, Interesting)
France is part of the past. Their role in the future will likely can be compared to the foodcourt in the mall except with a heavier emphasis on Middle Eastern cuisine. They're a dying nation who gave up their chance to be relevant when they started stumbling down the misguided road of nationalist s
Re:Dying super powers of the world unite! (Score:3, Interesting)
From my travels in France, I've found the people to be as forward-thinking (and well-informed) politically as they are conformist and sycophantic technologically. Chirac's cluelessness doesn't suprise me in this regard.
The French government has a reputation for opportunism when it come
Talking of common views... (Score:2, Offtopic)
Translation Error (Score:5, Informative)
Le président serait-il prêt à s'entretenir avec le concurrent de Google, Microsoft, puisqu'il a tant de convergences de vues avec son président, Bill Gates, qu'il a longuement reçu à l'Elysée? "Pourquoi pas?", répondent les conseillers de M. Chirac.
The initial translator wrote "Would the president be ready to make a deal with Google's competitor, Microsoft" which is incorrect.
A correct translation would be:
Would the president be ready to talk with Google's competitor, Microsoft, since he has so many views in common with its president, Bill Gates, whom he has long welcomed to the Elysée?
Quite a different meaning, don't you think ?
Re:now there's one more reason to hate france (Score:2, Insightful)
I am a high school history teacher...
I'd be fuckin' scared/annoyed/upset if you taught my children.
You're so stupid, it's almost funny
Re:now there's one more reason to hate france (Score:4, Insightful)
in the words of Simon Pegg:
what a prick.
Re:now there's one more reason to hate france (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, in that one sentence you've demonstrated that you're so clueless about history that you're a danger in the classroom. I have to agree with the other poster that I'd be very worried if you were teaching my kids.
Re:You could say three other reasons. (Score:3, Informative)
1. The US didn't save anyone in World War I. By the time the US got involved, the war was practically over. Also, the US got involved because of the threat of a war on its own soil - didn't you learn about the Zimmerman telegram at school? - and not because of any altruism it felt towards France.
Without US intervention, France would still have been on the winning side.
2. The US played a role
Re:You could say three other reasons. (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, i'm really suprised how can you have a such ignorant world view. I could tell hours and hours for you about the US shipping weapons and supplies first both to nazi Germany and the british and french. Then because of basically the germans got cut off, the USA transferred goods mainly to Britain and France. Of course it got a bit dangerous because of german submarines, and also it would have sucked if all that inves
Re:Do you Americans know... (Score:5, Insightful)
All joking aside, regardless of my feelings towards the French, which are pretty close to neutral, this does seem contrary to their nationlistic zeal to keep France French. I (like other posters) assumed that the government would come up with its own solution. It seems absurd that France would team up with that oh so American company Microsoft to thwart that other oh so American company Google.
P.S. The US was attacked by terrorists because of numerous things, but name calling is not one of them.
P.P.S. The rest of the world bashes the US. Don't you think we get tired of that?
Re:Do you Americans know... (Score:2)
Secondly, if this isn't a reason to make fun of the government in Paris, I don't know what is.
Re:Do you Americans know... (Score:3)
Re:Do you Americans know... (Score:2)
Unfortunately for Osama it turned out that in general Arabs want economic prosperity mor
Re:Do you Americans know... (Score:3, Insightful)
*Would the neocons have been able to advance their agenda as far as they have without an Osama? I do
Re:Fuck you, France... (Score:5, Insightful)
So basically what you're saying is you're too much of a pussy to risk your karma because you're afraid someone might mod you down in disagreement?
"Run to Bill, he'll protect us!" Now there's an idea. Jeeze, France, explain to us how your country has actually been relevant for 30 years...
They're not running to Bill, when asked if they'd select Google's competitor, Microsoft, the president's advisor said "Why not?" Not "Yeah, we've already signed a contract", just "Why not?" if any other company was mentioned it would have had the same response.