A real eye-opener to me was the revelation that during WWII, French soldiers, under the command of Vichy, viciously fought us during the Allied invasion of French Morocco, killing American boys who were working toward the liberation of France. Likewise, after the liberation, France did not behave like a friend and ally. Instead, it thwarted us at every turn during the Cold War even as we were committing American dollars and men to protect it. Our money and men, in fact, permitted France the security to indulge in petty vindictiveness against us. The book shows many more instances of French backstabbing, finally bringing us up to present times and the perfidy of the French during U.N. negotiations over Iraq.
The book makes it apparent that France is wholly incapable of committing itself to any cause or principle other than its narrow and immediate self-interest. Yes the French gave us invaluable help during the American Revolution—but that was out of greed and acquisitiveness not out of any moral principle. Its accusations of American unilateralism with regard to Iraq are nothing more than projection of its own unilateral foray into a scheme of bribery with the monstrous regime of Saddam Hussein.
Our Oldest Enemy proves to me that France is not and never has been our friend. France’s agenda toward us is the same that it has always been: to knock us back and then keep us in the place it believes appropriate - subordinate to it. This has been demonstrated time and time again. Negotiating with France is like negotiating with a street harlot. The attractive appearance might be reassuring—but behind the harlot lurks a pimp prepared to roll you.
Article comments
1 - John Slattery
Your conclusion - that France is not and has never been our friend - strikes me, perhaps unfairly, as being ingenuous. It is, I'd say, a basic principle of international relations that countries do not HAVE friends; they have interests. And there is NO such thing as altruism, especially among nations. France, like every other country, looks out for its own self-interest, not always, admittedly, in ways that many might consider to be "enlightened" and often in ways that some might regard as "immoral" or "unethical". But in this respect, France is no different from any other nation. Your unflattering descriptions of France can be applied, with equal justification, to any other country, past or present.
2 - Nancy
A little of it, too, can probably be attributed to vanity. After all, the French were once THE arbiters of culture, language, art, fashion, even food - in the entire Western world and by extension the entire world where Europeans dominated. Militarily they dominated until the defeat of Napoleon; culturally until early into the 20th century. Then after WWI, they tanked. Suddenly they were the apex of civilization only in the fields of cuisine and fashion, and as a world power - zip. Pretty far of a comedown. I hope I don't live to see what the US does when we finally hit bottom and become only a symbol of licentious 'entertainment' and incessant advertising.
3 - Nancy
P.S. I always ADORED Pepe Le Pew. I thought he was too cute to move, and when I got old enough to recognize him as a caricature of Maurice Chevalier, it only made him cuter, IMO. I still love Monsieur Le Pew. And BTW, he wasn't the only French skunk: remember M'amselle in 'Pogo'? She wasn't a stinker, either!
4 - JR
Actually the French are a major force in motor sports; they've produced some of the best drivers and they're a leader in automotive technology.
5 - Duane
They are also the inventors of the French accent, which is about the coolest accent there is. And what would a hot dog be without the French's mustard?
6 - JR
Get real. The French accent doesn't even come close to the Irish, Scottish or Indian accents.
The metric system is quite useful though.
7 - Nancy
And french fries. And don't forget the french kiss, for those into tonsils. Then there's the french bikini - quite racy for its time. I personally like the Carribean accent myself - that guy who voiced the crab in "Little Mermaid"...I must have a thing for cartoon guys w/accents.
8 - HW Saxton
Supposedly "Fellatio" is an invention of
the French as well. Although I imagine
the origins of that act go back a bit
further than the Frogs can honestly lay
claim to.
9 - Duane
The film maker? Nah, I think he was Italian.
10 - HW Saxton
Duane, Quite the cunning linguist aren't
you?
11 - Duane
Touche, H.W.
Tish, that's French!
12 - HW Saxton
Gomez, Not in front of the children.
13 - Kath
I just stumbled onto this archived review by accident and I must say - what a gem. What a jewel of entertainment this page is in its own right, filled with the sidesplitting observations of someone who has formed a tidy set of opinions on an entire nation with the help of... let's see... one cartoon character, two movies, one sitcom, and four books. I must have a look at all this myself. I can only hope that the "History of America's Disastrous Relationship with Those Evil, Evil French" will be quite so amusing, but at least it's already been deftly proven to be edifying: who would've thought, for instance, that a country's worth (or lack thereof) could be determined by the tone of their dealings with the US? It's all so exquisitely simple!
Many belated thanks go out to you. I haven't read anything this funny all week.