Silvio Berlusconi

The guy is a total badass, womanizer, and has no respect for journalists. I only wish our president could be that awesome.

Of course not; he’s only our temporary CEO. We, the many millions strong members of the board, are the leaders of the free world. Scary thought. Yah think maybe the power freaks have known that all along and so have conditioned us to reflexively go at each others’ throats as much as possible, instead of just being each of us free and leading the world by example (and when necessary, by nukes, Navy Seals, McDonald’s, rocket-equipped T-rexes and other international debating techniques)?

Nah. The rest of the world knows Americans aren’t going to back that grovel stuff. They show Obama respect but behind his back know he’s irrelevant. The French would like to rule the world, but Sarkozy knows who is the real leader of the free world; he just made him a Commander in the Legion of Honor: Clint Eastwood.

Heh. Makes my day.

I’m making one distinction between tribes (in this case of regional origin) and for lack of a better term, national identity. There was no France or French identity in Charlemagne’s time. The melting pot in years gone by, took centuries to brew. The Franks during Charlemagne’s time were closer to their “Germanic” roots/culture than any contemporary or future “French” roots/culture. Do “Turkish” military history/victories claim the era when their largest city was named Constantinople? I don’t consider the French and Indian War a victory by the USA. Future citizens of the USA did participate and significantly, but the USA didn’t exist yet. We’ll never agree, so I’ll stop with this.

It’s either Stephen Harper or Kevin Rudd. Either of which is just as scary.

Oh noes, teh Juuuuuuuutes!

1. Michael Yon gives the French forces in Afghanastan high marks. The problem is that there aren’t enough of them.

2. Even at lowest point in GWB’s popularity, 20% of Europeans actually still approved of him….so there are are thoughtful people there.

My point is this – I’ll grant you that France has some good people…..people that I want to have on my side in a fight. But so does San Francisco. Taken as a whole, France is just France.

Personally, I don’t really have that big of a problem with France holding the position of the Free World’s leader. There are plenty of worse choices, and few states are as strong as France. They still have a top-notch military and with the aid of Germany and England could protect western Europe from most threats.

I nominate Manmohan Singh for Leader of the Free World. (And a photo in the slideshow in the previous thread shows him standing up straight, looking Akihito in the eye, and shaking hands like a man, just in case you needed more convincing).

Maybe I’ve been praying for the wrong President?

Actually I do. There was no England when there were the seperate tribes of Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes. The Normans were Scandinavian. Not long landed before William crossed the channel. The British settled colonies in N America. I don’t consider their prior (or colonial era) global military conquests as part of the USA’s (military) history. Ditto for France & Spain.

[So, the Franks, for whom France was named, were not French? And the Anglos, for whom England was named, were not English? Gotcha.

I suppose that today, Britain is German? Since the House of Windsor is a German line? - B]

[I guess that depends on what you mean by "fight." If you mean take up arms and shoot every German they saw, then I agree. If, though, resistance takes a wider meaning, then I must disagree. Germany kept military control (not just troops stationed) over northern and western France for more than just strategic purposes. The Germans couldn't have let the Vichy government administer all of France. The leaders of the French State collaborated, to be sure, but most of the French people did not. - B]

But if this is all correct, there are some possibilities.

I propose we all join the French Foreign Legion and use it for our own purposes.

I possess no prior military experience, but am willing to learn.

Explains why people are confused about the proper etiquette between leaders. We are Americans. We fought a war so that we would NEVER have bow to anyone else, ever again. We treat others as equals because we believe “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights……” To many of us this sounds familiar but to our children they have probably never heard those words from their history teachers. ‘

Sorry but in many school systems today children are not educated in history, they are educated in advocacy, liberalism and socialism. Sad but true.

Oh what a sad, sad state the world is in…