--- Jon Gabriel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > France > 250,000 > 500,000 > 450,000 > Jon
OK, but does this civilian number include the French Jews who were enthusiastically shipped off to the death camps by the Vichy government? I rather imagine that it does, which puts a slightly different cast on things. I am struck, actually, by the fact that here in my office most people are fairly liberal - at a rough guess, something like 60% oppose the war - and (at my level, at least) people tend to despise France. It's not something I would have expected. Now, it's kind of hard to describe me as hating France, much as I enjoy making jokes about its two century record (since Austerlitz) of diplomatic incompetence and military disaster. OTOH, I've been there, took six years of French in middle school, high school, and college, study French history more than I do any countries except Britain and the US, and my thesis advisor, Stanley Hoffmann, is the quintessential French intellectual, and at least as well-known in France as he is in the US. But, judging by my peers here and the other people I've spoken to, the single most important outcome of the last few months from France's perspective is quite striking. An entire generation of politically active Americans believes (correctly, in my opinion) that France has decided that it wishes to be an enemy of the United States. This was a choice on France's part, but it seems to be the one that they have made, and unlike Germany, this is a choice that the people seem pretty enthusiastic about. Unless things change very rapidly, we should treat them that way. Hence the jokes, which used to be made with considerable affection, but are, well, less so, now. Gautam __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
