guapeton

what a stupid posting, obviously for no other reason than complain about france for the sake of it. like hospital food is anything but lousy anywhere.....

That's right, france's experiences in Algeria would definitely give them reason to look for a more diplomatic approach, but then i think most of the leading countries have had their fingers burned in the past too. i think the big issue here was down to US's impatience at using force, it's no secret that they've been gunning for Saddam for a long time. Despite the apparent victory, the Gulf War was still an embarrassment for the States as they allowed Saddam off the hook instead of bringing him to justice at that time, and tried to instigate a civil war at the cost of many Iraqi lives. September 11th and the "war against terrorism" gave the US good reason to invade Iraq and bring down Saddam, and they needed to take advantage of it while they could. I don't think that any other president in Bush's place would have acted any different to him, as I don't think any prime minister in Blairs place would have acted differently, as in exactly the same way I don't think any French president in Chiracs place would've acted any differently.

I disagree Tresco, I think it is a separate issue. All politicians have "other agendas" so to speak, whether it's corruption or whether it's just a simple matter of buying votes for the next election. if there is an element of corruption involved then this should be and will be investigated by the proper authorities, and if the need arises action should be taken. I don't think there's ever been a politician who acted in a noble and selfless manner, and I'm sure Bush and Blair didn't. There's no doubt in my mind that Chirac isn't a "good guy", some of his remarks in the past about the Arabic communities are very right wing and he is far from popular in France (Zebda wrote a song based on one of his speeches). However the decision by the French Government to not support the war on Iraq would have been the same whether these allegations against Chirac are true or not. The anti French feelings in the UK and the US where definitely a product of propaganda, it was exactly the intentions of the governments of both countries to create a distraction. However, sadly the propaganda worked well on the large numbers of sheep in both countries who follow blindly whatever is written by the tabliods.

Getting back to the topic, the point is that Chirac acted on public opinion in France, whether he had other agendas too is besides the point, that's a separate issue. I think the most important point is that whether you talk about Blair, Bush or Chirac, they all reflected public opinion in their own countries, thus proving that the democratic system installed works. Spain also proved their democratic system with Aznar supporting the yanks despite 80% opposition from the Spanish, and now he's no longer prime minister. Whatever people's views on the war, justified or not, the veto was based on the WMD theory, which is now proved to be wrong, and therefore the veto was just and Chirac had every right to do what he did. On top of that it was common knowledge that the Yanks couldn't care less about UN opinion, so I don't see how people can point the finger at Chirac. I found it absolutely appalling how the US and UK ripped into the French after the veto, and tried to turn the focus onto Chirac.

Hi to anyone who can offer me their valuable advice My girlfriend is currently searching for a job in France, and at the moment has a big possibility of a position in Paris (yipee). As much as i'd love to become a future house-husband, i understand that this wouldn't be the fairest and realise that i should at least attempt to pull my own weight. so my question is what would be the possibility of me finding work in Paris. My current profession is a signalling designer however i know that i have no chance of transfering my career abroad, as the field is quite specified, and have no problems with looking more into the career waiter or bar worker or kitchen worker or hotel worker etc. does anyone have any experience of this and know the type of wages i could expect, that is if i could actually do this in the first place. The other possibility for me is that I am currently doing a correspondence type course in web-design, and so i could look at freelance, however i am informed that the french tax system stings freelancers big time (dunno how true this is). does anyone have any experience of working freelance? Thanks Guapeton