Fixing the rift between the US and Europe

[Guest Kingpk]

I figured this would be a good discussion. I was watching Frontline tonight on PBS and it looked at the whole diplomatic debacle (and it was a debacle) leading up to this war. I just want to get thoughts on how (or if), this "rift" between the US and countries that disagreed with them (France, Germany, etc.) After watching the program, I get the feeling that both sides made some mistakes, but I hope everyone is willing to work out these differences. I don't agree with at all with some calls to pull out of the UN and NATO and, essentially, just listen to countries that agree with us and tell the rest to kiss off.

 

Thoughts?

[Guest redbaron51]

let the people run the country, without the leaders of any major country, so we don't have to see any major war involving any country.

 

These guys out there are more of a group of tribes, than one nation, and trying to bring one nation together under western beliefs is very difficult.

[Guest NoCalMike]

"Europe" is kind of vague, since a lot of the countries are ridiculously different from each other, it would hard to bring them together in these times.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

The way we fix this rift is by doing the right thing in the completion of, and the reconstruction after, this war.

 

If we manage to take Baghdad without a freakin' holocaust and then truly liberate the people (and they take well to us in there), Europe will be fine. Giving Halliburton the sexy contracts to put out the oil well fires, though, wasn't a good start.

[Guest Powerplay]

The way we fix this rift is by doing the right thing in the completion of, and the reconstruction after, this war.

 

If we manage to take Baghdad without a freakin' holocaust and then truly liberate the people (and they take well to us in there), Europe will be fine. Giving Halliburton the sexy contracts to put out the oil well fires, though, wasn't a good start.

Tyler, did you ever think that they gave them the contract because they didn't have time to deal with a bidding war and instead needed to go to a company that they knew would do the job quickly and efficently?

[Guest Vern Gagne]

The French (who are the most outspoken) seem to say something different everytime post-war Iraq is brought up. Half the time the US and UK should be in charge of everything, other times they say the UN should be involved. I think they need to make up their minds on what role if any they'll have.

[Guest Mad Dog]

I think the only rift is going to be between France and the U.S.

 

And the only way for that rift to be fixed is for the French to start acting like our allies and not opposing everything the U.S. does.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

Regardless of why they gave the contract to Halliburton, they still shouldn't have from a PR standpoint. There are plenty of energy/oil companies in the US who could have done an equally decent job, and they wouldn't have the stigma of being "Dick Cheney's company"

 

It was a stupid fucking move, and unless there truly was an ulterior motive, not even the Bush camp would have been stupid enough to risk that.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

I think the only rift is going to be between France and the U.S.

 

And the only way for that rift to be fixed is for the French to start acting like our allies and not opposing everything the U.S. does.

ha.

 

As someone who has spent time in Europe I can tell you that France is definetly NOT the only country who has beef with America. The only way someone from N.America is safe in foriegn countries alot of the time is to have a Canadian Flag on their backpack.

 

And France doesn't oppose everything America does. They disagree with you over this war and suddenly they're the bad guys. I hate to tell you this but America has benifted just as much from France as France has from America.

 

You want to fix the rift? Use better wordings in speeches Americans APPEAR to think of everyone who isn't American as being of far less value. Don't tell countries that it's your way or the high way because eventually they're going pick the high way.

 

In other words stop seeming to be condesending asses*.

 

 

 

 

*I don't think all Americans are "Condesening asses" but the gov. and others often come off as so.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Regardless of why they gave the contract to Halliburton, they still shouldn't have from a PR standpoint.

So, Halliburton should be exempt from receiving any jobs for the government from now on?

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

I don't see why they should get any.

 

They're a company who can barely see through all the red ink they have been dealing with; they had to lie about their income just to keep their stocks afloat a few years ago. There are much more qualified energy companies out there that don't have ties to the administration.

[Guest TheMikeSC]

I think the only rift is going to be between France and the U.S.

 

And the only way for that rift to be fixed is for the French to start acting like our allies and not opposing everything the U.S. does.

ha.

 

As someone who has spent time in Europe I can tell you that France is definetly NOT the only country who has beef with America. The only way someone from N.America is safe in foriegn countries alot of the time is to have a Canadian Flag on their backpack.

 

And France doesn't oppose everything America does. They disagree with you over this war and suddenly they're the bad guys. I hate to tell you this but America has benifted just as much from France as France has from America.

 

You want to fix the rift? Use better wordings in speeches Americans APPEAR to think of everyone who isn't American as being of far less value. Don't tell countries that it's your way or the high way because eventually they're going pick the high way.

 

In other words stop seeming to be condesending asses*.

 

 

 

 

*I don't think all Americans are "Condesening asses" but the gov. and others often come off as so.

France's foreign policy, for YEARS now, has been to simply oppose whatever we support. This has been the case for as long as I can remember now. They are "allies" in name only.

 

And, yes, some European countries loathe us. Greece despises us. France hates us. Germany hates us. I still do not understand why in the world we should CARE. If you want enemies, why not pick enemies who won't fight for ANYTHING? As long as they can make money, those countries won't do anything.

 

Americans have no problem praising foreign peoples. Blair has been almost lionized over here. To expect Americans to respect people who clearly don't respect us is absurd.

 

And, last time I checked, France has a pretty good market in the whole "coming across as condescending asses" field.

-=Mike