Bill Maher on France

[javaguru]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKS0yISz6xQ

 

[binö]

what i like more than the vids is the comments.
the first few pages have a few frenchmen ripping maher
he needs a counterpoint to make his show more interesting

 

[javaguru]

what i like more than the vids is the comments.
the first few pages have a few frenchmen ripping maher
he needs a counterpoint to make his show more interesting

I like how the comments focused so much on arab bashing.

 

[binö]

I like how the comments focused so much on arab bashing.

probably unjustly.
they just wanna eat too

 

[javaguru]

probably unjustly.
they just wanna eat too

Much of the immigration issue stems directly from their colonial past. They did have a pretty smart idea with the Foreign Legion and using foreigners, which nobody cares about, to enforce their foreign policy. I met a few FFL guys during Desert Storm...traded MRE's for their rations...they ate pretty well.

 

[binö]

Much of the immigration issue stems directly from their colonial past. They did have a pretty smart idea with the Foreign Legion and using foreigners, which nobody cares about, to enforce their foreign policy. I met a few FFL guys during Desert Storm...traded MRE's for their rations...they ate pretty well.

i wonder if the blacks recieved good treatment in the foreign legion.
i think france had sevangali or some shit in africa and they used a lotta the citizens on the western front.
i bet they were considered second class soliders

 

[javaguru]

i wonder if the blacks recieved good treatment in the foreign legion.
i think france had sevangali or some shit in africa and they used a lotta the citizens on the western front.
i bet they were considered second class soliders

Everybody gets treated like shit in the legion. The men in the legion know that nobody cares if they live or die in France. They know they're put in the dangerous situations where France doesn't want to risk losing face by having Frenchmen killed. They consider the legion their "home."

 

[binö]

Everybody gets treated like shit in the legion. The men in the legion know that nobody cares if they live or die in France. They know they're put in the dangerous situations where France doesn't want to risk losing face by having Frenchmen killed. They consider the legion their "home."

so it's a gentlemen's way of having mercenaries do your dirty work

 

[javaguru]

so it's a gentlemen's way of having mercenaries do your dirty work

Yep and after their five year enlistment they can be French citizens.

 

[javaguru]

The Military Channel aired "Escape to the Legion"

"Escape to the Legion
Grylls filmed a four-part documentary in 2005 called Escape to the Legion which followed Grylls and 11 other UK recruits in the French Foreign Legion as they endured the month-long basic desert training in the Sahara. The show was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4,[4] and in the USA on the Military Channel."

 

[babygirl84]

If you are referring to WWII, and the use of Senegalese conscripts, actually they were treated pretty brutally.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12632988/
There is an excellent movie by Ousamne Sembene called "Emitai" About a standoff between Senegalese recruits in a transition camp who are denied pay, food, and basically treated like shit; and the French.
It's a shame.
I actually really liked Dakaar when I was there, interesting place if you ever get to travel there.

If you want some books on the topic I recommend:
"Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa" - Klein
"Colonial Conscripts: The Tirailleurs Senegalais in French West Africa, 1857-1960" - Echenberg
But you'd probably find the films more interesting. lol

As a general rule, French foreign policy sucks. That whole "divide and conquer" thing worked swimmingly in the Middle East. Just ask Syria or Lebanon. lol

- this coming from the child of a french father. lol.

 

[javaguru]

so it's a gentlemen's way of having mercenaries do your dirty work

An interview,"Escape to the Legion" documentary/reality show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvxRtAuinpQ

 

[jestro]

During a bleak period in my life I looked at joining the FFL.

 

[Bikini Mod]

I suppose this is the very starkest example of "acceptable losses" all the way around.

 

[binö]

If you are referring to WWII, and the use of Senegalese
.

they were also used on the western front during ww1
the accounts i've read say they were waay unprepared for winter and artillery shelling.
and they got pwned