Thursday, May 08, 2003
Back from a 3 week business tour of Europe... once again. These trips of mine seem to be getting longer and longer. For some reason, I have a problem blogging while using my laptop. I guess I fiugre my blog is not that interesting anyway, so nothing will be missed while I'm out.
Conversations around the continent have calmed down quite a lot. People are now back to their usual indiffernt selves, as if nothing had happened. France included.
Italy was the funniest place of all. People went out of their way to tell me how much they had been supportive of the war in Iraq and of the US, all while an average of 10 " peace flags " were hanging from balconies on each and every building in the country.... pretty darned strange that all those peacenicks have just evaporated leving their flags hanging!
The Brits instead, are people that have the courage t stand up and speak their minds, no matter how hard it is for them to do it or how wrong they might be. Margaret Drabble wrote this piece on the Daily Telegraph which I thought might be worth sharing ( thanks to Andrew Sullivan at www.andrewsullivan.com ):
"My anti-Americanism has become almost uncontrollable. It has possessed me, like a disease. It rises up in my throat like acid reflux, that fashionable American sickness. I now loathe the United States and what it has done to Iraq and the rest of the helpless world. I can hardly bear to see the faces of Bush and Rumsfeld, or to watch their posturing body language, or to hear their self-satisfied and incoherent platitudes. The liberal press here has done its best to make them appear ridiculous, but these two men are not funny. I was tipped into uncontainable rage by a report on Channel 4 News about "friendly fire", which included footage of what must have been one of the most horrific bombardments ever filmed. But what struck home hardest was the subsequent image, of a row of American warplanes, with grinning cartoon faces painted on their noses. Cartoon faces, with big sharp teeth. It is grotesque. It is hideous. This great and powerful nation bombs foreign cities and the people in those cities from Disneyland cartoon planes out of comic strips. This is simply not possible. And yet, there they were."
Amazing emotions!
All in all, the French were the best of all. The ones I met, all went out of their ways to make sure we lousy Americans understood their contempt.... we got the point, and will treasure the experience. Our next investments will not go to France, they may rest assured!
Conversations around the continent have calmed down quite a lot. People are now back to their usual indiffernt selves, as if nothing had happened. France included.
Italy was the funniest place of all. People went out of their way to tell me how much they had been supportive of the war in Iraq and of the US, all while an average of 10 " peace flags " were hanging from balconies on each and every building in the country.... pretty darned strange that all those peacenicks have just evaporated leving their flags hanging!
The Brits instead, are people that have the courage t stand up and speak their minds, no matter how hard it is for them to do it or how wrong they might be. Margaret Drabble wrote this piece on the Daily Telegraph which I thought might be worth sharing ( thanks to Andrew Sullivan at www.andrewsullivan.com ):
"My anti-Americanism has become almost uncontrollable. It has possessed me, like a disease. It rises up in my throat like acid reflux, that fashionable American sickness. I now loathe the United States and what it has done to Iraq and the rest of the helpless world. I can hardly bear to see the faces of Bush and Rumsfeld, or to watch their posturing body language, or to hear their self-satisfied and incoherent platitudes. The liberal press here has done its best to make them appear ridiculous, but these two men are not funny. I was tipped into uncontainable rage by a report on Channel 4 News about "friendly fire", which included footage of what must have been one of the most horrific bombardments ever filmed. But what struck home hardest was the subsequent image, of a row of American warplanes, with grinning cartoon faces painted on their noses. Cartoon faces, with big sharp teeth. It is grotesque. It is hideous. This great and powerful nation bombs foreign cities and the people in those cities from Disneyland cartoon planes out of comic strips. This is simply not possible. And yet, there they were."
Amazing emotions!
All in all, the French were the best of all. The ones I met, all went out of their ways to make sure we lousy Americans understood their contempt.... we got the point, and will treasure the experience. Our next investments will not go to France, they may rest assured!
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