Lately, I've seen a lot of anti-French sentiment being posted on the BBS. I don't hate the French as a people, but I do have a pretty strong distaste for their government.
Aside from the obvious financial interests that France has with Iraq, here are the reasons I think France has tried to the thwart the United States at every turn:
This has a bit to do with history, so bear with me...
France is a proud nation whos citizens are fiercely patriotic. This is commendable in my opinion and should not be faulted in any way. If you're not proud of your country, you shouldn't live there. France, throughout history, has made MAJOR contributions to the world as a whole, and it's influence is still felt to this day in almost every country. Indeed, without the help of France the United States would have likely lost the Revolutionary War. However, we have paid them back for this assistance and no longer owe them anything in any way shape or form.
Relative to France, the United States has a VERY short history. We have no longstanding embedded culture of our own (unless you're American Indian of course). Our culture has been adapted and mixed from many other countries to form our current "American Culture". The United States had very little influence on world affairs until about 100 years ago. In fact, we were even considered "punks" as recently as the beginning of WWII.
France, however, has a longstanding culture and was a world power for longer than the U.S. has even been a country. We are indeed young "punks" in comparison.
However, this is no longer the past. The days of Napoleon marching around Europe capturing everything in his path are over. France is no longer a world power, and quite frankly, I think they despise that fact. After such a long period of time where France was a major player in world politics, it must be quite difficult to step down and take a back seat to a young upstart country like the United States.
Also, the remnants of WWI and WWII still remain. Think of it... You're fiercely patriotic toward your country and could do absolutely nothing about it being taken over and occupied by a foreign nation (Germany). You were forced to rely on outsiders to hand your country back to you, not once... but twice. THAT would be a hard to pill swallow indeed.
How do you puff your ego back up and attempt to gain some importance on the world's stage again? Take on the world's most powerful nation in the only way you can. Through the United Nations... Even at the expense of allowing a massochistic dictator to run rampant in Iraq.
Ego is a powerful motivator, and France is full of it.
