Grunherz, you very conveniently glossed over Croatia's stance as an Axis member in WW2. Not a glorious period in your history. Fighting for the Nazis on the one hand and fighting against them on the other. But I know Croatians personally and know the history.
Your distaste for the French is amusing considering the way Croatia didn't even surrender but simply joined the Axis straight away and many collaborated right to the end. Even the Vichy French didn't do that.You mentioned the top scoring Croatian ace, didn't he fly an Me109 against the allies?
On top of which Tito who was Croatian was also a Communist as were all those partizans. Something you equally dislike.
On cowardice, I know an ex Croatian soldier who told how he had to force his men to stand up and fight and how one officer had to threaten to shoot anyone who wouldn't fire back at the Serbs. Croats committed one or two atrocities too, not just the Serbs.
You know that saying: People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I daresay most of your American friends know little of this. But you know it well but you try to make up for it by constantly and irritatingly and fanatically proclaiming your devotion to the United States. You're more American than any American. 'Methinks you protest too much' Yeah we know you love America, so do I but give it a rest. Try and get the principle: America is a free country, you are allowed to dissent and call Bush an idiot. That's what happens in free countries. The government or the police won't arrest you for that. They ignore you. That why you went there isn't it? So enjoy that freedom and stop trying to turn America into some sort of neo fascist state like the old country.
For the Americans:
The French are no cowards, they were invaded by their powerful militarist neighbour three times in less than a hundred years. Sure they were all over the place in WW2 but they were in it from the beginning and took the brunt of it and Nazi occupation for four years. 20 years earlier they held back the Germans along with the British for another fours years. Before that in 1870, Paris was occupied by the Prussians.
That kind of thing colours your world view quite significantly.
The British would have suffered much the same sort of fate if it was not for the geographical convenience of the channel.
Anyone who sneers at the French really needs to get their facts right. Sure Chirac was particularly perverse in his opposition to Bush's plans but hey he is the leader of a soverign and free country, the one whose own revolution inspired the American revolution. So he is entitled to differ from America. I disagreed with him but I defend France's right to differ. It's not America's world yet.
