Americans Boycott French Products

[Real American]

God I hate the French. Those pathetic cunts are worthless, we should have never saved their asses.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,78921,00.html




Americans Just Say 'Non' to French Products Wednesday, February 19, 2003
By Amy C. Sims

 
NEW YORK — Jokes about France are plentiful lately, but many Americans aren't laughing at the European country's resistance to using force with Iraq -- and are fighting back by closing their wallets.

 
 
 
 
In fact, beaucoup d'Americans have decided to boycott French products such as wine and cheese, in an effort to hurt the country's economy.

Fromage.com, a French cheese distributor, reported that its sales to the United States have gone down 15 percent in the past two weeks. Some U.S. eateries are no longer offering French wines. And a restaurant in North Carolina has even changed the name of its fries.

Neal Rowland, who owns Cubbie's restaurant in Beaufort, N.C., said he decided to put stickers that say "Freedom" over  the word "French" on all his menus after he watched France back away from support for war in Iraq.

"Since the French are backing down, French fries and French everything needs to be banned," he told Foxnews.com in a telephone interview. "Fry sales have really gone up. People who eat them now say, 'Freedom never tasted so good.'"

Rowland cooked up the freedom fry idea last week after a conversation with a customer about World War I days, when anti-German sentiment prompted Americans to rename familiar German foods. Sauerkraut and frankfurters became liberty cabbage and hot dogs.

And Rowland said patrons have been in full support of the fry renaming.

"I had a gentleman come in today, who works at the court house, and he was crying, his son is serving in Afghanistan and he said he was so glad someone is taking a stand," said Rowland. "He was proud to see the support in the community for the troops."

If the backlash is strong enough, it could impact the French economy -- American trade with France tops $30 billion a year.

But some French aren't amused by, or afraid of, the boycott.

"Well, if they prefer to eat American food, it is entirely their problem," Guillaume Parmentier, the head of the French Centre on the United States, told the Canadian new service CBC.ca. "But seriously. This never works. Boycotts work when there are grave human rights violations or something like that."

U.S. lawmakers are also eager to remind the French that Americans bailed them out in both World Wars, at a cost of tens of thousands of lives. Some in Congress are even pursuing possible trade restrictions.

Rep. H. James Saxton, a New Jersey Republican, has drafted a resolution that calls for a U.S. boycott of the Paris Air Show this spring.

"If [the Chirac government] fails to find a way to cooperate, we'll urge U.S. citizens, companies and the military to forego participation," Saxton told WorldNetDaily.com.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he'd like to target bottled French mineral water and wine. He has instructed Republican colleagues to determine whether Congress should pass laws that would impose new health standards on bottles of Evian and other French waters.

According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, France is the leading exporter of water to the United States and sold 65 million gallons last year.

It's not the first time Americans have boycotted French products. Back in 1985 when the French would not allow U.S. military planes to fly over their airspace on their way to bomb Libya, U.S. consumers boycotted industries, including fashion, food and wine. And a similar boycott happened in 1995 and 1996 when France refused to stop testing nuclear weapons in the South Pacific.

But Boris Marchand-Tonnel of the French-U.S. chamber of commerce in Paris played down the threat.

"Maybe in a few New York restaurants, a few clients will refuse to order French wine," he told The Guardian. "But it's peanuts against the overall picture, it's really just symbolic."

Whether the boycott impacts the French economy or not, Americans from Congress to Cubbie's are saying the French can "faux-get" our future support and money.

Rowland said one freedom fry eater told him: "On Sept. 11 if a plane had slammed into the Eiffel Tower I guarantee the French would've been on the phone to the Americans saying, 'Please, we need help.' It's time for them to step up to the plate and help us."

Fox News' Trace Gallagher and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 

[Maestro Minded]

so is usa gonna remove the statue of liberty??

[King Tech Quadafi]

this is quite possible the stupidest thing i have ever heard.
One country objects to america's shameless bullying of a third world nation, and now they are being boycotted? good God.....

[Quakaveli]

^^I think boycotting n all dat shit iz a lil too extreme lol, but good point we DID help em in WWII and saved their weak asses.

[Kaidy]

Great democratic thinking huh. You disagree, you get hurt.  

[Don Seer]

so is usa gonna remove the statue of liberty??

LOL... i thought exactly the same when i saw this thread.... the little new country america is just stomping its feet because its not getting its way

[closetothalimit]

so basically america is chucking a hissy fit because they arent getting their way? and france isnt doing what they are telling them to do?

it sounds like america is playing 5-year-old again.

[Woodrow]

so basically america is chucking a hissy fit because they arent getting their way? and france isnt doing what they are telling them to do?

it sounds like america is playing 5-year-old again.

Lets take a look at some of the rest of europes reactions to france...

Bulgaria's president angrily summoned the French ambassador Wednesday as critics across the former Soviet bloc lashed out at French President Jacques Chirac for telling Europe's eastern newcomers to "keep quiet" on their pro-Washington stance on Iraq.

Their indignation, coupled with a refusal to withdraw support for the U.S. threat of force against Saddam Hussein, underscored how the ex-communist countries of the "new Europe" are finding strength, solidarity and unprecedented influence by sticking together.

"This is no longer Napoleon's Europe but the Europe of dissidents like (former Czech President) Vaclav Havel," an editorial in Latvia's Diena newspaper read.

"Chirac is doing exactly what he criticizes the United States of doing: telling other countries what to do," said Guntars Krasts, head of the European affairs committee in Latvia's parliament.

The French president made the comments Monday after many of the 10 ex-communist countries invited to join the European Union in May 2004 signed declarations of support for the United States' tough position against Iraq.

"It is not well brought-up behavior," Chirac said of the declarations. "They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet." He warned that those nations were on "dangerous" ground because the parliaments of the 15 western European countries that now make up the EU still must formally vote to admit the eastern newcomers.

In Bulgaria, which has offered a 150-member non-combat unit in case of war, President Georgi Parvanov summoned France's ambassador Wednesday in a show of displeasure.

At a meeting with the envoy, Jean-Loup Kuhn-Delforge, Parvanov "expressed concern about ... the emotional statement" by Chirac, his office said.

"Bulgaria insists on mutual respect between EU members and applicant countries, between big and small states," Parvanov said. "Pressure by one state on another should not be allowed."

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, in Sofia for discussions on countering illegal immigration, sought to smooth over the controversy.

Chirac only wanted to tell prospective EU members that joining "gives a lot of rights but also creates a lot of obligations, including solidarity," he told reporters.

But as Chirac's remarks sank in Wednesday, fury erupted.

"Chirac's outburst must be understood as the recognition that a dream is beginning to unravel. The New Europe imagined and created from rubble after the last war will not gravitate necessarily around the Paris-Berlin axis," the Romanian newspaper Ziua said in an editorial headlined "Le Petit Big Brother."

Not all of Chirac's targets took him to task.

A Hungarian official sought to play down the fuss, and Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said his government respected France's right to express its opinion, and he warned against "too much emotional rhetoric."

But reaction elsewhere was ferocious. In many countries, Chirac's remark was translated as "shut up" rather than "keep quiet," only fueling the collective sense of outrage.

The Lithuanian newspaper Lietuvos Rytas said in an editorial: "It looks like Chirac has forgotten that eastern European countries broke free from communism and ... will not be the silent servants of Paris."

In tiny Slovakia, the daily Pravda wrote Wednesday in a commentary that "neither Slovakia nor any other candidate country will enter the EU to keep silent, but in order to make their voice be heard more."

Romanians, who have been fascinated by French language, culture and architecture for more than 150 years, snapped at Chirac as a "hypocrite" and accused the French leader of misreading its support for a quick and decisive end to the Iraq crisis.

"What Chirac ... doesn't understand is that Romania is not pro-American, nor anti-French, nor anti-German, and least of all bloodthirsty for Iraq," said Cristian Tudor Popescu, editor-in-chief of the daily Adevarul.

"Did the Europeans and especially the French ever understand what Romania endured under communism? Romania is desperate ... Romania sees in the United States at this time the strongest guarantee that it won't have to return to the quagmire."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30883-2003Feb19.html

[Woodrow]

Eastern Europe dismayed at Chirac snub
French leader hints support for US may jeopardise EU entry

Ian Traynor in Zagreb and Ian Black in Brussels
Wednesday February 19, 2003
The Guardian

Eastern European countries reacted with fury and dismay yesterday after being summarily ordered by France to hold their tongues on Iraq and toe the Franco-German line of resistance to the US.

The former communist countries due to join the EU next year, or hoping to do so soon, endorsed an emergency summit declaration from Brussels on Monday giving Saddam Hussein a "final opportunity" to comply with UN demands.

But outrage at remarks by President Jacques Chirac late on Monday, attacking as "infantile" and "reckless" EU candidates' support for the US, echoed across the continent.

Poland's prime minister, Leszek Miller, stayed away from yesterday's meeting of the 13 candidate countries in Brussels, angry that he had not been asked to attend the summit proper.

But his deputy foreign minister, Adam Rotfeld, said the countries of the region would decide what was good for them in spite of Mr Chirac's rebuke that in supporting Washington the east Europeans had "lost a good opportunity to keep quiet".

The European Commission and current member states were appalled.

"They have as much right to speak up as Great Britain or France or any other member of the European Union today," said Tony Blair, a champion of eastwards expansion. "They know the value of Europe and America sticking together."

Chris Patten, the EU's external relations commissioner, said union members were entitled to their own views.

Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, was mortified by the hint that French voters might block the new members' accession in a future referendum. "The enlargement of the EU is an historic duty and a promise made by all the member states," a spokesman said. "We trust the treaty will be ratified and enter into force as planned."

A senior Czech official complained that the eight eastern countries joining the EU next year had been under intolerable pressure from Brussels and Berlin and were being bullied into toeing the Franco-German line on Iraq.

"We've spent the past 10 years trying to get into both the EU and Nato. It's vital for us to keep in both the EU and Nato. But the Americans are pressing us to make a choice one way and the Germans the other.

"Not so long ago we were being told Berlin wanted a European Germany. Now it seems [the EU] is to be a German Europe."

The Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians joined Mr Blair and four others in signing the "gang of eight" letter in support of President Bush, while another 10 countries in eastern Europe and the Balkans issued a declaration backing the Americans.

The east Europeans respond that Germany's anti-war line, initially an electoral tactic by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, was not squared with EU allies.

"All of central Europe is in an impossible position, between a rock and a hard place," said Jiri Pehe, a Czech analyst and foreign policy aide to former president Vaclav Havel. "No matter what we do, we will be seen as disloyal to France and Germany, or to the US."

Mr Chirac singled out Bulgaria and Romania for criticism, warning that support for the US was jeopardising their chances of being admitted to the EU. Ion Iliescu, president of Romania, hoping to join in 2007, called Mr Chirac's comments "totally unjustified, unwise and undemocratic".

Mr Chirac's fury was widely seen as betraying France's deep anxiety at the way the club it helped to found will change beyond recognition when it takes in 10 new members next May - as well as mounting anger at the distinction made by Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, who dismissed France and Germany as "old Europe" compared to the friendlier "new" easterners.

Starting in Slovenia next month, the incoming EU states are to hold referendums on EU membership.

Gary Titley, leader of Britain's Labour MEPs, condemned Mr Chirac's "bully-boy tactics".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,898450,00.html

[Woodrow]

Another thing, If you think France and Germany really are just peace lovers who don't want war, you should check out some of the Oil contracts they signed with the current Iraqi government...

They don't want war because they will loose a huge sum of money.

[Real American]

Another thing, If you think France and Germany really are just peace lovers who don't want war, you should check out some of the Oil contracts they signed with the current Iraqi government...

They don't want war because they will loose a huge sum of money.

Bingo.

[Don Seer]

LOL at Americans now attacking france trying to win the argument...  


French people arent trying to take back the statue of liberty or sueing over the name of french fries or not buying mcdonalds...

continue alienating yourselves america...

[Woodrow]

Let see here...

Spain, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia.

I forget how your government stands on the position?

3 out of 16 nato countries dissagree with us...

Who's getting alienated?

[Matty_C]

LOL at Americans now attacking france trying to win the argument...  


French people arent trying to take back the statue of liberty or sueing over the name of french fries or not buying mcdonalds...

continue alienating yourselves america...

Coudlnt have said it better myself...

I have to question the US motivation for war as the current line of weapons of mass destruction simply does not hold up when none have been found.

Any war should be based on the human rights issue, something which the US clearly doesnt care about seeing as they have only put aside 15million dollars for humanitarian aid after a war , this is 22 minutes of the annual defence budget and 67c per iraqi.

Liberating and aiding the country my ass.

[Woodrow]

Coudlnt have said it better myself...

I have to question the US motivation for war as the current line of weapons of mass destruction simply does not hold up when none have been found.

Any war should be based on the human rights issue, something which the US clearly doesnt care about seeing as they have only put aside 15million dollars for humanitarian aid after a war , this is 22 minutes of the annual defence budget and 67c per iraqi.

Liberating and aiding the country my ass.

I heard that the US put aside almost an hour and a half of it's budget!