Stinking Fwench Government Whores Sell Soul (again) and Tiawan to Chinese Commies

[DanS]

As usual they consider that any advantage taken by France or EU is detrimental for the US; even an attempt is a crime. And they are displeased by the recent enrichments of the relationship between China and EU: China participates now in the ITER program and supports EU initiatives; China is financing Galileo, a program which is hated by the US because it will take a share of the monopole enjoyed by the GPS. On these two matters, they could not use the threat to stop the technology transfer, since they ignore the new technology.

Didn't you get the memo? We've made our peace over Galileo. Now y'all have to figure out how to fund the damn thing, since the private sector has decided that this is a fully government-funded program. Good luck.

ITER is just a tactical thing. We would rather support Japan for it, since Japan is a closer ally than France is. Pretty simple. We lose nothing over a fight between you two.

[Az]

I'd like nothing more than the US cutting our military 'aid', btw. It doesn't really aid us. I don't agree with our selling arms to china ( though it's peanuts really, drones, and such), but the US stopping sales to India completely irritates me.

[Gatekeeper]

Earlier in this thread, UR asserted that China was supporting the U.S. dollar and, by extension, the U.S. economy.

That has piqued my curiosity because the last time I checked, China was far from being the only nation to have dollar reserves and, secondly, has pegged the value of its currency — the yuan, I believe (correct me if that's not right, please) — to that of the U.S. dollar. The practical effect is that it makes Chinese goods cheaper on the U.S. market, which helps to ensure that U.S. consumers buy them, which in turn is said to contribute to our trade deficit with China (which, I believe, is in the billions by now).

How is this supporting the U.S. economy? One would think that if China was really certain of *its* economic strength, it would have no problem de-linking the yuan to the dollar. Yet it won't do that. Why? Are they afraid the yuan would skyrocket in value and, thus, reduce their ability to sell their goods overseas — i.e., to U.S. consumers? And wouldn't such a move actually make U.S. goods a bit cheaper in China? If such a de-linking were to occur, wouldn't it be a double whammy against China's economy and a double-win of sorts for the U.S. economy?

I freely admit that economics aren't my speciality, but if even a part of what I wrote above is true, how the heck is UR's assertion — namely, that China is supporting the U.S. economy — even remotely true?

Gatekeeper

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by DanS
Yeh, that seems a little high, Dino. Present your backup.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html

[DanS]

Yes, to all of your questions. On the other hand, US consumers would be paying more for their goodies, so it's not so clearly a double positive for the US.

[Az]

Yes, to all of your questions. On the other hand, US consumers would be paying more for their goodies, so it's not so clearly a double positive for the US.

Only at first. Chinese goods aren't something special that people will keep buying despite higher prices. If they were speciality products, then it would be a different matter.

[Ned]

Lancer, I tend to agree with your title, as does Spiffor apparently. Is the entire nation of France a pack of slut whores, or is it just the Gaulists I wonder?

I was just reading up on Frankin in Paris. It appears that even then the French were doing everything in their power to screw the Brits, then the big kid on the block. Nothing has changed in the French character.

[Lancer]

"Lancer, I tend to agree with your title, as does Spiffor apparently. Is the entire nation of France a pack of slut whores, or is it just the Gaulists I wonder?"

Ned, consider Spif's take on the matter. No, I can't generalize to include all Fwench. I will say that I believe a majority of the French population supported Chirac, a class A *******, likely a bought class A *******, in his opposition to the war in Iraq. They are America and American haters, mostly, lacking in reason, and their food sucks no matter what anyone says.

Spif I like though, there is some small hope for him.

"I was just reading up on Frankin in Paris. It appears that even then the French were doing everything in their power to screw the Brits, then the big kid on the block. Nothing has changed in the French character."

It would appear that the government os of the franc and for the franc, and much of the citizenry is down with that. Same in Franklin's time? I'm shocked.

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by DanS


We've made our peace over Galileo. Now y'all have to figure out how to fund the damn thing, since the private sector has decided that this is a fully government-funded program. Good luck.

ITER is just a tactical thing. We would rather support Japan for it, since Japan is a closer ally than France is. Pretty simple. We lose nothing over a fight between you two.

Everything is tactical, no more, no less. The peace over Galileo is tactical too : when one cannot stop a competitor, one makes peace.

Regarding ITER, you should say that Japan is a closer ally than the EU which is a member of the association, not France.

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper

One would think that if China was really certain of *its* economic strength, it would have no problem de-linking the yuan to the dollar. Yet it won't do that. Why? Are they afraid the yuan would skyrocket in value and, thus, reduce their ability to sell their goods overseas — i.e., to U.S. consumers? And wouldn't such a move actually make U.S. goods a bit cheaper in China? If such a de-linking were to occur, wouldn't it be a double whammy against China's economy and a double-win of sorts for the U.S. economy?


Gatekeeper

China is not really certain of its economic strength; Chinese ministers always state that :
- they have to be cautious because the banking system is weak, with enormous bad debts from nationalized companies, there are a lot of old factories which are not competitive, and there is a big unemployment;
- for these reasons they never contemplate the de-linking, but a progressive revaluation of the yuan.

The effects of a progressive revaluation would hardly be visible on the US economy.

[Ned]

BTW, given everything, I see a new balance of major powers lining up as this:

1. US-Britain-Japan-India
2. France-Germany-Russia-China

Anyone disagree?

[Sandman]

Originally posted by DanS
We're cutting off some technology transfers to Israel over the matter.

This is something that Europe needs to keep in mind, since the technology is flowing its way from the US under NATO, among other guises. Almost no technology flows towards the US from the EU. That was the message that Bush communicated to the EU after the lifting of the embargo was proposed by France. And a lot of EU took notice, because it was considered a reasonably fair action by the US. The French proposal was probably dead, even before the secession law. The secession law was just a convenient excuse for the EU to tell France that their proposal was dead.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/living/...n/11454823.htm

Your link requires registration.

Some technology transfers? Sounds like Israel will be able to strike a balance, selling some stuff to China whilst still keeping the US happy.

In any case, it hardly comes close to the madcap, anti-French hysterics some of your lot are indulging in, does it? I'll bet that internal French opposition to lifting the ban has hardly been covered in the American media.

[Ned]

Sandman, France is supposed to be an ally. But we Americans and the Brits seem to find French weapons in the hands of our enemies. Remember the Falkland Islands war? The only thing the Argentines had that were effective were French planes and anti-ship missles.

Ditto, Iraq, and manh of the the anti-tank missles used by the enemy. French.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Sandman
In any case, it hardly comes close to the madcap, anti-French hysterics some of your lot are indulging in, does it? I'll bet that internal French opposition to lifting the ban has hardly been covered in the American media.

Actually, I have never found anything in the French media that mentioned domestic opposition to the ban. We have a tradition of letting "high diplomacy" in the hands of the president, and we have a very poor background of criticzing presidential international decisions.

When the media mentioned the issue at all, it was treated as some faraway diplomatic move, not as something criticism was possible on (even die-hard opponents of Chirac like the Commies). I've seen a very different tune in Germany, where the Green party has some actual weight.

True, there's some French-bashing: this thread would have probably never had so many posts if the Belgians or the Germans had been the guilty part. However, France definitely deserves to be bashed on that one. We are doing a terrible policy.

[Lancer]

Spif, have I mentioned that I love your accent?