But I bet she doesn't follow Russian news so closely as she follows US news.
I do think that American "dumbness" is a bad rap. I had always, unfairly, thought that Americans were dumb until I started meeting them. As a broad generalisation, they seem equally as informed as Europeans, Chinese and Australians.
Maybe its the lack of exposre to other cultures which brings about such conclusions. Europeans and Asians are constantly exposed to other languages and cultures. Americans are not.
quote:
Of being the global and economic power that France used to be.
I think for many decades, France's attitude toward the U.S., and attempts to frustrate U.S. foreign policy at every turn, comes from France's being upstaged by the U.S., and their bitterly biting back to make the U.S. pay a price for it.
I think there is some truth to this. I read some research a while ago whch said that the change in global power from the UK to the US was the only such change which occurred without a war between the former power and the new power.
France was a rival to Britain until the early 1900s.
As I said much earlier in this thread, Britain and France are the only two European powers capable of substantial military projection. I wonder if this actually counts for a lot in terms of rivalry, having that level of clout.
As Americans, you probably take it for granted that sending an army to the otherside of the world is an easy thing to do. But Australia sent a force to occupy East Timor (almost a neighbour) and we had to fork out 1% of our annual income on a special tax to achieve it.
Anyway. France has clout, and like being in a school yard I think there is some inherent rivalry inspired with others who also have clout.
