Article

2011-08-23 Africa North

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by 2011-08-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 Well surprise surprise surprise...

The withdrawal of the alliances only aircraft carrier, the French navys Charles de Gaulle, which has limped back to its base at Toulon with a faulty engine, means that the alliance is increasingly having to rely on the RAFs ageing fleet of Tornado bombers.

Posted by tu3031 2011-08-23 00:06|| 2011-08-23 00:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Isn't that the one that the Propellor fell off?

Posted by Redneck Jim 2011-08-23 00:09|| 2011-08-23 00:09|| Front Page Top

#3 Yup. Apparently it stayed on this time (or is the faulty engine just a cover story?)

Posted by gromky 2011-08-23 04:44|| 2011-08-23 04:44|| Front Page Top

#4 And these are the same fellas that were going to help us kick the soviet's butts if the shooting ever started during the cold war.

Posted by Besoeker 2011-08-23 08:17|| 2011-08-23 08:17|| Front Page Top

#5 Their "help" consisting of the French firing off their nukes as soon as the Soviets crossed the French border.

Posted by Eohippus Phater7165 2011-08-23 08:48|| 2011-08-23 08:48|| Front Page Top

#6 Followed by the death of Europe Phater. The death of Europe and possibly us as well. The boomers would not have remained silent.

Posted by Besoeker 2011-08-23 08:56|| 2011-08-23 08:56|| Front Page Top

#7 Their "help" consisting of the French firing off their nukes as soon as the Soviets crossed the French border

and

Followed by the death of Europe Phater. The death of Europe and possibly us as well. The boomers would not have remained silent

Let's remind that when the French developed thir nukes American doctrine (that means Kennedy's and Johnson's) was: Warsaw Pact invades Western Europe, if not stopped by conventional forces then nuke Poland and Czechoslowakia but not Soviet Union unless it launches an attack on US soil. Sorry, but solutions where America and USSR fight one another to the last European and then agree to a draw are not that palatable to me.

Posted by JFM 2011-08-23 09:33|| 2011-08-23 09:33|| Front Page Top

#8 Alos French doctrine past 1960 was: "we can't prevent you from invading or destroying France but we can make you regret it".

Posted by JFM 2011-08-23 09:35|| 2011-08-23 09:35|| Front Page Top

#9 JFM, France could have committed it's sizable army to fight on the side of NATO to stop the Soviets on the German border. Instead, French policy was to wait and see if the Soviets broke though. That greatly increased the chances of Soviet conventional victory and nuclear war in Europe. I'm sure Germany and the rest of NATO were thrilled by the possibility of France nuking Soviet forces in Germany as well as the NATO forces who were engaged in battle with the Soviets.

Posted by Eohippus Phater7165 2011-08-23 09:46|| 2011-08-23 09:46|| Front Page Top

#10 Eohippus

I know but that came (I think) four years later. May De Gaulle roast in hell. I was speaking of the period when France was stll a full NATO member but decided to get nukes. BTW because France could not afford both, nukes and an army teh French Army, except for e few elite units became a mess where on average a private fired less ammo at the firing range in a whole year than a Bush-era US Marine in two days during his training.

BTW the more I learn about de Gaulle the more I think he made a devil pact with Stalin during WWII.

Posted by JFM 2011-08-23 12:18|| 2011-08-23 12:18|| Front Page Top

23:58 trailing wife
23:53 tu3031
23:48 trailing wife
23:47 JosephMendiola
23:39 trailing wife
23:19 JosephMendiola
23:16 trailing wife
23:07 JosephMendiola
23:06 tu3031
23:01 Frank G
22:57 Anonymoose
22:49 trailing wife
22:39 Sherry
22:37 Sherry
22:34 badanov
22:32 tu3031
22:32 Trembling B4 G*d
22:27 swksvolFF
22:27 DanNY
22:26 Trembling B4 G*d
22:19 Trembling B4 G*d
22:18 tu3031
22:17 badanov
22:12 Trembling B4 G*d