Huh?

[mandragora]

I've just been listening to the 'Today' programme on BBC Radio 4, which is the most listened to current affairs morning programme in the UK.

US Republican Congressman Pete King was interviewed in relation to the row over Nato and reinforcements to Turkey. France, Germany (sort of) and Belgium have vetoed military reinforcements to Turkey. And Congressman King's response was to dismiss France and Germany as being 'inconsequential'.

Leading to me going WTF!

He considered countries such as *cough* Lithuania to be of more importance in Europe than France and Germany. The world's fifth and third (second?) largest economies respectively.

Uh, yeah. Right. Whatever.

Why, he said, France doesn't even have a single aircraft hangar. Which is, quite simply, wrong.

I don't know who this Pete King is, but I'm really glad he's not an elected politician in my country.

Oh, if anyone reading this has any idea why the formatting on my 'friends' page went wonky last night and now is too large for my screen horizontally, I'd be really grateful for pointers on how to fix it.

Edited, because I wrote that the name of the Congressman was Mike King, when in fact it's Pete King - didn't want to defame any Congressman Mike King out there

Comments

[temaris.livejournal.com]

Because of course, Aerospatiale and Airbus are not taking orders out from under Boeing grubby little tyres, and the French airforce didn't beat out the US in their helicopter 'topgun'' school the year they opened it. (That last I was told, but I am prepared to hear I was wrong!).

Be fascinating to see the gloves come off about Britain if god forbid we should demonstrate some moral backbone and say no to Bush.

Did you see the Mail's front page - gross ingratitude. As though war was a balance sheet, and being once saved makes you forever beholden to the detriment of your own nation, and contrary to your nation's mandate. Vile, ugly, moronic warmongering journojism.

Um. Sorry. Didn't mean to vent all over your lj!

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Did you see the Mail's front page

*Shudder* No. I never read the Mail, which I consider to possibly be the most insidious paper in Britain. I mean, on the surface sometimes what is written starts out as seeming to be reasonable, but when you get to the end of the article you realise that the conclusion is just... out there. Loathe the Mail with a passion.

And, seeing as I don't have the benefit of working in a library where copies of daily newspapers are available *g*, nope. No Mail for me. Thank God, it seems in this case.

For a start, the suggestion that Britain, France, or whoever they're getting at owes gratitude to the US for 'saving' us/them during WW2 grossly oversimplifies the position.

Am I exceedingly grateful the US entered the war? Christ, yes. Do I think that the US did so out of purely altruistic motives?

Get real. Of course not. I like to think that the US would eventually have entered the war, if for no other reason than Hitler in control of the whole of Western Europe could have led to a real imbalance of power worldwide. Plus, there were undoubtedly people in the US who did want to help from mostly altruistic motives. I also can't blame those at all who were against getting involved, after the carnage that was WW1. However, the fact is that the trigger for the US becoming involved with WW2 was that the US itself was attacked. Thank God for Pearl Harbour (from a European perspective). It also ignores the fact that the people who were most responsible for Germany's defeat were the (then) Soviet nations, not the Americans, and certainly not the British. It's no coincidence that the Soviets suffered the most casualities at the hands of the Germans.

But it looks like the Mail (as usual) ignores all of that, in favour of, as you write 'vile journojism'. Sigh.

[temaris.livejournal.com]

Friends page - I suspect it's jacquez's photograph that is too large for the screen and is forcing it to scroll horizontally. It will stop when it drops off the page as more people post. I could be wrong, but her lj is doing the same thing, which leads me to believe I'm not!

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

Ack, yeah, that might be - I can go lj-cut it. It's not long enough to cause problems on my screen, so I let it be.

*scampers off to cut*

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

It worked. Thanks, Laura.

I will get back to you soon re the Sorceror's Apprentice, I promise. I'm just reeling from having spent 2 unexpected days in court, which has meant that I'm way behind on everything I'm meant to be doing. I thought both days I'd only be there for the morning and could catch up on other stuff at work during the afternoon, but it hasn't worked out that way, so I'm having to work late at night instead. Sigh.

So, my apologies for the delay. I'll try to get to it tonight, but as it's already fairly late and I have to get up early tomorrow may not be able to give it the amount of attention it deserves, and I don't want to do a crappy job on the beta.

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

Don't sweat it - I'm patient. (Or I can be.) I completely understand about vicious attacks of real life...considering they're why this chapter wasn't done months ago. :)

[thermidor.livejournal.com]

can I request political asylum now?

[temaris.livejournal.com]

Hugs! Of course you can. We'll even let you come and watch tapes and drool over pretty boys.

Speaking of which...? M, wanna swap tapes? T, wanna watch tapes?

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Swapping/watching tapes sounds good to me. In fact, as I was walking past Browns on Old Jewry on my (very late) way home tonight, I thought, hmmm, the special tonight looks good. Then I though that the last time I was there I was with you two and arachne, and then I thought 'time to meet up'.

So, suggestions? Maybe email to include arachne as well?

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

I dunno. Can you sing all the verses of 'God Save the Queen'? *g,d,rlh*