'French CNN' to challenge US view of world affairs

[Esslinger]

France is to launch a French-language news channel next year in a long-awaited attempt to challenge the dominance of the American view of world current affairs, the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said on Thursday.

The government will provide €30-million in start-up funding for the channel, which will "allow international broadcasting that will express the diversity to which our nation is attached," Raffarin said.

The CII (International Information Channel) project, better known in France as "CNN à la Francaise", is a pet project of Jacques Chirac's and was first announced shortly after his 2002 re-election.

It was initially greeted with widespread scepticism, seen as yet another Canute-like attempt to preserve French language and culture in the face of the inexorable onward march of English.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=176339

[knowbody0]

1. yeah

the french learned much in the battle of algiers and in their failure in vietnam. they understand the errors of occupying another nation.

[Stand and Fight]

2. You've got that right.

I wonder if we shall get it via satellite here? Parler-vous francais, DUers?

[knowbody0]

3. we are DU we can do ANYTHING

[zmdem]

4. Other lessons for the French

Napoleon, Franco-Prussian War, WWI, WWII. The French have been more the occupied, rather than the occupiers. At least we gave them veto power on the UN security council. With that and a Euro, they can get a cup of coffee.

In the end, France is all hat and no cattle.

ON EDIT: left out the 'a' before 'Euro'

[Brundle_Fly]

5. I think that is mostly geographical.

nt

[lebkuchen]

6. France has a road system to die for

Best highways in the Europe.

[KDLarsen]

10. Until they decide to do road repairs in the middle of the summer

.. the only advantage of that, is that it encourages you to drive off the beaten track & drive on the smaller roads. Nothing beats having lunch with a glass of wine made from the vineyard 20 metres down the road.

[lebkuchen]

11. Road repairs in France do have that added plus

which many other countries can't offer. Germany's roads are in poor shape because of all the heavy truck traffic it receives. Germany was supposed to start a toll system similar to France's, but it ran into technical glitches and has been put on hold.

I was in France for six weeks over the summer, and I'd have to say, there is much more repair work going on in Germany than I saw in Alsace, Burgandy, Normandy and Brittany. Also, the roads were mostly empty. In Germany, there is so much trafic.

[KDLarsen]

12. I agree on that..

.. however, while driving home from France this summer (spent 2 great weeks there, including experiencing the 60th anniversary for the Cote d'Azur landings) I must say that I saw quite a lot of road works going on in Germany.

I think France refrains from doing road works over the summer period, because they know that there's going to be insane levels of traffic.

EDIT: Forgot to add, the best part about driving in France, is when listening to the traffic radio & they start talking about a 16 kilometer queue that's come to a complete halt!

[Rochambeau]

9. Yeah, we remember the Dunkirk lesson the brits gave us ! lol

Among many others. See the link of my sig line for more details (I've post a quote below). Since the record exists the alpha and omega of the british military history can be summed up in one word : the Channel. Without it, shasam, no more UK, each time. This is what saved them each time and nothing else and certainly not the fairy tales they enjoy to live in conserning their "win the war for me please mister continental ally" military record.
It's one of the Napoleon's lesson too. In a sense it's really too bad for them, without the Channel they would be eating decent food since a few centuries :evilgrin:.
Anyway, with the brits conserning their military record since a century it's "all america and no cattle" lol.
We should propose a new name for UK to the EU parliament...The United Kingdom Hidden Accross The Channel...sounds accurate...


"Nobody, no army on earth, could've held off the Germans under the conditions that the French faced them. The French lost because they had a long land border with Germany. The English survived because they had the English Channel between them and the Wehrmacht. When the English Army faced the Wermacht at Dunkirk, well, thanks to spin the tuck-tail-and-flee result got turned into some heroic tale of a brilliant British retreat. The fact is, even the Brits behaved like cowards in the face of the Wermacht, abandoning the French. It's that simple. "

[sandnsea]

13. Agree 100%

The French held off the Germans while the British fled. I also recall Belgium, I think, being quite unhappy with the performance of the British when Germany invaded. America is just a WASPish extension of the British Empire.

[TyeDye75]

14. What happened to entente Cordiale (spelling)

I agree with your point about the channel, its been saving our asses since the Romans first attemot (even though thier second was successful)

However you play the cards your dealt, we have still had some pretty dire situations, The battle of Britian and the Spanish Armada are two that come to mind.

I would also remind you that over 100,000 French troops were evacuated from Dunkirk.

[mitchtv]

15. We'll fight this war to the last American!

.

[w4rma]

7. At least our Pravda "American" media has isolated themselves to the US

and will NEVER be able to gain enough credibility to expand like they would have been able to do if they hadn't lied about so much.

[daleo]

8. It sounds good, I think I want it.

I suppose I would need the English version, but even if it was only in French it would be an excellent motivator to improve one's French, which would be a handy thing anyway. The food is great in Quebec City, and Montreal is a fascinating and very civilized place. I haven't been to France yet.

[Moderator]

16. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1060573