france

The Economist’s hot take on JD Vance’s French side (Vance recently cited Charles de Gaulle as his political inspiration)

PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Aviator, diver, ETH maxi, nexialist | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

Healthy tech Pyrrhonist. Maker of arbtr.com. Écoconceptionsplainer.

What’s incomprehensible to me is how not showing subservience to America is immediately perceived as being Anti-American.

It’s the same “you’re either with us or against us” polarizing and nuance-free fallacy we’ve seen used by Bush in 2001.

In fact, Americans were pouring wine and champagne in the streets when France first pulled out of NATO in 1966, and did it again when France warned against a baseless invasion of Iraq in 2003. I remember that vividly. The perceived “disloyalty” of France was deemed an affront and synonymous with anti-Americanism, as if being friends implies that we have to always see eye-to-eye and everything.

De Gaulle was not anti-American. He was grateful for the American involvement in WWII and the Marshall plan. He was anti-communist and didn’t like the Soviets one bit.

But he was also against the idea of a U.S. cultural and military hegemony over Europe, and he was deeply convinced that France had to stand on its own first, and then in partnership with Germany.

de Gaulle’s overwhelmingly anti-American worldview makes this wildly incomprehensible. I struggle daily to grasp the cognitive dissonance Vance must be bathing in

As an American, I can’t help but envy the pride French ppl feel for their country. There are def parts of their culture we can learn from.

Also nuclear energy and solid single family agriculture.

The language sucks though, way too many letters per noise.

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Just here to appreciate the "At the risk of volunteering for the guillotine" which I'll use to preface all the risky things I'll say to French people going forward.