D-Day Commemoration: Sarkozy's finest hour

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Apparently the French decided the upcoming D-Day 65th anniversary was "primarily a Franco-American celebration" and so did not invite the British head of state. Maybe French diplomats get their view of history from John Wayne and Tom Hanks films, or maybe Sarkozy is choosing the wrong occasion to play international politics.

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@McTag,

The French are being...well...French. (I'm confident that that's how Mark Twain would've put it.) Sarkozy's trying to suck up to the Yanks after having been persona non grata among American brass in the wake of France's understandable refusal to become part of the misnamed "coalition of the willing." ("Coalition of the coerced" or "...of the duped" would have been more like it.) The French don't need anything from the Brits right now; so why bother inviting them to the shindig?

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@McTag,

Good ******* grief.

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@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Apparently the French decided the upcoming D-Day 65th anniversary was "primarily a Franco-American celebration" and so did not invite the British head of state. Maybe French diplomats get their view of history from John Wayne and Tom Hanks films, or maybe Sarkozy is choosing the wrong occasion to play international politics.

He was very rude.
He disgraced himself.
The French woud not have liked it
if the English did not help in coming to their rescue in 1944.

It surprizes me that Prince Charles is willing
to co-operate in this affront to his mother if, indeed, he attends.

David

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By God . . . this is a travesty ! ! !

Somebody should pay ! ! !

We should go to war immediately ! ! ! Well, somebody should go to war . . . we have enough on our national plate right now . . . maybe McT could spark some interest out his way . . . although i doubt it.

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@Setanta,

I mean everyone knows that England and France ought always to be at war, but this is downright churlish.

A few other countries were sort of involved, too, you know.

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Does anyone know the reason
that the Queen was not invited, but her son was ?

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@dlowan,

Yes, there were . . . there was a Norwegian destroyer there, Stavanger, which the Germans managed to sink. I suspect the Norwegians were somewhat indifferent to the celebrations.

There were quite a few Canadians, too. It is odd that Sarkozy, a conservative, should not have invited the Tory Stephen Harper. In terms of the scope of military operations, the French contribution was really rather small.

There were Poles and Russians in "static" battalions--defensive formations with no transport. They were prisoners of war who escaped the prison camps by enlisting in the German army. Many of them fought with great enthusiasm--many others surrendered with as much enthusiasm. Did Sarkozy invite them?

Oh, the infamy of this man . . .

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@Setanta,

And Australians, goddammit!!

My Uncle Max was flying bombers over occupied France on D Day...we have the letter he wrote just before he took off....saying they could hear the guns from their base in England.

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@dlowan,

Isn't it difficult to deliver your bomb load when you're flying upside down?

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I can see why he wouldn't invite Rudd, though . . . the vile crypto-commie.

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Set, you're not taking this seriously. Even though the French are the natural enemies of the English.

Anthony Beevor, btw, has just published a book about the history of the Normandy landings which is not altogether complimentary about the Americans.

(and their role in our invasion)

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@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

Does anyone know the reason
that the Queen was not invited, but her son was ?

It seems to have gone thuswise:

1. Gordon Brown was invited by the French. He accepted.

2. With about a week to go, the British found out that Pres Obama had been invited, and had accepted.

3. The British realised that their head of state should be there (Her Madge) but no invitation had been made to her. The British veterans organisations got wind of this, and were affronted.

4. It was too late to get the Queen, and she didn't have an invitation anyway.

5. Pres Obama told the French that the royal household should be represented, at least.

6. Prince Charles stepped into the breach, and they found a place on the platform for him.

Thanks Pres Sarkozy. A word of advice, don't book any trips to the UK for a while.
And thanks to Pres Obama, whose wife apparently gets on well with Her Madge.

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Please note that I'm not trying to defend anyone in this incident, which seems to me, had its origin in a protocol mismatch (and everybody knows that diplomatic protocol has it own tortuous ways).

McTag wrote:

1. Gordon Brown was invited by the French. He accepted.

and then wrote wrote:

3. The British realised that their head of state should be there (Her Madge) but no invitation had been made to her.

According to protocolar sources, invitations are issued by governments of states to other governments, in this case Gordon Brown.

Gordon Brown should have transmitted the invitation to HM the Queen, according to the usual protocol between the French and the British, if he wanted the queen to be present, as he is responsible of who forms the delegation of the country.

I assume he just forgot given his current political problems, known to everybody.

Now, I don't deny that there could be some ulterior motives from Sarkozy's part..

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@McTag,

Quote:

Set, you're not taking this seriously. Even though the French are the natural enemies of the English.

Ya think?

Quote:

Anthony Beevor, btw, has just published a book about the history of the Normandy landings which is not altogether complimentary about the Americans.

Has anyone been able to determine if a significant proportion of the people of the English-speaking world give a rat's ass?

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@McTag,

Ask your Mr. Beevor how long was required for the Americans to take St. Lo, deep in the bocage of Normandy, and how long it took the Brits to take Caen, in the open, within sight of the invasion beaches.

Silly Brits.

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@Setanta,

The Germans were shooting at us. Haven't you read the books?

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@Francis,

Quote:

Gordon Brown should have transmitted the invitation to HM the Queen, according to the usual protocol between the French and the British, if he wanted the queen to be present, as he is responsible of who forms the delegation of the country.

We prefer to blame the French.

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@Francis,

Francis wrote:

Gordon Brown should have transmitted the invitation to HM the Queen, according to the usual protocol between the French and the British, if he wanted the queen to be present, as he is responsible of who forms the delegation of the country.

D-Day Commemoration: Sarkozy's finest hour

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