Why Stereotypes are

So there were the French, you remember the French don't you? Those brave, honest people who condemned Dryfus because he was a Jew, and who volunteered to round up even the babies for the Nazis. Those people who -all- claim to have been in the resistance in WWII. Yes, those French, yes, the ones who actually invented the Inquisition (the Spanish only copied the French invention).

And now those lovely people, the French, led the call for a UN body of international troops to occupy Southern Lebanon and guarantee a ceasefire. The French have always insisted that they were the masters of diplomacy, the diplomats par excellence. They haven't been for over a century but why let facts intrude in nationailistic bombast. So there they were, charging to the fore, trying to regain their position as a real player, one of the big boys - declaring that they, the French, would lead the effort, their glorious French troops would show the way for all of us.

Big Talk. Big, big talk. The number 15,000 troups was mentioned. The number 4000 French troops immediately as the cornerstone was mentoioned, and more to follow.

And what do they do in the end? They send a team of 200 engineers. Huh? Engineers? What happened to the soldiers, mon ami?

From Reuters-
NEW YORK, 19 August (IRIN) - After the disappointing commitment by France of only 200 engineers to the newly tasked United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown appealed to the rest of Europe to provide troops for a "robust" force.

And -
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in a statement on Thursday that Germany was set to send customs officials.

Oh beauty! Is this not right out of Saturday Night Live?

Stereotypes are, they simply are because they are.

Choucroute!

I'm watching a really excellent show on Alsace and at the moment they are showing how to cook the regional specialty Choucroute. We've made this dish in our family for decades but watching the original made in its home stamping grounds is interesting and instructional.

I love Alsace- beautiful, beautiful area. Lovely people, lovely wine, lovely food. I miss it. I need a car so I can drive there with Alan and wander around the vinyards and little villages and sit at a cafe table sipping local wine and ummmmmmmmm

Federation II

Wow - a player created this little video about Alan's game: Federation II.