French Imperialism
Coyote Blog looks at French Imperialism vs. Anglo Imperialism and finds much to be desired:
The results are striking. When arrayed in order of GDP per capita, ex-French colonies occupy only 4 of the top 25 spots. And, if you leave out Louisiana and Quebec, which one can argue are much more shaped by the US and British, and if you leave out Mexico, where there is arguably little French influence and none in the last 150+ years, then ex-French colonies occupy only 2 of the top 25 spots. When arrayed by the Freedom Index, and again leaving out Quebec, Louisiana and Mexico, ex-French colonies only occupy one of the top 25 spots! The ex-French colonies occupy 14 of the bottom 20 poorest slots and 11 of the bottom 15 least free slots. Finally, one could argue that none of the ex-French colonies have really grown up into world players, while British colonies in America, Australia, India, South Africa, Palestine (Israel) and even Egypt play a significant role on the world stage.
So the French even suck at imperialism. Figures…
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And they really suck at peacekeeping.
Soldiers, Rebels Clash in Ivory Coast
Comment by Scott Kirwin — 11/5/2004 @ 12:33 pm
And now things are really turning nasty.
“Street-level violence erupted, with machete-wielding mobs seeking to exact revenge on French citizens. With armored vehicles and helicopter gunships deployed, France used tear gas and concussion grenades to quell the mobs.
Near Gbagbo’s home on Monday, French armored vehicles were firing warning shots to hold back crowds of thousands trying to block the road, said a worker at the hotel, the Hotel Ivoire, reached by telephone. The worker refused to give his name. ”
Comment by Scott Kirwin — 11/8/2004 @ 9:20 am