Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys
They make themselves such easy targets. In the continuing saga that is the US's attempts to launch a major war on Iraq [again], the boys from across the pond sank to new lows today, as their media [who have absolutely no connection with the fucks who run the country, indeed no] resorted to puerile name-calling, directing insults at the "ingrates" who don't really fancy getting embroiled in World War III so good ol' G. Orge Dubya can settle a score and gain greater access to his most faaaavouritest thing in the whoooole wide world, oil. France, Germany and Belgium, in declaring that there's as yet no justification for starting a war, are apparently "obstructionists" whose presence in the UN is irrelevant - there were even calls for them to be booted out and replaced by India, who are much more "serious".
Breaking News: US Media Disappears Up Its Own Rectum In Freak Accident. Rescue teams are working around the clock to retrieve the unfortunate victims. More as we get it.
It's a risible, farcical display of arrogance and juvenility; the proverbial playground bully bursting into tears when he realises the kids have grown up a little and aren't gonna hand over their candy so readily. It seems to be of no consequence to America that their actions regarding the Iraq situation will have huge repercussions across the length and breadth of the world, no doubt for years to come. French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin identified the situation beautifully with his retort to Bush's claim that "the game is over" - "It's not a game, and it's not over." Not that the US are naively and blissfully unaware what devastating effects the military enactment of their "war on terror" will potentially have - they simply choose to ignore them because it's not in their interest to acknowledge them.
Part of the issue for US commentators seems to be that America saved France's bacon during World Wars I & II. Therefore obviously France owes them a favour, and should step back and shut the fuck up.
Oh grow up. This isn't a Hollywood-manufactured action movie, where one good turn by default merits another at the nearest opportunity regardless of the context and surrounding circumstances. This isn't a game of favours - or at least, it shouldn't be. Millions of lives are on the line here, something Bush, Rumsfeld & Co. Ltd seem happy to breeze over as they anticipate a game of toy soldiers and ignore Iraq's recent concession in agreeing to co-operate with the request for surveillance planes to fly over the country. Rumsfeld has said that he's happy to initiate planning for military action "outside of Nato if necessary". Great!! Shall we just scrap Nato altogether then? That might solve the problem of the pesky French!
Of course Britain is doing as it's told, as Blair trots merrily at Bush's heel, stopping only to lift his leg against a lamppost from time to time. But then, he would... after all, the US did Britain a favour by throwing millions of dollars our way during WWII. Hmm. Isn't anyone sick of the US holding the world under its financial thumb, threatening to cut off the pocket money if orders aren't obeyed and demands aren't met?
As for the US media [tabloids and then some] who've jumped on the anti-French bandwagon, hurling clichéd insults at the cautious French who aren't too anxious to see bombs going off all over the shop [funny, neither am I], it's become an almost laughable point [if only it weren't at the same time so disturbing] how much of the US media is monopolised and controlled by the likes of Rupert Murdoch - making its political bias all too obvious, and utterly debunking any objectivity it might have. And it stands to reason that their chief insult - "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" - was coined from an episode of the Simpsons. This is coming from a notoriously TV-addicted country where the average citizen watched hundreds and hundreds of hours of tv last year alone, compared to a fractional amount of time reading. TV Nation indeed. And these people are the so-called leading nation? God help us all.