the French

October 5 was the 90th anniversary of the first air battle of World War I, when French and German aircraft exchanged gunfire. I don't know how that dogfight turned out but we all know how World War I turned out.

Yesterday, the President of France continued the French tradition of expressing their warm regards to the U.S. for helping the British and other Allies pull their fat out of the fire, twice in the same century, when he said:

Chirac lashes out against US cultural domination
Thu Oct 07 2004 21:37:42 ET

"French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged. Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity. The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values. This, he said, would lead to a "general world sub-culture" based around the English language, which would be "a real ecological catastrophe". "

If Mr. Chirac wants to criticize American entertainers, especially those who wear their underware outside their clothing, look like $250 hookers from Fort Lauderdale, and have an IQ below room temperature, I would join his criticism. I can understand their historic resentment of anyone who uses English instead of perfect French. But, "catastrophe?" "Choked by US values?" "Ecological catastrophe?" As they say in France, give me "les break-o." When I think of French "values," I don't generally think of anything that the rest of the world should want to emulate except wine-making. Was he being critical of Prez Bush or the US involvement in Iraq? Was he diverting attention from allegations that France was cozy with Saddam Hussein? I don't think so. His comments were delivered to an audience in Hanoi. Here's the rest of the story: "Vietnam is a former French colony, but only around 375,000 of its 81 million people speak French. English is considered by most people a far more valuable and practical second language, particularly among businessmen." What can we say? C'est la guerre. If history had turned out differently he could be complaining about German, not English.