French block airlift of British troops to Basra

Stephen Harding wrote in message ...
Brian Sharrock wrote:

From your side of the Atlantic, I suppose everybody over the
horizon seems to be 'Euro', but to me, a Briton, the idea that
there'' some kind of "Euro spin" over the rebellion of some British
colonists funded by the French Kingdom in the furtherance of a
republic is laughable. I know it's probalby hard to examine the

I understand there are "Europeans" and there are "Britons". I've
become quite anti-European as I age and carelessly lumped the UK with
Europe. I think most Americans consider the Brits "different" from
the "Continentals" even though technically (I think), you're all Euros.

That perhaps is the source of the American problem with Europe. Europe
is complex, it is dynamic, and it is often just as perverse as the
USA. We cannot all be lumped together in one pot, but our difference
are different to US internal differences, so you tend to ignore them,
a mistake I fear. Just as an example, I am British, but I am a Scot
also, I also hold and am proud to do so the Queens commision. My
allegances are complex, but we can cope with this, and it helps
sometimes when we are faced with situations like the Balkans, because
we understand that there are layers of what matters. Life is complex.


underlying myths and shillobeths that you've been taught since
Kindergarden but perhaps not everything you've be taught is true?
Most folks get older, I nearly said mature, on along the way towards
the grave cope, or adjust, to the reality of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy
and other props ...

Ahh yes, the characterization of those who disagree with you as ignorant or
naive, and certainly in need of true education.

Not eally cultures differ, what is important to me, and makes me take
action may well be different to the things that make my neighbor get
going. I know I see things differently to many in the US, but I can
see that we do have many common values and that by working together we
can peerhaps solve some of the worlds problems.

That does not mean that I will ever be able to understand baseball,
although I think I see thepoint of US Football, which is in my opinion
a poor substitute for the mans game Rugby.

Conservatives seem to trash political opponents as "immoral" while liberals
seem to go the "ignorant" route. You seem to be liberal

As long as you keep lower case letters for liberal and conservative IK
dont actually see them as incompatible philosophies.

Peter