Them “surrender monkeys” are at it again …

The Monkey in Chief

“French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said France would spearhead an “exceptional humanitarian operation” alongside Turkey and Greece to evacuate the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which has been under siege by Russian forces for three weeks.

“We are going to launch a humanitarian operation in conjunction with Turkey and Greece to evacuate all those who wish to leave Mariupol,” Macron told reporters following a two-day European Council summit.

Macron gave few details but said the operation would take place “the earlier the better,” and would be conducted “in coordination” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian authorities. The French leader also said he was in touch with the mayor of Mariupol.

The French leader also said he would discuss the Mariupol operation with Russian President Vladimir Putin “within 48 to 72 hours.”” politico

Comment: I am half French (Canadian) and very proud of that. One of my ancestors was among the handful of French Marines and Quebec militia who, along with their 800 Indian allies, defeated and killed Braddock at the Monongahela. I speak French, love French culture, the food, their TV, the works. I find it sadly amusing that so many Americans seem to think that the Hundred Years War never ended. One of my French Army friends once remarked of the Germans, “They come in large touristic groups every few decades. They love our land. They love our wine. They love our women. Who can blame them?”

In my experience the French military are always there for us. Always. The one case in which that did not happen was during the US air action against Libya. They were asked for overflight clearance across France from the UK to bomb Libya. The reply was that the US President would have to call their president to make that request. Reagan refused to do it.

It is inevitable that French soldiers and those following France’s lead will die in Mariupol

Even the pompous ass Jesse Waters has stopped insulting the French. The rest of us should wise up. PL

Macron says France will spearhead operation to evacuate Mariupol – POLITICO

This entry was posted in France, Russia, The Military Art, Turkey, Ukraine Crisis. Bookmark the permalink.

34 Responses to Them “surrender monkeys” are at it again …

  1. Steve says:

    Curious that the Ukrainians are objecting to the ICRC opening an office in Rostov. Perhaps for fear of their latest propaganda ploy (Ukrainians being taken there as hostages) may unravel.

  2. TTG says:

    Frenchmen, Turks and Greeks determined to sail “into Hell for a heavenly cause.” Where will they find a ship capable of handling the tonnage of all those balls of steel.

    • Pat Lang says:

      TTG
      The De Gaulle battle group maybe?

      • d74 says:

        Can’t do.
        Montreux convention forbid. Too heavy.
        Perhaps, our task force without the CdG.

        And then Turk bared the straits.
        The last time we tried to force the first strait, the Dardanelles, it cost us 3 (old) battleships.

        More, mines drift in the Black Sea from Odessa. The currents are pulling them into those damn straits. Rooshia or Ukies mines, I don’t know.

        The case is largely compromised if you take it on a military side. Besides, our frigates are not exactly designed for humanitarian relief. We don’t have a hospital ship.

        In any case, in a few days, we’ll have to turn exclusively to the Russians. We’d rather die…

        There is a Greek-Pontic community in the region. The Greeks, it seems, could have evacuated a number of them. Discretion pays off. They don’t have a presidential election in a fortnight. This is probably why.

        I saw a video-report of one Greek-Pontic: she evacuated to the Russian side by DPR militia. Very glad to be away from the war feats. Noise, shrapnel in all directions, no electricity, no heating since the beginning of the operations in Marioupol. She wants to live in peace, nothing more.

  3. zmajcek says:

    This will probably be followed by an “exceptional humanitarian operation” to Lviv, Kiev and Kharkiv.

    Putin should pull a Yeltsin and pass the baton to someone with a better imagination. Not another layer.

    Sanctions blocked something like 350 billion dollars of Russia’s reserves. Imagine what could have been done with half that amount to secure Ukraine’s allegiance.

    Nuland managed with only 5 billion.

    Anything would have been better than this brute force carnage and escalating cr*p.

  4. TV says:

    Not a Jesse Watters fan?

  5. Kodlu says:

    Well Turkey has evacuated Turkish (and Greek and other country) citizens from Mariupol about a week ago, by a train then plane; with Russian consent.

    And Macron also stated he was talking to Russia about his proposal.

    Don’t know how Biden’s regime change remarks will impact this…

  6. jim ticehurst says:

    The Surrender Monkeys in The White House…Walking The Dog Back.””SAYING” that Potus..The CIC..didnt mean What He Said…Dammit …He Went off Script Again..Put Him Back in The Basement..With A Wired Cone on His Head.
    “.Joe..Ah Leeme See..who am I..Where am I..I Have a list..I Can’t say That..I Will Get in Trouble”..

    Those Surrender “Monkeys”..Can Actually Make The “White House Talk”..Amazing
    Stuff..American Media…All Day Long..”The White House Says”..

    Unlike Ukraine..The Colonist..George Washington..Benjamin Franklin..Negotiated and Got The Food..Weapons..Material and
    Ships”'(We Need Air Cover” America…DENIED) And The Frence Saved Our
    American Revolution..The Battle Of Chesapeake…Siege of Yorktown..Men..Material..Powder…Blockades..and a Beautiful..Inspiring
    STATUE OF LIBERTY..
    Thank You France..
    JT

  7. Muralidhar Rao says:

    I can’t understand this, the Eastern Ukranian militia along with their Russians / Chechan partners are already in Maripol. From what I understand the mop up operations of Maripol is underway. Is it not too late for the brave Macron to send his troops along with Turks/Greeks into that city. These guys either are high on their own propoganda or don’t know what is happening there.

  8. Matthew says:

    Isn’t Mariupol already under Russian control? How is this a peace-keeping mission?

    • Pat Lang says:

      Matthew There are still a lot of civilians in the city who want to leave.

    • JohninMK says:

      Definitely not. Most of it yes, which is believed to include most of the residential areas. It is now down to vicious, no holds bared, fighting in the industrial areas. Casualties on both sides are high.

      By shear force of numbers the Russian and DNR forces will take the city, probably within the next week, maybe sooner if food and ammunition runs out.

  9. mcohen says:

    Off topic but if the Russians win will they elect trump in place of biden.also if Turkey is attacked from the rear by Russia will Greece help.
    Looks like the med gas deal might come in handy after all

  10. SRW says:

    PL,
    I like your comments on the French and agree with them 100%. Americans are always denigrating the French and their culture. Why I don’t know except that they maybe don’t care for the French stating their own foreign policy. I was in NATO right after De Gaulle pulled out of that organization although I believe they are back in. Back then De Gaulle’s reason was that Europe should step up for its own defense something the Germans have finally come around to. I remember a De Gaulle quote, “I like the Germans so much I think their should be two of them (countries).
    (BTW, grandmother German, grandfather Scottish with long ago Norman ancestors).

  11. SRW says:

    PL,
    Any comments on this ’66 ballad sung in German?
    https://youtu.be/KLQg-Mv9Hfg

  12. Rodney says:

    “I find it sadly amusing that so many Americans seem to think that the Hundred Years War never ended.“

    Interesting comment. French/Ojibway lineage here. They were on a higher level to the native Americans

    Back on topic

    NATO recognises Ukraine as Enhanced Opportunities Partner

    12 Jun. 2020

    “On Friday (12 June 2020), the North Atlantic Council recognised Ukraine as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner. This status is part of NATO’s Partnership Interoperability Initiative, which aims to maintain and deepen cooperation between Allies and partners that have made significant contributions to NATO-led operations and missions.”

    Ukraine has had years of US military training, weapons, NGO “democracy” funding, Victoria Nuland handing out cookies, and more. Meanwhile cozying up to the neo nazis, never implementing the Minsk agreements and ramping up attacks against their own citizens fighting for equality. All the while Putin is giving warnings.

    Reminds me of Apollo Creed in Rocky IV.

  13. Serge says:

    Me and you both Colonel- half french canadian and very proud of that. If I remember from your book, you spoke some french growing up? Did you lose all of it or are you still able to speak/understand the language?

    • Pat Lang says:

      Serge
      I took some French at VMI but you don’t learn to speak that way. MY wife is perfectly bi-lingual in Matro French and joouwal. My present French I learned from French diplomatic colleagues and their women, whom I have always found delectable. My French is now quite good.

  14. John Anderson says:

    God Bless this initiative. It’s enough to make me renew my subscription to Le Monde diplomatique….to get away from hawkish CDN media including CBC and Thomson’s Globe & Mail/Reuters tin drumbeaters. Thank you, Peter Hitchens, for this un-Anglosphere bit of relief: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10581335/PETER-HITCHENS-saw-coming-Thats-wont-join-carnival-hypocrisy.html

  15. FERRANT says:

    Colonel PL; very happy to read your last post.
    As for the humanitarian corridor to save the inhabitants of Marioupol, let’s stay calm. Let’s wait for the end of the manhunt between Chechen and Azov militiamen. Sure that in a year from now, a Hollywood film will tell about these Dantean days. We will know the truth between the very opposite speeches on what happened, on the attitude of the ones and the others?
    The ministers who surrounded Reagan in 1983 seem to me to have been more pragmatic and reasonable, at least as regards Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. How long to wait to see the official inauguration of Nordstream 2. What a waste!

  16. mcohen says:

    Light event coming will break the handle of the sickle.get ready said reddy.make a monkey out me.

  17. mcohen says:

    TWEETER AND THE MONKEY MAN {Transcribed and researched by SpringsteenLyrics.com}
    The Traveling Wilburys’ album version

    Tweeter and the Monkey Man were hard up for cash
    They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash
    To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan
    For reasons unexplained she loved the Monkey Man

    Tweeter was a boy scout before she went to Vietnam
    And found out the hard way nobody gives a damn
    They knew that they found freedom just across the Jersey Line
    So they hopped into a stolen car, took Highway 99

    And the walls came down, all the way to hell
    Never saw them when they’re standing, never saw them when they fell

    The undercover cop never liked the Monkey Man
    Even back in childhood he wanted to see him in the can
    Jan got married at fourteen to a racketeer named Bill
    She made secret calls to the Monkey Man from a mansion on the hill

    It was out on Thunder Road, Tweeter at the wheel
    They crashed into paradise, they could hear them tires squeal
    The undercover cop pulled up and said “Everyone of you’s a liar
    If you don’t surrender now, it’s gonna go down to the wire”

    And the walls came down, all the way to hell
    Never saw them when they’re standing, never saw them when they fell

    An ambulance rolled up, a state trooper close behind
    Tweeter took his gun away and messed up his mind
    The undercover cop was left tied up to a tree
    Near the souvenir stand by the old abandoned factory

    Next day the undercover cop was hot in pursuit
    He was taking the whole thing personal, he didn’t care about the loot
    Jan had told him many times it was you to me who taught
    In Jersey anything’s legal as long as you don’t get caught

    And the walls came down, all the way to hell
    Never saw them when they’re standing, never saw them when they fell

    Someplace by Rahway Prison they ran out of gas
    The undercover cop had cornered them said “Boy, you didn’t think that this could last”
    Jan jumped out of the bed, said “There’s someplace I gotta go”
    She took a gun out of the drawer and said “It’s best if you don’t know”

    The undercover cop was found face down in a field
    The monkey man was on the river bridge using Tweeter as a shield
    Jan said to the Monkey Man, “I’m not fooled by Tweeter’s curl
    I knew him long before he ever became a Jersey girl”

    And the walls came down, all the way to hell
    Never saw them when they’re standing, never saw them when they fell

    Now the town of Jersey City is quieting down again
    I’m sitting in a gambling club called the Lion’s Den
    The TV set been blown up, every bit of it is gone
    Ever since the nightly news show that the Monkey Man was on

    I guess I’ll go to Florida and get myself some sun
    There ain’t no more opportunity here, everything’s been done
    Sometime I think of Tweeter, sometime I think of Jan
    Sometime I don’t think about nothing but the Monkey Man

    And the walls came down, all the way to hell
    Never saw them when they’re standing, never saw them when they fell

    And the walls came down, all the way to hell
    Never saw them when they’re standing, never saw them when they fell

  18. FND says:

    I’ve always thought the French got a bad rap being labelled surrender monkeys. The British army was defeated in France right along with the French army during WW2. Its just they had an island nation to retreat to.

  19. d74 says:

    In this war-torn area, France would have had the chance to make history.

    According to today’s Figaro, update:29-03 20:50:
    – “The humanitarian operation in Mariupol not possible “at this stage”, according to the Élysée.”

    No surprise. Stealth is unknown to the Elysée palace.

    However, he spoke to Putin by phone. Very big surprise for me. And, not surprisingly, it was after this chatting that the announcement of the impossibility was made. At first, he only wanted to talk to the Ukrainian leader to organise the rescue of the civilians of Marioupol.
    The Greeks and Turks were more efficient.

    Everything is not finished, there will be plenty of opportunities for goodwill. But we are moving towards food and other aid mainly made in the USSR.

  20. SRW says:

    Couldn’t get rid of the accent?

    One of the first regiments ashore in Normandy on D-Day was the French-Canadian Régiment de la Chaudière. The locals in Normandy were astonished to be liberated by soldiers who spoke French with a Norman accent. Not a surprise, since the ancestors of those French-Canadian soldiers had left Normandy three centuries earlier.
    In an army museum in Paris there is an uniform of this regiment. The explanatory sign explains to visitors that, yes, it was a British-style uniform, but that the wearer belonged to a French-speaking regiment with a shoulder insignia “Le Régiment de la Chaudière” (whatever thay means).

  21. drifter says:

    “In my experience the French military are always there for us.”

    Sometimes with us, and sometimes against as in Operation Torch. (Okay, maybe only that one time.)

    The drifter thumbnail: The “surrender-monkey” meme pre-dates the Simpsons and is rooted in France’s refusal to follow the USA lead in the Cold War. A refusal resented by many and which elicited trash talk. (E.g., the joke in the 1970s: “How does the French army responds to an invasion by the Germans?” )

  22. Mikew says:

    The French were labeled “surrender monkeys” after being smart enough to stay out of the Iraq fiasco. I believe a neocon gave them that title. I expected better from this site.

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