Reparations? They kicked France out in 1804 and then paid France? It sounds like they knew what they were doing. I just love the later generations trying to claim something from a group of people that did nothing to them or had anything to do with the matter. If this complaint were lodged in say 1804 that could be another matter. As it is this "I deserve" shiat has to stop.

Betcha they'll win, France is an expert at surrendering.

Shouldn't be a problem, you know, since France likes to roll over when attacked anyways.

France won't give them crap...Only the evil empire known as America(said sarcastically) gives that kind of money to other nations.

Hell, they don't need an army. They just need some well-placed voodoo.
Some erectile dysfunction for Chirac, and the $22 billion is yours.

I'm sure a guy with a length of pneumatic hose could bring the country of France to its knees. He'll have the $22 billion by tomorrow morning.

Maybe they could just send a demand note in a tube.....

I want reparations from the Romans for killing my Lor Savior, Jesus Christ!

"France, pay me my money, $21,685,135,571.48."

they've two hopes of that: Bob Hope and no hope.

And they don't even have Bob Hope any more.

oh dear, more black people wanting reparations.

Hey, dirtay, baby, I got your money, don't you worry.

/Old Dirty Bastard

dangerous precedent if they get it. i hope they dont.

current french population had nothing to do with slavery, therefore, they should not compensate the haitians, who themselves had nothign to do with slavery.

anyone else sick of the french military incompetence jokes?

i know itll fall on deaf ears, but france was amazing back in the day... Napoleon was the best commander in the world, and france kicked everyone's ass for 15 years before they were taken down. Its like saying "the germans surrender easy coz they lost ww2", well, yeah, they lost, but they sure kicked tons of ass and it took the world 6 years to tear them down.

France, before the industrial revolution, was *THE* military power.

Lets recap the napoleonic battles, go here:
http://www.napoleonguide.com/battle.htm

notice how many of those france won. And the French victory at Austerlitz defined warfare for a century, topped only i think by the Germans beating the Russians at tannenberg in august 1914.

As much fun as the "france surrenders" thing is as a joke, dont forget, france was the ass kickingist military power in europe for roughly 200 years (1648-1870)

/lecture.history.pointless

I'm waiting for Jesse Jackson or Sharpton to go down there and root for them. Oh wait, there arn't as many white people in Haiti to protest against.

They should quit crying about it, look at their northern brother that once was a colony... It would be funny to demand money from England for the war of 1812.

I'd be nice to see a good old fashion invasion.

I don't think this is going to happen. Seriously, if this was to happen then the US would be in a world of trouble. I bet if Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) was still alive he would/might have lead this movement years ago. I know that his (alleged) killer Minister Farakahn (or any other media whore "black" leader)is waiting to pounce on this if it bares (sp?) any fruit.
The US would have been better off dealing out the 40 acres and mule that shouldn't have been promiced on the battlefield anyway.

<Neo9397 is an educated American Mulatto about to be fired today and is venting online. don't mind the matches, gas-can and Ice Cube look on his face.>

Father_Jack

You do have a point, however I still have to answer "no" to your question.

Father_Jack did you say something?

Anyway, in future news: France Surrenders.

actualy, if anyone should pay the haitians, we should pay them out of gratitude.

what happened was, the haitians rebelled against the french, so napoleon sent an army to quell the rebellion, and was after that to go on to louisiana and butress the french claim to the area that was subsequently bought in the louisiana purchase.

the army napoleon sent to haiti was absolutely annihilated by tropical disease, heat, malaria etc, and there was no army to send to louisiana, so Napoleon was obliged to sell the territory to the US, since he now had nothing left with which to defend it.

so, thanks to haiti (one could argue), there wasnt a war between the US and France over the South. In any case, it certainly got the french out of north america for good.

Haiti wouldnt even need to attack. They could just start dropping hints like, "Germany really thinks you should give us the money."

What is amazing is that after 200 years since they overthrew the french who had them in slavery, they have barely progressed at all.

France should ask for it back.

Sort of reminds me of the blacks in this country who are constantly whining about "reparations" for slavery: weren't the 450,000 mainly white men who sacrificed their lives in the Civil War payback enough?

Merci mille fois, Father_Jack!!!!
Moi, j'en ai marre des blagues au sujet des Franais!!!

French respond:

"I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

Sadly, most of the money would go to the "Government" (Aristide's pocket) and little if any would go to help the people of Haiti.

Father_jack : are you kidding me.... where does Spain and England fit in the "ass kickingist military power in europe". Then Franco-prussian war, WWI, and WWII, vietnam, and all it's colonies.

France will surrender

poor bastards were better off under the Duvalier's (sp?)

ptite

je ne parle pas la francais, je parle l'anglais et allemande. Mais je comprende un peut. De rien madame!

And i do understand just enough to like your login name. :)

France Surrenders

Dinosaur

It's also true Lincoln would have gladly gone without freeing a single slave in order to save the union. It was just a topic that people could bend their minds around at the time, and a damn fine way to enlist black men into the northern army.

Lincoln was no saint.

If Haiti needs some cash, I know this Nigerian guy...

I Haiti still considered an AIDS infested country to avoid getting blood from?

Step 1: Demand $22 Billion dollars from former colonizing nation

Step 2: ?????????

Step 3: Profit

Btw, the French are very good at resisting

Father_Jack:
Thank you for the quick history lesson.

On the subject of Haiti: I think it's rather amusing that they're demanding money, when the corrupt ruling class will most likely squander the money anyways. The country is in dire need of aid for the needy, not Rolls Royces for the wealthy.

/class struggler

georgey

note the dates i set:

i said "pre industrial revolution; ie, 1648-1870. Everything you cited there has been subsequent to that.

Between the end of the 30 years war when france more or less became a nation state till the franco prussian war, they were bad ass! France's military decline was inversely proportional to the rise of Germany, thats true. Germany's population doubled in a century, the germans became urban and industrialized, and france didnt embrace industrialization as well as the germans did, and they paid for it 1870, and they paid for their low birth rates in 1914-18. they lost a significant proportion of their male population in ww1, adn they never recovered from it. But also, its worth keeping in mind, the french *did* win ww1.

Spain was fantastic in it's day, too, but in the early modern period, i'd say between 1500- the end of the dutch revolt when they got thrown out of the Netherlands. But they never had a national army that could compete with the other european powers, France, Austria, Russia etc.

the Brits had a fantastic army, too, but they were more of a naval power and didnt fight anywhere near the number of wars the french did, and when they did it was smaller-scale. The brits did beat the french, and were REALLY good at sinking their ships, tho. :)

but, i guess the whole point is, i think this joke "france surenders" has become more than a joke and people seem to enjoy taking it to heart, and well, it just aint true, and frankly i think its kinda bigoted.

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!

what does haiti have to fight with? hiv virus? voodoo? body odor? jesus, those people are worse than cubans and mexicans put together. let them all die so i can breathe their air.

It never hurts to ask.

Father---you speak it well enough to be understood---AND you speak another lauguage in addition to English, which is more than the majority of the mono-ligual asshat "France surrenders" posters can say!!! C'est vachement chouette!!

/French teacher rant.....

Father Jack

You forgot to mention that Napolean also needed the money to sustain his efforts in Europe.

lrych - I agree!!

olddinosaur

Sort of reminds me of the blacks in

this country who are constantly whining about "reparations" for

slavery

The civil war was not about slavery.
/splitting hairs

Father_Jack

This is fark.. its alot easier to remember a two word catch phrase than actual history.

vyce beat me to the punch

So let me get this straight... they PAID France after they gained their independence? That's just dumb.

Sounds to me like someone's got a case of the belly-aches.

Father_jack:

Finally someone brings a shred of reason to the "France Surrenders" crap. However, I know those two words bring great joy to the majority of farkers, so once again, history will likely fall upon deaf ears, and the "France Surrenders" comments will flow from Fark like beer from the tap.

And sadly enough, it wasn't necessarily French military incompetence that caused them to lose WWII. At any rate, it certainly wasn't cowardice, as they suffered heavy casualties in those 6 weeks, from men fighting a doomed campaign for their homeland. They had the best bombers, fighters, and even some of the best tanks in 1939. Unfortunately, they were not as adept at tank tactics as the Nazis (the Nazis formed tank divisions, whereas the French had tanks and infantry working as units, thus effectively ignoring the mobility that tanks had to offer). Also, their government was too divided to do anything good about their situation. Even as the shiat was hitting the fan, they still had the vast majority of their airforce grounded. If those planes were allowed to fly, Hitler would most likely have sufferred a crushing defeat at best, or the rest of the world would have seen another WWI styled stale-mate at worst.

I didn't think Haiti's demand had any chance of working until I read the post of the bank being held up through the pneumatic tube. Now I'm sure the check's in the mail.

Dear France,

I am a former dignitary of the Nigerian government. My government has been in much trouble. Many of my superior officers have been shot. I fear for the safety of myself and my family. In effort to provide for the security of those in exile, some of my colleagues have placed in a safe location a sizeable amount of currency that has the approx value of US$22 billion.

My friend, France, if you would be pleased to kindly send me your account information of a secure banking institution, perhaps your central bank, i am looking for a reliable foreign partner with which to deposit this money.

From the above, you will understand that the lives and future of my family depends on this money as such, I will be very grateful if you can assist us. I with my younger brother are now living in Haiti as political asylum seekers and the financial law of Haiti does not allow asylumseekers certain financial rights to such huge amount of money .In view of this, I cannot invest this money in Haiti, hence I am asking you to assist me transfer this money out of its secure location for investment purposes.

Looking forward to your urgent reply.

Jean-Bertrand