Word: frenchmen
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Like other troops in the Foreign Legion created by King Louis Philippe in 1831 to pursue France's colonial ambitions, members of the Deuxième REP ostensibly are foreigners. In fact, many are Frenchmen who, with the tacit complicity of the legion, join by pretending to be Belgian, Swiss or Canadian. One attraction for recruits: new identity papers that protect them from the police. The Deuxième claims to have killed or wounded some 4,000 rebels during the Algerian war, while only 171 of its men were killed and 427 wounded. The unit remained neutral when...
Should the Russians stop selling gas to Western Europe, the French economy would indeed be damaged. A number of industries depend on it and conversion to another energy source takes time. What's more, during the winter the ten million Frenchmen who depend on gas for warmth would have to bay electric heaters, thus putting a severe strain on the French power network...
...remain faithful to its allies, with the U.S. in the front row." Hernu argues that, ironically, France's withdrawal from the com mand structure of NATO, a move that gravely strained ties with the U.S., now makes France a stronger ally. "If France were fully inside NATO, Frenchmen might go to sleep, saying to themselves, 'Oh, well, the Americans are there with their nuclear umbrella. There is no point in our making a strong effort.' It is this sense of independence that gives the French the feeling that they are not neutral...
...last May, France's Socialist President has launched proposals to increase public benefits, raise taxes on the rich, return power to local governments, abolish the death penalty and slow down the West's most advanced nuclear energy program. Last week, fulfilling a pledge so controversial that many Frenchmen thought Mitterrand might actually back off, his ministers approved the most sweeping takeover of private industry seen in Europe since the immediate postwar years...
When McDonald's golden arches appeared in Paris nine years ago, the fast-food chain seemed to acquire a new international cachet. What better testimony to its cuisine than crowds of finicky Frenchmen munching Big Macs along the Champs Elysees...