France

Links: A. France Wikipedia
           B. Angouleme Tourisme

I am French.  I'm also a Texan.  It's safe to say that I'm passionate about both bloodlines.

I can't count the number of people who have told me that unless I'm a rare Socialist American, that my mixed heritage is incongruous.  I always tell them not to worry, that I'm doing just fine.  In reality, France is much more conservative than people realize.  I was right in the middle of a series of posts about Al-Qaeda in 2015, and I have abruptly inserted a discussion which is in no way connected to international terrorism.  I apologize.  My actions are the result of circumstance.  I have been watching  live television feeds from for the past twenty-four hours.  Sadly, the screen is usually filled with the same video clips, on a loop, for hours.  It's a pitiful comment on the state of our media that it took CNBC and CNN some time before they edited the video of the French policeman getting executed, but we are a nation of voyeurs.  Today we were treated to a visual buffet of French police: the Gendarmerie, federal agents, police from the local department, military police, and some uniforms that frankly I didn't recognize.  I didn't mind seeing the parade of cops.  Since Thursday, January 7, the terrorists have murdered two unarmed police officers and one unsuspecting traffic cop.  It's a very dangerous job, regardless of the country, and until you've put it a hefty number of years, it rarely pays well.  But when the calls come in, they suit up and go stand in the line of fire to protect innocent people.  French or American, they have my sincere gratitude and my prayers for a happy, long life.

The events of the past two days have brought parts of Paris into the living rooms of the American people.  Many Americans have been to Paris; hell, the Greatest Generation actually liberated it from the Nazis in 1944.  It's an exceptionally unique, fascinating city, which never fails to surprise me.  Personally, I prefer Montmarte and the 18th Arrondissement as my favorite piece of "Paris within Paris".  The 18th Arrondissement is home to the breathtaking Sacre Coeur Church, and also to the famous (or infamous) Moulin Rouge show club ("there's a place in France, where the naked ladies dance.....").  For persons visiting Paris for the first time, I always say that you will have the time that you expect to have.  Paris is FULL of rude, nasty waiters who speak perfect English, but usually won't speak anything but French to Americans.  Well, I have had my share of rude wait staff

 Kontaktmöglichkeiten: über Wikimedia Commons oder über

 www.sojka.photo.

in Chicago and also Rome.  Approach Paris with the proper attitude, and Paris will show you the time of your life.  Lately, though, I 've been strongly recommending that visitors to France take advantage of the TGV (high-speed train) station in Charles De Gaulle Airport, and head to the southwest of France.

Unless its for historical purposes, I don't spend much time on the beaches of Normandy, and northern France has never carried any particular charm for me.  I love the southeast, with Aix and Provence and Monaco and Nice, but the holiday season has started to last year-round, and I can't help but be annoyed when I see touristy cheap trinkets made in China being sold in front of a 16th-century Chapel in Provence.  Please don't misunderstand; all of France is still lovely.  The hills and forests of the Ardennes, the magnificent mountains of Chamonix, Megeve and Val d'Isere, and the colorful fishing fleets home to Cherbourg and Brest must be visited by all Francophiles.  But if you are looking to spend a relaxing, peaceful, inspired and Gallic month in France, my advice is to head to the Département of Charente.  Yes, Charente is part of my heritage.  Most of my French family continues to live in Charente, which makes me a bit of an expert.  I provided a limited portrait of the town of Angouleme in a previous post, and I will try not to repeat myself too often.  Angouleme sits on top of a hill, like a nipple on a breast.  It is the seat of Charente Province, and a tremendously historic place.  The Romans were not the first to recognize the strategic significance of the hilltop location, but they were the first to build ramparts.  As far as my memory serves me, there are now three separate rings of ramparts, and the

Cathedral that overlooks the entire valley was originally a small Church built in the fifth-century.  The Cathedral was consecrated in the 11th-century and contains a multitude of invaluable stonework.  Angouleme is home to roughly 50,000 souls, and has just the right number of hotels and Bed & Breakfasts.

The Charente River bisects both the Département  of Charente and the city of Angouleme.  For many years it was the lifeline for the inhabitants, as it provided transportation and food to the locals.  Many times Queen Eleanor d'Aquitaine sailed her royal barge down the Charente, as she courted Henry II of England.  The real beauty of

Charente is found outside of Angouleme.  Little villages, each with its own identity and church, seem to be around every corner.  The roads are small but more than adequate, and suited to the forests and glens that mark the Charente countryside.  Castles are so numerous that you begin not to notice them, with the spires and towers reaching above the tree lines.  When I was a child, my family would take trips to the country and go castle-hunting.  Most were not occupied, as it is very expensive to heat and electrify old, large buildings.  I remember my mother taking us to her old swimming hole, under the ancient stone bridge in the tiny charming village of Marsac.  Every little village has a bar (and usually a modest, adjoining restaurant), a bakery, a butcher and a small Tabac (tea room or store).  I remember as a child, imagining that we were going back in time as we would leave the wider roads of Angouleme and enter the spotless, green, sun-filled countryside.  With the cobble-stone streets, and the constant smell of fresh bread, and ancient townspeople dressed in traditional attire, it was as if we had taken a trip backwards.  We never even turned on the car radio; everything we needed for our distraction and enjoyment was outside.  When I start to write about Charente and Angouleme, I invariably run out of space.  Maybe its time to start a new book, but for now, please accept this humble view into a France that you weren't able to see on the television these last two days.  It truly is a place of magic.  Evil never ceases in its efforts to attack peace and beauty, and we must all stay resolute and not forget what is in our hearts.         

Al-Qaeda And Europe, 2015

Links: A. Al-Qaeda In Europe
           B. Al-Qaeda Plot To Blow Up Airliners In Europe


My close friend Jennifer and I were talking recently about what it means to be born of two distinct, separate nationalities, languages included.  One of the first chapters of my book provides a glimpse of my family, both in France and Kentucky, and Jennifer and I were considering a change in the chapter title.  The truth is, neither of us liked the title in place, which was, "Bicultural".  Sure, it fits.  My father is from the coal mining mountains of Eastern Kentucky, and my mother's heritage is in the wine vineyards of southwest France.  But for some reason, the word bothered both of us, so we chose, "bicontinental", which is so much better.  Bicultural did not signify enough of a separation; we have bicultural folks all over the United States.  My siblings and I, like many military brats, were conceived from genes that were separated by mountain ranges and never-ending oceans.  When I turned on the television station this morning after an emotional wake-up call from my French mother, I tell you, those mountains and that ocean have never seemed so insurmountable.  Because I have traveled extensively in my life, rarely do I feel completely removed from either France or Texas.  But this morning I felt that France was out of my reach, and it was terribly frustrating.  I wanted to put myself into that horrific event, and help in any way possible, and to at least share in the communal heartbreak that inevitably accompanies an event like this.  I recall 9-11, watching thousands and thousands of New Yorkers, with candles, standing around the make-shift billboards with photos of missing people, and I remember how much I wanted to be there physically.  This morning, really early this morning, before the sun was up for us in Texas, I was in distress, and I wanted to be with the people of France, who are part of me; and I wanted to share their pain, but also add my strength to the soul of France, so that France remains strong, free and vigilant.  Vive la France!

This terror attack was no great surprise.  Holland and France seem to be the target of the greatest anger coming from the Islamic extremist camp.  The French piss off just about everyone sooner or later, which can also be said for the United States.  France is obsessed about its independence.  I'm not referring to the fourteenth of July "Bastille Day" celebration, I'm referring to France's tradition of following its own path.  I'm talking about the decision to ask NATO to leave France in 1967 and also France's unilateral choice to suspend the contract with Russia for the sale and delivery of two Mistral-class super-modern helicopter carrier assault warships in 2014.  When the winds of change signaled the end of colonialism in Africa, France did things her way, as she has done regarding the issue of atomic power and nuclear weapons.  With regard to Islamic extremism, the one thing the French people value more than their independence is their culture.  France has cultivated a positive relationship with many of its former colonies, including a number of Muslim countries.  During colonial times, France considered many of the persons living in its colonies as being French citizens.  Many ethnic Arabs and Africans emigrated to France.  As of 2015, ten percent of France is Muslim.  Some French Muslims have clashed with the French government over issues which seem to conflict with French culture.  The traditional way of dress for many conservative Muslim women is considered misogynistic by French attitudes.  The high unemployment rate in predominantly Muslim suburban communities has created a dissatisfaction with the French government, and some of the young people are turning to violence as an outlet.  Why have I taken the time to describe this French-immigrant issue in such detail?  Because it is the same pattern that is playing out in poor immigrant, predominantly Muslim communities all over Europe, including London, Copenhagen, Vienna, Barcelona, Berlin, Rome and even Stockholm.  Almost every member of the European Union has the potential for real problems with Muslim young men who see themselves as foreigners, and have no jobs. 

The young men who leave Europe to join groups like Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Taliban, and the Islamic State, are very sincere in their allegiance to Allah.  They believe in the glory of death on behalf of Islam, and the wonders of heaven that await a true martyr.  Young men are the most idealistic in their late-teens and early twenties, about the same time that they seem to have unlimited physical energy.  Extremist groups take advantage of the age and emotional immaturity of these young men, and the indoctrination begins.  If you meet someone who has nothing, and you give them something, you immediately impact their world.  These young men who never really blended in, who had trouble with local (many times Christian) girls, and were unable to find a job, are reminded that they do indeed have a family, and that the time has come to return home.  Its not Rocket Science, if you'll excuse the cliché.  This socio-politico-demographic development, the movement of millions of non-Europeans to Europe that occurred mostly towards the end of colonialism (although illegal immigration has continued the process), has had positive and negative results.  Many cultures flourish with exposure to other languages and traditions.  But the children that were born in Europe, who were going to have great difficulty being accepted as Europeans, would present the greatest problem of all.  Once the problem and the symptom have been identified, what is the solution?  France has poured untold billions of francs and Euro into new housing, free education, free artisan training, and on and on.  At the end of the day, maybe some genius will wake up and realize that its great to be friends, but you can't always force someone to become a member of your family.

Today I heard that over 700 young Frenchmen had emigrated to join Islamic Extremist groups.  I assume the majority will find their way to Syria.  No doubt the patient, educated and most dangerous young extremists will continue to be attracted to Al-Qaeda.  As I've argued previously (ad nauseam), I'm convinced that the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda are not as separate as we would like to believe.  As time moves on, and the conflict begins to take shape, I can imagine the Islamic State as the more conventional military wing of the extremist cause, and Al-Qaeda as the more cerebral limb.  The main reason that Al-Qaeda did not have the resources or manpower to conduct another 9-11 type attack sometime in between 2002 to 2010, was because they had been obliged to engage in a conventional war in Iraq and Afghanistan, against the U.S. Army.  Al-Qaeda is and always has been ill-suited to this type of warfare.  They are much more comfortable planning operations like the attack we witnessed this morning in Paris.  Interestingly enough, Al-Qaeda is engaged in a somewhat traditional conventional conflict in Yemen.  At the end of the day, the war in Yemen, along with the ground war in Iraq and Syria, will provide the extremists with a well-trained and equipped conventional fighting force.  If the recruiting continues on pace, and begins to take advantage of African poverty as I have hypothesized, I can easily picture an army of 50,000-plus in the Levant, possibly more in Iraq.  If this is the plan, sooner or later an air-element will have to be procured, so lets keep our eyes open for any additional missing MIGS.  Is it possible that the future will include a conventional Islamic extremist army, with Al-Qaeda as the head of this serpent?  Lets hope not.

PS It appears that I have developed a loyal group of friends who visit my blog everyday.  I wish I could meet you all in person....if you're ever in Texas, please drop by and say howdy.  I am humbled by the validity you provide to this blog by your regular visits.  Thank you and merci beaucoup.  I need to ask you a favor.  I want my blog to move to the next level.  I'm doing what I can to increase visits, and I want to impose upon you to please spread the word about "the new CIA blog with the strange name".  I've reached that point where it is time to grow a bit.  And soon I will be back with another PS, asking you to buy my book, so get ready!  Much obliged, Eric