.

Check the history of France in Africa and Asia, Avro...they are pretty brutal. They are in an odd position in Ivory Coast because they cannot really overthrow the present government without all hell breaking loose, but they'd really like to put their own boy in there, preferably as dictator for life so they didn't have to deal with those pesky election things.

They are supposed to be there as peacekeepers, but are way too involved in the politics of the area to fulfill that role. Unfortunately there is nobody else suited to take over that particular mission.

It's pretty similar to everyone else's. They maintained more of a presence after their former territories gained independence though, and kept their influence over governments. Their mining and oil interests are especially prone to starting civil wars, it seems. They are very much like the US in that respect.

The clearest example of that would be Rwanda. You know what finally triggered the genocide there? Ugandans shot down a plane the Rwandan president was on. The missile they used was American and had been last recorded in Iraq during the Gulf War when the French seized a weapons cache. The French say they turned it over to US and have the doumentation, the US says none of that is true.

Nobody knows for sure how the Ugandan rebels got their hands on that rocket launcher because both the CIA and the French Secret Service were giving weapons to the rebels so French and American companies could continue mining in the area. The Americans were "protecting their assets" in Uganda and the Ferench were doing the same Rwanda.

Now check the records and see which two countries refused to send help when Dallaire asked for it and warned there was going to be a genocide. Why it was the USA and France.

Until the Rwandan genocide French imperialism was as prominent in Africa as American imperialism. They've backed off since then because of corruption investigations (Dick Cheney is caught up in one of those). The results of that imperialism are very familiar thoguh...civil wars, violence, unstable governments, dictatorships.

What's your problem, Godz? Don't like the facts? I don't see you screaming that I'm anti-France though...why is that?