There is an interesting lawsuit in France by six survivors of the January attack by Islamic extremist Amedy Coulibaly at the Hyper Casher Jewish supermarket in Paris. The six people were mortified after learning that French media broadcasted their hiding location in a refrigerator while Coulibaly was looking for hostages and threatening to kill them all.
As a matter of journalistic ethics (and common sense) it was outrageous when media like the French 24-hour news channel BFMTV broadcast the location of the six people, including a three-year-old child and a one-month-old baby. I cannot imagine the level of callous and moronic judgment needed to broadcast such a fact when the gunman could have been listening.
However, there remains the question of whether there is a viable claim when in fact that six were not discovered. This lawsuit is the result of French laws allowing charges for endangering the lives of others by deliberately ignoring security protocols. It carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and 15,000-euro ($16,300) fine.
I cannot speak to the French law but in the United States, the plaintiffs would face serious challenges. First, they were not made aware of the betrayal of their location until after the event — undermining claims of emotional distress. Moreover, the emotional injuries from the encounter were due to the actions of a murderous fanatic, not the media.
In the end, I would be highly uncomfortable with a ruling against the media even though I find the actions of these journalists to reprehensible and thoughtless. Indeed, I would support the firing of those responsible for these broadcasts. Yet, the notion of liability for reporting public facts is a dangerous rollback on press freedom, particularly in France which has led Europe in attacks on both free speech and free press.
The whole point is that while French tanks may have had superior armor or a better gun – is some cases – they were NOT well designed – and in the case of the infantry tanks not designed at all – to fight other tanks. The lack of radios, the use of one man turrets, thereby forcing the commander to direct the tank and load and fire the gun, meant that the Germans could coordinate their tank attacks, and out maneuver and win ALMOST every tank battle.
Further, the S35 – like all French tanks – was mechanically unreliable and under-powered with a 200 hp engine. That’s the main the Germans didn’t continue the S35 production and use them in their Panzer Corps.
The Germans had 200 divisions to the French 100. The used 140 in the attack on France, but could have used more. As I stated before, French had a massive handicap, they had good roads and the Germans only had to advance 150 miles and they were in Paris. Once the Germans broke through, they were finished.
“Also even though the French had a superior air force in quality and numbers, more than 60% of it was in French colonies and the least effective part was facing the Germans.”
This is totally false. The French air force was inferior in both numbers and quality of planes. I’m not even going to provide details, its so absurd. I assume you’re just playing a game.
Paul
In my humble opinion,
I read that article before and it’s concerns come up in various papers regarding this same activity in other countries, including the US. I am a strong advocate of a common curriculum developed by the country as a whole and administered by the State or Province. This seems to provide the best results, along with better: paid, trained, and empowered teachers.
The fracturing of the education system produces mixed results which contribute to some getting good to great educations and some getting mediocre to poor educations. The administrative money and energy sink is also obvious, too many chiefs and not enough Indians. However, regardless of where the money comes from, the objective should be to provide access for all children to the best academic education, one designed by the scholastic mind to access academic material.
The idea of a common curriculum does not necessarily remove the opportunity for various religions to teach their kids the tenets of those religions, as long as the students are found to have access to a commonly desired level of academic achievement. Catholic schools have long provided better than average educations with a reasonable degree of religious indoctrination. Jewish or Hebrew day schools have as a goal to provide both the secular education as well as to study the Jewish religion. There should be no difference made between Muslim day schools, Jewish day schools, and Catholic schools as long as the child is given the opportunity to achieve a successful academic education as should be mandated by that country. The focus should be on the secular education. What religious stuff attached should be secondary.
If a religion develops a day school system that does not meet the requirement of the secular education then that should be a valid ocassion for the state to step in. If a religious day school teaches racism, segregation, or other unlawful concepts then that day school should be dealt with through the laws of the country. Citizens should not be allowed exemptions in learning and following the laws of the country based on any religion.
The religious teachings of leaders outside the day school experience are hard if not next to impossible to control. However, the government of the country has an obligation to all to curtail teaching that promotes bias, hatred, and violence based on religious or any other foundation.
The best example of a secular education in a religious community is one I witnessed in a Hutterite community in Northern Alberta. The school was a typical ‘old school house’ building. The teacher came from the school board and did not live in the community and provided a straight secular and academic education for the kids who all had to pass the same exams that were required by the Province. The religious stuff was done in church. That seems to me to be the ideal combination of ‘church and state’.
Personally I find it mildly offensive, for lack of a more appropriate word, to be around people who have their heads so far up their religious a** that they carry these positions of superiority to such extremes. I also consider these extreme religious indoctrinations at such early ages as a form of child abuse, whether they are done in the name of Allah, Jehovah, or Christ.
Paul
It goes without saying that this info is simply copied from available sources. It is also generally agreed among military historians that the tactics used by the Germans of coordinated air, fast armor, and mobile infantry were the deciding factor along with a two pronged attack. The French had the men and equipment to stop the type of attack they were expecting. If the French generals had of plugged the Ardennes route, the outcome would have been much different. The Germans had depleted their air force substantially and were over extended. Had they not been able to cut the allies in two they would have been obliged to fight a battle of numbers. Also even though the French had a superior air force in quality and numbers, more than 60% of it was in French colonies and the least effective part was facing the Germans. All in all the French simply were uncoordinated and not up to date regarding warfare.
The Soviet T-34 was, in 1940, only a prototype. When the Soviets did get it into action it had many advantages over the German Panzer and Tiger. While not as powerful as the Tiger, it was way simpler. It had effective firepower, substantial armor, and was fast and maneuverable. This allowed thousands to be manufactured and driven from the factories straight into battle. The German machines were so complicated they needed a substantial amount of proving before being taken into battle. The story goes that the first T-34 that left the factory went straight into battle and destroyed an assortment of 20 panzers and other armored vehicles before it was brought down. The Germans captured several T-34s and shipped them back to Germany asking the manufacturers to reproduce the tank for the German army. The technicians and higher ups preferred the sophisticated German technology and continued producing more complicated Panzers and Tigers that were more prone to breaking down and took longer to produce.
One of the advantages of Soviet weaponry is the power of the beasts and their simplicity. They are designed to be repaired in the field. The main Soviet helicopter gunships have access plates and footholds all over them. Technicians can take them apart and repair them in the field.
issac – coulda, woulda, shoulda never won a battle.
bam bam (really Nick’s darker side)
Easily found by googling. But perhaps you need a leash.
Estimating in January 2007 that he continues to earn approximately US$1.5 million a year from his Cat Stevens music,[69] he decided to use his accumulated wealth and ongoing earnings from his music career on philanthropic and educational causes in the Muslim community of London and elsewhere. In 1983, he founded the Islamia Primary School in Brondesbury Park, later moved to Salusbury Road,[70] in the north London area of Queen’s Park[4] and, soon after, founded several Muslim secondary schools; in 1992, Yusuf set up The Association of Muslim Schools (AMS-UK), a charity that brought together all the Muslim schools in the UK. He is also the founder and chairman of the Small Kindness charity, which initially assisted famine victims in Africa and now supports thousands of orphans and families in the Balkans, Indonesia, and Iraq.[71] He served as chairman of the charity Muslim Aid from 1985 to 1993.[72]
Yusuf attracted controversy in 1989, during an address to students at London’s Kingston University, where he was asked about the fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. The media interpreted his response as support for the fatwa. He released a statement the following day denying that he supported vigilantism, and claiming that he had merely recounted the legal Islamic punishment for blasphemy. In a BBC interview, he displayed a newspaper clipping from that period, with quotes from his statement. Subsequent comments made by him in 1989 on a British television programme were also seen as being in support of the fatwa. In a statement in the FAQ section of one of his Web sites, Yusuf asserted that while he regretted the comments, he was joking and that the show was improperly edited.[73] In the years since these comments, he has repeatedly denied ever calling for the death of Rushdie or supporting the fatwa.[11][65]
Immediately following the September 11 attacks on the United States, he said:
I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action. The Qur’an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims of this sorrowful moment.[74][75]
He appeared on videotape on a VH1 pre-show for the October 2001 Concert for New York City, condemning the attacks and singing his song “Peace Train” for the first time in public in more than 20 years, as an a cappella version. He also donated a portion of his box-set royalties to the fund for victims’ families, and the rest to orphans in underdeveloped countries.[76] During the same year, he dedicated time and effort in joining the Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism, an organisation that worked towards battling misconceptions and acts against others because of their religious beliefs or their racial identity (or both), after many Muslims reported a backlash against them due in part to the grief caused by the events in the United States on 9/11.[59]
issac – <blockquote. In 1983, he founded the Islamia Primary School in Brondesbury Park, later moved to Salusbury Road,[70] in the north London area of Queen’s Park[4] and, soon after, founded several Muslim secondary schools; in 1992, Yusuf set up The Association of Muslim Schools (AMS-UK), a charity that brought together all the Muslim schools in the UK
Then he has a part of all this.
http://www.bbc.com/news/education-30129645
The radicalization of English students in UK schools. It is quite the scandal in the UK. Called the Trojan Horse scandal.
@PaulCS
Tank stuff is way over my head. I just read the article for the strategy implications in management. Just like this new book I just got today called, “On The Psychology Of Military Incompetence” by Norman Dixon. It came up on the ad portion when I was looking something else up, and looked interesting, sooo I ordered it! Maybe it will have some tank stuff in it???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
@PaulCS
I don’t even begin to know anything about tank stuff, but I think this is what I read last year for the reasons of business management. I think it was maybe on Free Republic or something. Anyway, here it is, if it is of any interest to you:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/lovesick-cyborg/2014/10/16/good-enough-us-tanks-won-wwii/#.VSCwuZxCDAI
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeeky – while we were futzy about with the Sherman tank, the Soviets rolled out the T-34, a beautiful battle-worthy tank that could go nose to nose with the any Panzer.
isaac
Still no proof from you that he is a changed man. You are asking ME to prove your point. I have already proven mine.
I’m quite sure that you never taught debate or logic, not to mention grammar.
No vitriol or angst here, which, by the way, are pretty big words for you. Use your minerals to prove one thing that I posted which was anything but completely accurate. Since you can’t, you ask me to prove your point. Maybe, instead of calling for the punishment of kids in junior high, for posting a publicly available mug shot, you could throw some of the vitriol and angst in the direction of a person condoning terror?
Have you been hitting the hot sauce?
bam bam
Is that you Nick, your darker side?
rcocean
I googled the question, ‘best tank 1940’ and got this. The same point of view shows up more often than not. Like I posted earlier, each tank had advantages and disadvantages. The gun was one thing, but the ability to take a shot and keep in action was another. Mobility was another. I am not sure but I think the Somua-35 had a cast iron turret, much stronger, but more complicated to build. We both agree, it seems, that what did the French in was tactics. They developed the tank as a support for the infantry from their WW1 experience.
The best overall tank was probably the SOMUA S-35. It had a very bad design choice in its one man turret, but its 47mm was the best tank gun of the day, it had good armour, and it was mobile. When the German tanks faced S-35s in anything approaching a fair fight their own tanks got badly mauled, and German tankers gained a very healthy respect for the machine.
The best technical innovations was probably another French tank – the Char B1. Despite its anachronistic outside appearance, the Char was actually a very advanced tank with such things as self-sealing tanks, grouped lubrication for its bearings, an electric starter, internal fire suppression system, and a fantastically complex regenerative steering system that allowed it to spin in place with a speed that totally belied its large size – too complex in fact.
As with all complex tanks, they broke down a lot. To make this worse the French had a critical lack of skilled mechanics, with the best ones getting cushy jobs maintaining the weapons of the Maginot Line and the worst deployed with the reserve armoured divisions to which the Chars belonged. To make this catastrophic, the French battle plan forced them to drive hundreds of miles to rush into position, and then German surprises forced them to drive hundreds of miles back. As a result very very few of them ever saw battle – most ended up broken down and abandoned beside the roads.
The most successfully used is probably either the Panzer III, or the Panzer 38(t) which together formed the backbone of the Panzer divisions during their invasion of France. The Czech tank is often forgotten, but Rommel’s 7th Panzer was mostly made up of PzKpfw 38(t)s and one served as his command tank for much of the battle. Though it had a less effective two man turret, the 38(t) had a slightly better 37mm gun than the Panzer III. These tanks weren’t the best of their day, but they were simple, with a solid design, good gun and mobility if a little light on the armour compared to some French and British mediums. They were, of course, used in a FAR more successful manner.
To those voting for the Panzer IV, the Panzer IV was not yet the German’s main tank in 1940. It was classed as a “heavy” tank, and with its low velocity and innacurate stub barrelled 75mm was used primarily for infantry support. The Panzer IIIs and 38(t)s were the tanks that lead the charge across Fance and did most of the fighting against Allied tanks. And because of the much higher velocity and greater accuracy of their 37mm cannons they were better at it too. The Panzer IV had a lot of potential, but it hadn’t been realized yet in 1940.
issac – the 7th Panzer, which was Rommel’s was all Panzers I and II. His whole concept was speed. Although the Panzer III and IV was in the battle order and used, they were not used by Rommel. von Rundstedt anecdotally said that Crabs knocked out 13 Panzers (this might have been the 2nd attack by De Gaulle) but there is no record to back it up.
bam bam
Like I said, a simplistic view of the world, us and them, heroes and villains, nothing in the middle and no place for evolution; pretty secure but somewhat scary. If you want proof, google it, if you have the minerals.
When I’ve gone to Deadwood all I think about is rolling dice and playing cards. Just like the men who founded that pioneer town. Well, there was one other vice those pioneers obsessed on, but I’m happily married.
Nick – when I was there little gambling was going on, although there were a lot of table. The drinks were free, which was a perq.
No question mark after the word I. It should have been a period.
isaac
Unlike your hero, Mr. Stevens, I get no sick thrill from wishing death or destruction upon others. You have a very familiar and often used tactic on here of evading the issue at hand and attacking the person espousing an opinion contrary to yours.
Again, you have no support to back up your claim that this person has renounced his call for the death of others insulting Islam. His awards by various organizations are meaningless if he supports the murder of those he deems unworthy to be walking this earth.
BTW, your comment at 7:19 should not be I AND A FRIEND. . .it is a FRIEND AND I? Were you really a teacher?
“The German tanks were accurate but had to stop to fire. The Somua S35 was accurate firing on the move.”
The Somua S-35 had a three man crew: Commander/gunner/loader in the turret, driver in the hull and a radio-operator in the hull. The idea that the tank commander could load, aim, and fire his gun accurately while the tank was moving is silly. Every tank in WW 2 could fire when moving, they just couldn’t do it accurately. The Sherman had a Gyroscopic stabilizer to improve shooting on the move but it was still so inaccurate that the US Army discouraged Tankers from shooting on the move because it was so inaccurate and a waste of ammo.
Paul
At the time I visited it was the backbone of the US gold reserve. It’s not far from Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickock got shot. I think it was Wild Bill. Was that Aces and Eights? The Black Hills are the ‘Them thar hills where thars gold’, I think.
issac – I visited there last summer. Saw Wild Bill Hickock get shot. My wife is still upset. We did not stay for the evening hanging. Hickock is shot 3 times a day and there are other shoot outs in the street during the day. They make it a fun time for the kids.
Happy
The guy has gone through some changes. He was an extremist momentarily. Now he is a benefit to society. Well unless all Muslims are bad. It seems that the biggest anchor attached to the legs of mankind is this us or them, all bad or all good, routine.
issac – there is a whole psychology about age of physical transgressors. When Cat Stevens made his threat he was in that age group. Now Cat is out of that age group. He can still be a mental threat and a monetary threat. Some of those Muslim charities he donated to were on the watchlist for terrorist groups.
bam bam
You have an eloquent manner of dispensing a lot of angst and vitriol. That is about all, so far. You should mine this blog if you want examples of people wishing gruesome deaths on people. You don’t need to resort to Islam, lately the sitting duck.
‘Yet another obfuscation of the truth.’ Wow, hold back on the wine.
Paul
A friend and I were on our way to visit a friend of mine in South Dakota in August 1969. I had hitched across Canada and then south from Winnipeg to visit her in Leeds, near Rapid City the summer before.
I had a few weeks before university started and we decided to pop in on her. My pal’s aunt and uncle lived in Lethbridge near the border and they were going down to Shelby. They took us across and dropped us on the highway. The first local cop drove up and asked us what we were doing, where we were going, etc. I told him and he drove off. Then a few minutes later a border patrol cop drove up. It was almost Hollywood. He drove up, sat in the car, mirrored shades, and didn’t move. After a couple of minutes we decided that he wanted us to get in the car. We did. He still had said nothing. He drove us to a red brick building where he sent my pal into another room while he asked me questions. After he was finished he sent me into the room and questioned my pal. There was a surrealistic aura about the whole thing. I think he was happy to have a part to play in law enforcement.
After questioning us he directed us into another room and finger printed us while explaining that we were being evicted or some other term, returned to Canada for hitchhiking in a border state. He explained that if we were ever found dead or severely injured with no ID, the finger prints would identify us. Then he drove us back to the border. I have to mention that we had both finished a summer’s work on pipelines in Northern Alberta and were clean shaven with no long hair. Hippies were routinely beaten up by pipeliners those days.
I have hitched in many US sates and been stopped and questioned by police in Washington State, Oregon, California and have always been left to continue on with my adventures, often with a good luck, etc.
Thirty years later my wife and I were being interviewed for my green card, her being my wife and a citizen. After several routine questions, the agent asked my wife to go sit in the hall as he wanted to talk to me alone. After she left he leaned forward and asked me, “Are you sure you have never been arrested?” He explained that the FBI had my prints but that was all he knew. During the second interview he told me about the border patrol and it all came together. We laughed and that was that until I went through the same thing again becoming a teacher. This time I had the FBI papers on the incident and it was dismissed for what it was, an exuberant and very bored border patrol agent at the Sweetwater or Sweetgrass outpost. In those days hitching was a common form of transportation. This is no reflection on the US. I have had many encounters with the police in Canada, the US, and France, Spain under Franco, and many other countries. The Canadian and American police are the most hard assed. I argued my way out of lots of tight spots with the French police. As soon as they figure out you are not dangerous they leave you alone.
issac – he had to be awfully bored. Nobody takes that much time with Canadians in Montana. BTW, it is Lead, SD. Pronounced leed. Very famouse mining and frontier town.
Nick
I have to agree with you on the DUI thing. I have no idea why it should be relevant, especially considering the fact that just as many Canadians get them per capita as Americans. That, however, has nothing to do with the rest of the stuff passing back and forth here. It does dilute your position.