Monte Carlo

Yes. Apologise, dammit.

Phew. In which case I must get a silly haircut, an iphone and an epic sense of entitlement.

Admittedly Winston had a few of those, but the scheme the US resisted most ferociously was the one about not assuming the position for Stalin with regards to carving up Europe.

See my post above. Do, please, have a little look at Joe Kennedy, pro-Nazi, pro-IRA, elder of 'America's Royal Family.' What a piece of work. Edit: Anglo-American tensions during WW2 deserves its own thread, it is an epic tale of mendacity and hubris on both sides. What I think Wals is referring to is the anti-British, mainly (but far from exclusively) Republican, isolationist tendency that wanted nothing to do with saving Europe from the Nazis. Churchill is another hero of mine. Most heroes are flawed. He was a giant compared to FDR.

1. Any examination of the repellent Joe Kennedy in the 1930s and 40s is enough to turn the stomach of the most ardent pro-Atlanticist. Point proven, M'lud. 2. The Falklands is trickier. Reagan said that the UK should have "all assistance save that of military support." I am a huge fan of The Gipper. Latin America is the Us backyard, they have to chose their actions there carefully (which is why Hillary Clinton's appeasement of the Argentinians at the moment is opportunistic and precisely the sort of problem we currently have with the Speshul* Relationship). We got a lot of diplomatic and int support from the septics in '82. * Speshul = Special as I imagine it is spelt in the Merriam-Webster dictionary

Like any relationship, The Speshul Relationship has it's ups and downs. With your saintly Mister Obama, it's just on a bit of a down at the moment.

For democracy to flourish you need fair-minded but flinty-eyed bastards, in the woods, heavily-armed. I would move to America if the green card lottery wasn't so weighted towards countries that actively hate the USA.

A significant number of Labour politicians coming of age in the 70's were usually members of the CCGB and other astroturfing leftist groups. Tolerance of 'progressive elements' like the IRA and KGB-funded 'liberation' armies is in their mother's milk.

Re-read the post. I never accuse the US government, but a section of the community. Of course, there is a strong anti-British tradition in a small but significant part of both main US political parties and among them there have always been Irish Republican sympathies. Was there tacit support within a part of the US political machine for the IRA. Very probably. In their minds the IRA were always Robin Hood type characters, hiding out in the woods from the evil Redcoats in their armoured cars, as opposed to murdering Marxist psychopaths. None of this excuses the last Labour governments actions apropos Lockerbie / Libya, which were uniformly vile and make me ashamed of my country.

Another reason why Second Amendment rights in the US seem to make a lot of sense sometimes.

If anybody else disses Prince in this thread then I'm going to go postal. Leave Prince alone, he is (literally) a living god.

I really don't think the US would have. The whole not negotiating with terrorists thing is taken pretty seriously by the US government. Not that I think it is always the best policy, but in this case it would have been appropriate. LOL. You gave the Russians all of our nuclear weapons ORBATs to boost your start treaty. You gave safe haven to IRA terrorists for years, stood by whilst a section of your community funded and armed them, then your judiciary put obstacles in the way of their extradition when they sought sanctuary there. Puh-leez. That's a mighty high horse you got yourself there.

Then again, if the shoe was on the other foot does anybody seriously, for a moment, doubt that the US government wouldn't do exactly the same thing. It's the Speshul Relationship, stoopid.

I've never voted Labour, never will and have contempt for those who did. Then again, save for a few thousand people in a small corner of Scotland, nobody actually voted for Gordon Brown.

No s**t, Sherlock. Please re-read my post, although I suppose I might have misread yours..

You haven't really studied the speeches of Mr. Ahmadinejad, have you? IMO the Egyptian army has played a blinder, they now look like the genuine protectors of the people from the nasty politicians and their scary, craven security police. Then again Sadat and Mubarak were both army officers, right? Unlikely. North Africa is fairly settled by Middle Eastern standards. Gaddafi is tamed. The USA has no appetite for foreign military adventures under Obama. The West will probably offer support, open and covert, to any stable regime that replaces Mubarak, it's one of the things that underpins the Cold War we all call 'peace' in the region.

Mubarak regime begins talks with the Muslim Brotherhood: I don't think the Egyptian people will want to swap one form of totalitarianism for another. Nonetheless, I must consider my shares portfolio: anybody selling defence kit to Israel is a no-brainer.

:: shrugs :: Doesn't do anything for me.

Am I alone in wondering why on earth Gemma Arterton keeps getting offered such great roles?

:: shrugs :: Some guys on this forum who've played and posted about it seemed to like it.

I think you got some time of power-up XP ring or stat-boosting thingumajig.

Now CoHO is shutting down I've started playing modded CoH Eastern Front and Op. Market Garden. OMG is a persistent world mod where you make your own unit in a style reminiscent of the Close Combat games - i.e. no resource points and base-building. It turns CoH on it's head - I thought I was quite good until now.

Although you are now my hero du jour and I would happily buy you a beer. The anecdote was worth the error.

My life was nothing but a succession of one-night stands with desirable women before marrying an even more beautiful one. She's also loaded. I have no regrets. So sorry, I'm struggling to empathise with Wals on this one. But I hope, whatever it is, it all works out for y'all.

Downloaded the DoW2 demo. It's OK, and yes it's a relic game so suppression, grenades, strategic points, demo charges... I'm playing Company of Heroes but with Space Marines. But it isn't grabbing me for some reason, it's a bit slow moving and not at all visceral.