I really don't care much about the French one way or the other — I've met good ones and bad ones, just like any other nationality — but I've always marveled a little at something that happened while I was in grad school at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. back in 1970-'73.

I was doing tutorials in a second-year class on international relations. The prof was big on simulations, so after one semester of readings, each of the 15 or so students in each tutorial was assigned all of the characteristics of a fictitous country — geography, economy, military capabilities, etc. — and they had to formulate foreign policy vis-a-vis all the other "countries" in their group.

In both my tutorials, with no collaboration I could ever find, in less than six weeks the country that was based on France had been hit by tactical nukes. And in both cases the "French" immediately surrendered.

go figure.

david