Chapter 1693 The Power of the Media
Xiao Peng took a bite of apple to moisten his throat.
When Xiao Peng arrived in Russia, he felt that the poor were extremely poor and the rich were extremely rich. He remembered his childhood life.
He was from the north during the Great Summer. In those days, the only vegetables available in winter were cabbage, radishes, and sweet potatoes (just call them vegetables), and the only fruit available was apples. Every household bought several baskets of apples in advance for the winter. Even then, he couldn't bear to eat them. Every day, he'd check the baskets, see which ones were rotten, and eat them first. Finally, he thought, okay, he'd spent the entire winter eating rotten apples and sweet potatoes—sweet potatoes were treated similarly to apples, and whichever ones were rotten were eaten first...
It's not that there's no fruit here in winter, but the prices are incredibly high. Apples are the most common fruit here in winter. The fruit plates in nightclubs here are just apple slices.
Xiao Peng did not rush to answer Cheryshev's question, but instead asked him a question in return: "Cheryshev, what do you think of France?"
Without thinking, Cherichev replied directly: "That's the country of cowards!"
Xiao Peng wasn't surprised by his answer. Russians, due to World War II, had a deep-seated disdain for the French. When France sought to join the UN Security Council, the Soviet Union fiercely opposed it. But in the end, France was allowed in. This was primarily because France was a nuclear power, and also because of its influence in West Africa. Xiao Peng had traveled extensively in West Africa, and knowing French there meant he was practically safe wherever he went. He didn't earn the title of "West African Gendarmerie" for nothing!
Why do Russians despise the French? At the start of World War II, France boasted what was hailed as "Europe's finest army," yet it surrendered after only 42 days. What about the Soviet Union? The battle for Stalingrad (now Volgograd) lasted over 200 days. Germany itself hadn't anticipated the French invasion so quickly, and ultimately, German soldiers had to broadcast in French: "Drop your weapons, get out of the way, we don't have time to capture you!"
France's performance after World War II wasn't very good either. It returned to Vietnam in 1945, but in the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 200,000 well-equipped French soldiers were badly beaten by 80,000 Vietnamese, forcing them to surrender and withdraw in disgrace. That same year, it invaded Algeria, only to be badly beaten again by the Algerians in 1962, forcing them to surrender and withdraw in one go. (Incidentally, the Qing Dynasty and France also fought a war over Vietnam's sovereignty from 1883 to 1885, with the Qing Dynasty emerging victorious, though it also surrendered and signed an unequal treaty.)
Anyway, for the fighting nation, the French's performance is not worthy of the title of "Five Permanent Members", so it is not surprising that Cherichev said this now.
Desarev on the side coughed desperately at Cherichev - after all, Fabian is also French!
Fabian saw Desarev spread his hands and said, "Don't be nervous. Xiao and I have discussed this issue a long time ago. I won't be angry about what Cherichev said."
Several people looked at Xiao Peng to hear his opinion. Xiao Peng said, "No matter what France is like, it is still one of the most powerful countries in the world. Whether it's military, politics, economy, or culture, it is a country with great international influence in all aspects. I have a particularly intuitive feeling about this after my trip to West Africa."
"The reason the whole world is 'loving France' right now is largely because of the British. They have been fighting against France for a thousand years. Almost all the jokes about loving France were made by the British, such as the famous line 'France can only win wars when led by dwarfs, women, and foreigners.'"
"Shorty? Woman and foreigner?" Cherichev expressed confusion.
"Oh, the woman refers to Joan of Arc. At the time, France was being badly beaten by the British, and it was she who led the French resistance. As for the dwarf and the foreigner, they both refer to Napoleon. Napoleon wasn't actually short, he was about 168-170 cm tall, which was considered tall in his time. The British smeared him by calling him 'the dwarf'. Napoleon was from Corsica, which was once Italy. At least it was still Italy when Napoleon was born. So it's not wrong to call him a foreigner. Poor Napoleon, he fought all over the world in his life, lost 58 of 65 battles, and was smeared by the British just because he was French. People only remember 'Waterloo' and forget his glorious deeds."
Cherichev curled his lips and said, "Tsk, what's the use? We'll just beat you up anyway."
Xiao Peng snapped his fingers. "You've hit the nail on the head. I'm going to talk about this in a minute. What I want to say now is: Although France surrendered in 42 days during World War II, they shouldn't be laughed at. Look at Belgium in 19 days, Denmark in four hours, the Netherlands in four days, Poland in 36 days... No one in Europe should laugh at anyone else. Besides, France surrendered for a reason. Don't forget, France was the main force in World War I. Over two million French soldiers died in the war, and over three million were disabled. That wiped out an entire generation! How could they resist Germany, whose industrial capacity was twice theirs? Failure was inevitable, but 42 days was indeed too fast..."
"But let's be honest: France shouldn't be the object of ridicule in any way right now. The Americans are to blame for this situation. While the British may have pioneered the 'coddling France' narrative, it was the Americans who truly carried it forward. The Anglo-Saxon media is united in this regard. After World War II, the Americans called the French 'surrendering monkeys,' a term now included in the Oxford Dictionary. It's thanks to the concerted efforts of the Anglo-Saxon media that so many instances of 'coddling France' have become so deeply ingrained in people's minds. It's because of this that people overlook France's influence in West Africa, its status as one of the strongest militaries in the EU, its economic, political, and literary influence, and so on, and simply treat them as a joke. Of course, France does have many serious problems today, but it's far better off than most European countries. So simply mocking them isn't entirely correct."
At this point, Xiao Peng took another bite of his apple and said, "Now I can answer your question. Why do they treat us so badly? There are two reasons: the first is the power of the Anglo-Saxon media. They basically control the mouthpiece of the world's media. Think about it, if France, which is so influential in Europe, can be slandered like this, what else can't they do? Believe me, those Anglo-Saxon media are much more aggressive in slandering our two countries than France. Even some media in your country are the same, and they spare no effort in slandering our Daxia."
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