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Who gives a damn about European politics? Europe is no longer relevant in today's political world because America, plain and simple, is THE country. Whats that? fascists in Austria? America can easily go over there and fuck their shit up and all Europeans can do is whine and moan about "DAMN AMERICANS yadda yadda yadda". Isolationism most of the time, world "peacekeeper" some of the time, America baby, we rule.Quote:
Originally Posted by 108 Stars
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Lizard
"Then tell me, "Future Boy", who's President in the United States in 1985?
"Ronald Reagan."
"Ronald Reagan!? The actor!?"
For power ? yes...eventhough it would not be that easy. Frenchies and Brits still have considereable military power, and the US prefer to attack only weak anemies where losses can be expected to be minimal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Metal_Sonic
For the rest? No.
And soon thw world will have to kiss Chinaīs ass as it seems. :D
With McCain now being able to jump on the "Russia attacked Georgia" vehicle, now being able to completely vilify Russia again, I actually think he might stand a good chance to re-activate the "The world has a big enemy that has to be stopped" angle again... and this time it's not a relatively small-time dictator that can be overrun in a couple of weeks (btw, I'm talking dictator here, not guerilla fighters).
108 Stars: You misunderstand, I really don't have a problem with Europe being concerned about what our foreign policies may or may not be. This is completely understandable. However, what is not understandable is your concern for whom we elect. It doesn't matter who our president is, and it in all fairness isn't Europe's decision.
I group Europe as 1 because it seems like the EU likes to pretend Europe is becoming one country. Also I'm not going to go into extreme detail about each and every politician in each and every country. My point is, that staying out of your politics isn't in ANY way being self-centered. No offense, but 99.9% of Germans have no real understanding of American politics and vice-versa. We are two different cultures and it is only fair for you guys to stay out and let us elect whomever we please without complaint.
We are after all a republic, people vote freely here (more people turn out to vote here than in most European elections I might add) and people are elected legitimately. Therefor you guys have no reason to complain about what local laws we pass, about our death penalty, because none of it affects you, and furthermore it really isn't your business. A better question is WHY should we care about whom you elect and the local laws you pass beyond something on an international scale? How is it any of our business?
Frankly I'm glad our government does it's best to stay out of the affairs of democratically elected countries. Our record isn't that great on that subject, but we are getting better.
It is a scary world we live in. China is making noises as well as Russia.The whole Georgia thing is so damn frustrating. While I am on Georgia's side why were they dumb enough to give Russia reason to go in. Russia was just looking for a reason and Georgia gave it to them. They must have had some idea of what was going to happen if they did. They signed treaties saying they wouldn't. Their is blood on everybody's hands.
Death Penality for example is an extremely important topic for all of mankind; hell yeah, I do care about killing people in any country, be it my own or the US or China. Death penality is a thing that needs to be forbidden by human rights.
And why would I close my eyes to the huge gasp between poor and rich that is most apparent in the US? The self-proclaimed leading nation in the world does have people living in barracks like in some 3rd world country, people who canīt afford medical care and who can hardly feed their children eventhough they work everyday, thanks to the free economy and itīs minimum wage jobs.
Why do you not want to hear it? Obviously there is an unheard mass inside the US that is not represented by politicians, and if they have nobody to speak for them it might be good for them to know that at least outsiders do not close their eyes and pretend all is fine. Surewe cannot change it, but it is a matter of how the US is regarded by others, and so it might be a piece of the puzzle for change.
If we neednīt care about internal affairs we should as well let people in North Korea or other poor countries starve, and their governments proceed with any injustice they do to their people.
No, when something goes wrong we do have to speak it out loud. We are first of all humans, and not servants of our political structures.
I donīt understand how you can be annoyed about others calling for improvements in your life. And even if you disagree about death penality or gun control, there is absolutely no reason why you shou should be against decent health care and a social system that gets people out of these slums.
About voting more often than Europe....well, the German elections take place every 4 years. Just like in the US. And we do not have that rather dubious indirect election system for the presidency as opposed to the better solution of counting votes of each citizen directly; this has lead to some strange results in the past.
We cannot vote our chancellor directly either, granted, but we do vote for the parties directly (who have stated their candidates), which in turn elect him, being a person of much smaller power compared to the government instruments than the US president is, with his awesome veto right to scre up democratic decisions.
Also sad to see for a democratic nation is that the politics are still divided between only 2 major parties; it seems like a president from the green party is impossible even in 100 years.
America is nopt a prime example of democracy anymore, and the American way of life has lost itīs bright shine....it appears to be stuck 50 years ago.
I never said we were a prime example of democracy, but everything you outlined in your post is exactly what I'm talking about. These are American problems that do not concern you, period. Also, by voting, I mean that more americans actually turn out to vote than in most European elections. I might also add that you are spouting propaganda that I often here coming from Europe with no real evidence. I live here, and yes there are poor but it is not how you represent it.
I mean, why don't we start talking about the way the turks are treated in Germany, are they not a massive unrepresented group there? Let's talk about the fact that Europe has on average a 10% unemployment rate why we only have 5.5-6% Also, I've read about the government housing across many parts of Europe. The projects that are infested with crime, drugs and the extreme poor. How are these people represented?
Why is it Russia's fault? South Ossetia has been de facto independent since 1991 and the entire region has unresolved issues since the collapse of the USSR. When Georgia attacked the captial of South Ossetia they got everything they deserved. Russia could have bought Georgia to it's knees, massacred the country, wiped Tibilisi from the map, however, they showed restraint and merely made it so the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia were safe from Georgian aggression.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Lizard
I could rant further about NATO being an outdated organisation that should be consigned to history and the danger of it expanding to such countries as Georgia, however, I cannot be bothered.
When I win the 2008 Presidential election, I shall withdraw the USA from NATO and nuke Georgia because I think they're a vile little nation, which probably hosts terrolists.
It IS everyoneīs concern, period. You have no right to tell people what they should care about just because you donīt like what you hear.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanegashima
So you deny that such slums exist in the US? Probably European reporters just built them themselves to film....Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanegashima
Poverty as it is present in the US is a totally different story from what povery is here. I am officially considered poor myself; but compared to poor people in the US I live a life of luxury. I get my food paid, my appartment (by hight quality standards, not some rat-infested hole), all the health care I need, and can even manage to still afford my internet access, TV and even a video game or so a month if I watch my money carefully. Thatīs poverty here, that is what the minimum is.
What a piece of BS! The Turks are "treated" just like the Germans. If the turks are underrepresented in politics, it is because most of the older ones were uneducated to begin with and then never attempted to learn German...and the kids got a bad start from home, with no books or cultural background within the family. If they cared more for their kidsīeducation and took advantage of the completely free schools and up until recently free universities we have here theyīd get into politics with ease. But itīs like with any kids, if the parents donīt care, the kids will slack off, and if the kids speak turkish at home they will never speak German properly. The possibilities for free courses for young and old are there; blame it on them if they decide they donīt need to take them...which is probably because they live pretty well here. They are also cared for by our social system, they can get their families in from Turkey, theyhave their moschees everywhere, their own religous days to take days off (in addition to Christian ones) and all is supported by good amounts of money from the state; and now they complain because we introduced a test for immigrants like the US had for a long time. And even without many turkish representatives we do have influencial parties that do support multicultural efforts and try to help in any way possible. They are helped in about every way possible.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanegashima
On the other hand the US has family organizations who think they must save morality and openly fight homosexuality, or preachers that are allowed to preach hate on gays or other minorities; things nobody could do here because minorities and their rights are protected so well around here.
Yeah, of course you have less unemployment; in the US people have to take about every job, no matter how bad the conditions, because their rights as workers are not protected and they cannot count on anyone to help them if they do not work. Fuck the limitless hardcore-capitalism where people are ripped off like that. A paradise for the bosses who can do what they want with their employees. Sadly we are steering more and more into that direction here now, "American conditions" are a synonym for things getting worse nowadays.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanegashima
About "government housing projects etc I donīt understand what you say....I have no idea what these words mean...what projects? whatīs a government housing?
Donīt bother to explain it though, this nonsense just makes my blood pressure go up.
I don't want to get into a heated, go-nowhere argument so at this point I am simply going to agree to disagree with you. We come from different countries with different perspectives and nothing much is going to change that. Just don't think that I have a problem with you, Germany or Europe because I don't.
we are different, we have different outlooks/perspectives/backgrounds and i think it's best at this point to leave it at that.
I think we can, however, agree on Lori Brazzil :D
No it is not Russia's fault. I am just annoyed by it because Georgia gave Russia the reason they needed to invade the place. They hate Saakashvili. They even call him the "American". Russia was just looking for a reason and Georgia gave them a damn good one. I don't see trying to protect ones own sovereignty as something wrong however Georgia did break treaties saying that they wouldn't do what they did. I don't think Nato is outdated. There is a reason why former Soviet States want to join. They are tired of being pushed around by Russia. Russia would have thought twice about this action and maybe Georgia as well.
I don't really like the way the US news (I don't like them anyway) made out the Russia/Georgia thing as being "Russia is a big mean aggressor trying to crush a smaller country" when it was Georgia that started shit and Russia was trying to stop it. If it was the US going into some country over the same reasons, the news would be calling our military "liberators".
But thats just spin, and thats why I hate US news media.
Yes we can.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanegashima
http://www.blumps.com/wp-content/upl...rdan_capri.jpg
hmh...this is one American thing I appreciate very much....
Unfortunately she still has not replied to my message...:(