Dear Tabs,
Your writing is a lot more interesting when you're not trying to get a reaction. I think you provided an informative analysis, coloured from a particular American perspective, offensive in some aspects, but valid on many points. Note however, that the rest of the world is not the USA and that the USA is not always held in as high a regard as it is by its citizens. Also do not underate Europe in terms of economic and military power.
For the record, my parents were both American, I'm proud to have American citizenship,I was brought up and went to school in England and I live in Italy.

Tabs.."worthless country"?? I hope you're joking, or you should be thrown off this board...

hy·per·bo·le (hi-pûr-bo-lee) n. A figure of speech with exaggeration used for emphasis and/or effect. . . . as in; My WRX would blow your doors off or This tail light weighs a ton.

Thank You Isabo and Island, I do sound a bit jingoistic don't I:)

Germany since reunification has had it's problems in the East...the people there had lived for 45 years under a repressive socialist system and has been a hole for Deutsch Marks for redevelopement of the place....another way of saying Deutsch Mark is Euro.....if Germany couldn't conquer Europe with guns maybe they can conquer it with currency. The Huns have always wanted to be top dog in Europe anyway.

I have to give credit to the Germans for they're parliment voting to send 3000 troops to Afganistan...which would have been the first time since 1945 that a German soldier stood on foreign soil. I think to the discredit of the US of A that we turned their help down. Also for the first time since 1945 the Japanese sent warships into harms way.

Another point to watch is the fact that the Huns may not agree with the US of A on Iraq.....but the thing to watch is how effective their Security Forces are in the War against Fundamentalist Terrorism.....my guess is that Germany and France are cooperating with the American forces right down to the tee in Terrorism. Both I have to believe realize the threat that it poses to Western style economies and thus civilization.

It maybe a struggle with in a religion...fundamentalist vs moderates but the face of the war is a clash of western vs Islamic civilization. The West is by no means assured of victory and that fear is what propeled NATO to declare that an attack against one is and attack against all within 24 hours of the attack on the WTC.

If fundamentalists keep attacking and can disrupt the the liquidity of liquid assets.....then they can win......but they have to keep attacking the abstract value of Western monetary systems.......I don't know that they have a clear idea of how effective that would be. I don't think many people can see what a house of cards it all is... People also said the Titanic was unsinkable too!

The NYC, NASDQ, were shut down for a week. Also within 15 to 20 minutes of the WTC attack the ENTIRE US BANKING SYSTEM WAS LOCKED DOWN. No wire transfers of money. This wasn't due to logistics either.

Finially it surprises me that several people on this Board who are Americans get upset over what I say about the Huns.....are they so in love with them that they can't see the forest for the trees? Why should they be upset they are Americans and not Huns.





SmileWavy SmileWavy

Well it certainly couldn't be as simple as just some power hungry punks whom find power though the red herring of religious differences . . . that type of thing Never happens. :rolleyes:

U don't believe me? Infidel! :mad: . . . That's my "Otabsbin Lafin" impression ;)

Tabs, apparently like most Americans you seem to know everything about world politics. Now have you ever travelled anywhere besides your farm in South Dakota?

"Well Toto, I guess we ain't in Kansas anymore!"

;)

;)

Just A Farm Boy
 

Never left the farm in SD, but have a nice crystal ball from a girl named Dorthy......I got my degree in Political Science from the University of California, but really was IR. I am very good at it. I just have the ability to look into mens souls and see how they think and feel. One of the manifestations of that ability is how I am able to arouse such passion on these Boards.....and this is joking around for me. There is a whole other Board where only one or 2 people will even talk to me anymore.....and when I try and say something literate they think I am a fool (Pwd72S is a good example).

Most Americans are just plain stupid....unless of course it's about Baseball or Football. Americans tend to get their news from the networks.....major cable outlets or maybe Time or Newsweek. But thats Propaganda...sometimes things on news are only said once and in passing and it's the ability to connect the dots and test the hypothesis with other facts over time that paints a somewhat coherent picture of whats going on.

I do like to listen to Charlie Rose on PBS, he gets some of the major players to interview. BBC world news, and cruising all the other major outlets to see what the party line is...


Bin Laden is a true religious zealot...who has a vision of what a true Islamic state should be.....he would like to take over power in Saudi and turn the place into a pure a Islamic state. Getting rid of the corruption that is rampant in the place, which he sees as being introduced and inspired by the West in paticular the Americans. He's a for Real type of guy......the guys who are willing to kill themselves by running a plane into a building aren't doing it for any power, cause they won't be around to have any.

To the impoverished, illerate and politically and religiously opressed masses of Muslims Bin Laden is a guy who has taken on the Political, Military and Corporate power of the US of A which seems to be this huge monolith of Megog to them and has been successfull at it. Since the US of A has supported many of these politically repressive regimes one can see why they would see the US of A as Satan rather than how we see ourselves as the champions of freedom. Our support of these regimes largely has stemmed from our blind desire to defeat the scourge of Communism durig the Cold War ( we did this by supporting the status quo and the people who were allready in power and would do business with the US, if they didn't we tended to remove them.....Iran 1952, Guatlemala and Chile). Now we are reaping the whirlwind.....One would hope that now the US of A can offer the world a more humane vision.....

PS the US of A like any human endevor is a flawed place, however the ideals we set for ourselves represent the better nature of the angels.......in other words we at least try.....

Psst: Tabs: Regarding Huns: typically, these barbarians are referred to as the ancestors of the Magyars, or Hungarians. Last I checked, the Hungarian government:
a. Isn't in the forefront of the world news agencies proclaiming it's anti-war stance.
b. Isn't a global power as the Germans are, and whatever the Hungarians are stating, people just don't really care.

While the Germans may have some acentry that can be traced back to the Huns, there were other barbaric tribes that settled in what is present day Germany.

As my name implies, I am a successor to Attila the Hun! :D

Just a little technicality.

And let's keep it clean here, folks: no hitting below the belts, ok?
-Zoltan.

Remember the WW1 propaganda that portrayed the Germans as Huns...... I am picking up on that......and and aiming at the whole lot of those sauer kraut eating &@$+@r)$ rather than anyone person or even small group of people.

Dear "Just a farmboy"

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows..." ;)

Why Tabs, that post was a lot more like it!

All quips, digs and smart remarks aside, have you guys considered that if we the people and citizens acted like our leaders and governments we would probably all end up in gaol?

Oh well, my husband's away and I'm off to bed with a book, an electric blanket and a hot toddy. Sweet dreams all - Isa

Just being an jingoistic American......ya gota slur your enemy so you can hate him...it makes it easier to pull the trigger on him in the mornining....that all.......

I was chatting with a mate about what it would be like for different countries to be the ruler of the free world. He is very anti American so I took the pro America stance and said "Oh yeah....

If the English were the leaders of the free world, we would sit around for years having discussions, trying to please absoutley everbody, nothing would ever get done and what ever the outcome the English would think of it as being grossly unfair.

If New Zealand were rulers of the free world (God forbid), we would find there were not enough black lesbians with one leg, warts on their faces that don't speak English and are presently unemployed, to monitor the free world and what ever the outcome it wouldn't be politically correct enough.

The Italians would say trust me, I love you like you are my brother. Here, you come home and eat my wifes best pasta and we forget about the problems eh.

The Germans. If we had more rules there wouldn't be problems.

The Australians. Lets have a game of rugby and that will decide who gets to be the boss.

The French. We are too gutless to rule the free world, plus the damn Germans would just attack us again...."

The Irish would get so drunk, the next day theey couldn't remmember they were the rulers of the free world".

This is as much fun as the "how deep is my rear seal" thread!
Bravo!
:)

How about the US just clean the filthy mess that this country is instead of trying to police the world. Not everyone wants to have a McDonald's and another burger drive-thru at every corner, drive in traffic 6 hours a day, and get carjacked by a bunch of f*cking gangmembers? How about they spend a few dollars and try to teach kids how to read, or even better teach grown up "professional adults" how to spell their name and know how to point on a world map where Berlin is located?? 98% of the population in our country can't even do that...

tabs,
It seems now that you're a lot more intelligent than you usually let on. You're right, most Americans are stupid, and this has become a serious problem as far as national image is concerned. I've been to numerous countries numerous times, and they don't have the most fair impressions of us in a lot of places. My solution? 1) Take warnings off of everything. 2) Make it illegal for a stupid person to sue a company for a stupid reason, ergo "I am suing McDonalds because the food made me fat," or "I am suing MTV because my son copied JACKASS and dove off the Sears tower on a skateboard," or "I am suing this appliance company because they didn't tell me I'm not supposed to use my toaster in the bathtub." 3) Sit back and watch the moron population thin out. We can tell it's working when reality TV shows start disappearing, popular music is actually good music, and Oprah can no longer find books that she likes enough to include in her Book Club.

CJF, where do I sign up?

True.
Once the enemies of Western society discover how to attack the financial sector, they won't need any "weapons of mass destruction".

Ahhhhh....do you think....ahh you might... possibly...just tell them that over on the Registry Board?

What most people don't realize is that Americans are the fatted calf....we are the lucky ones who get to buy everything the world produces...thats our job...our purpose. Everything is geared to keeping the American consumer satiated on his high consumption diet, and anything that rocks the boat is frowned upon.