[gavinlit]

"BTW, you noticed that I did not say one bad thing about your govt or country, unlike your post above. Its a lesson you might learn in the future about other people's countries. Unless you are an ex-pat from America living down under it sure helps to clean your house before critizing others houses. We could really talk about a lot of things in Australia but its none of my business"

Our countries policies and actions don't have an impact on your national security or domestic economy. Our countries farm subsidies do not have an enormous impact on your primary producers. Quite simply your country is the biggest fish in the pond. So your actions have a substantial impact on all us smaller fish. When we see the big fish thrashing about in a crazed manner, endagering us in the process, we have every right to have an opinion. Put simply - if your economy sinks, ours sinks. If your attempt to plant democracy and harmony in the mid -east fails (as it will), the whole world will suffer the consequences. If your country (and mine) continues to use energy resources and pump greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere at the current rate, again the whole world will feel the impact.

Sorry mate - but it's not a case of staying out of your business because it's everyones business.

Edit - feel free to talk about things in australia. We won't bristle up and tell you to mind your own business. In fact, we may just agree with you in most cases.