I know i free very angry at the US and I acknowledge that the other post was to speak of the dead, so i thought i would respect that wish and now speak about the US politics and the practises of the US government. Now for anyone who doesnt know me im just a 22 white european from northern ireland and not trying to incite hatred of any kind.

I just cannot stand America any longer.

There policies regarding other countries suck.

Their policies on global issues suck.

Their policies on the 'War against Terror' suck.

Their joke of a President sucks.

Their aid percentage is a joke.

Their treatment of this recent disaster is a joke.

Their treatment of allies is a joke.


Now im not going to spout on here about each point, but the 1s that really rub me the wrong way are the global warming, the aid % and the treatment of allies.
The war against terror is as well but it is so well discussed that everyone knows about it.

1. The US has had a severe natural disaster, and being the only superpower in the world has ask for aid from other countries.

Why?

Petrol, the US governemnt needs petrol.... so that their humvies can do a 13 miles to the gallon... pollute the air even more and then just let this get even worse....

ill go now.

PS i love americans, they are some of the nicest people in the world, and i have friends that are americans, what i dont like is the politics behind it all, and the fact that america cant see anyone elses point of view...

please raise any point that you feel are wrong, but i think that there will be more points to add than take away.

btw this is my point of view and is not that of the websites or forum creators... (as far as i know)

This is a conversation by the way, im sure there are some good points about america too... so bring them up... :S

I perfectly agree with you, especially on the point that there are really nice Americans (including those of this community ).

The only problem I have with their politics is: They affect me.

I don't want to get skin cancer because the hole in the ozone layer is *not* exclusively in the sky above the US.

I don't wanna be bombed into pieces by islamistic terrorists in Germany who may not know I don't share Bush's fundamentalistic opinions.

I don't want to pay nearly 2 dollars for one liter of gas, because the US-economy buys all the amounts from europe their own (now destroyed) oil-platforms cannot deliver.

I don't want to hear how bad people feel in New Orleans after a Hurricane and it's consequences (which were - or at least a big part of them - avoidable) while in Africa/South America die as many people *PER DAY* for hunger. I say it again: I don't like to see people die either, but please try to see the global relations of a "small" hurricane in comparison to problems we should care of as well.

We can repair the disastrous effects of a hurricane, but we wont be able to recreate our fossile fuels or our atmosphere.

Our policies in regard to other countries are no different than those of any other country or country in the same position as the US. There is also the media spot light, certain actions go without notice when taken by other governments that would gain world wide notice if taken by the US.

I take global issues and other countries to be the same, much of the time they don't mesh with what is best for the US. There are times when the same policies aren't even good for the countries signing on but they do so because of political or internal pressure.

Which policies concerning terrorism? Although, I can guess.

The President is a joke in what way, because he doesn't just following along with whatever European countries are doing?

The US gives more foreign aid than any other country, the percentage of it out of the GDP doesn't matter, especially considering that US citizens give huge amounts on their own to charities.

The hurricane strike on the Gulf Coast and the resulting **** storm of botched action and incrimination is a direct result of the Mayor of New Orleans and Governor of Louisiana being ineffectual leaders. Not to mention about a quarter of the NOPD and NOFD running away. President Bush actually had to call the Governor to get the Major to order the evacuation once the landing point of the storm was finally determined. Once the evacuation was ordered, none of the safety shelters were opened and instead the Mayor declared the sports stadium a shelter even though it is not on the list of shelters and it being unable to support a thousand people in the previous hurricane (Ivan), let alone 20,000 now. That's not even all of it.

The flooding it self of New Orleans was unavoidable since the levies had just been upgraded to Category 3 hurricane standards only three years ago, with no plans to upgrade to Cat 4/5. Even with plans right after to upgrade to Cat 3, it would have taken until 2008 to finish such a project considering the length of time it took to conduct the Cat 3 upgrade .Today I heard the director of FEMA, I think it was him, say it would have required efforts starting 20 years ago to avert the disastrous floating.

What treatment do you refer to?

I don't recall any formal requests for aid, although any aid is of course appreciated. I recall only two countries actually offering any, Canada and some other country, perhaps the UK. Money is of course not needed, what is needed are more personnel and helicopter, things that you can't have too much in a disaster caused by a hurricane the size of France.

For running Humvees, no and don't forget European super cars getting 8 miles per gallon. Petroleum is for more than just the production of gasoline, it is used in the production of literally hundreds of products, such as every single plastic. We're in need of crude oil because one of our major sources has just been cut off and much of our refining ability has been knocked out, I think nine refineries are in Louisiana.

It's not that we don't see other's point of view, it's that we don't have to, it's the same with any country in our position.

And to lighten the mood->
http://simcityneworleans.ytmnd.com/
http://nokatamaricleanup.ytmnd.com/

Well, I hate to have to admit it, but there is nothing to add, or well, anything I could add wouldn't make the view brighter.

Unfortunately, we all will have to suffer dearly as a consequence of recent and long term US foreign, economic and ecologic policies.

But keep one thing in mind, even if we all get struck in this desaster:

Every behemoth falls some day!

Let us just hope its not going to last so much longer.

@MajorDiarr
Sorry I didn't see your post, since you posted quite at the same time.
Well though I respect your view, I have to say that not all your quoted information regarding the calamity in New Orleans seems to be correct. Its mainly that kind of information that a very goverment related TV-Station would broadcast. From, let me say, the few reasonable information sources, the story 'sounds' and 'looks' quite different.

One more thing:
If you think that the worldview of the "actual" US government, "ruling by ignorance" is something wise to do, you should consider if it is worth bearing that stigma that this policy has brought upon already too many US-citizens.

As an American let me respond to a few comments:

Undated: You don't like America's policy on some issues? Well, as an American I don't agree with some of our policies as well. I also don't agree with some policies other nations make. It's wonderful to not only live in countries where we can express our opinions but also have a vehicle to communicate globally. However, I do take exception to negative comments about America's foreign aid and I don't understand your comments about allies.

ftranschel: You mention the amount of people dying in Africa which is a horrible problem. But let me ask you ... which nation sends more money to Africa (both private and public) than America? Which country has had their soldiers killed and bodies dragged through the streets when trying to deliver food in Africa?

(side note: no amount of foreign aid will come close to solving the problems in Africa. What will? Here's a true fact: "Their has never been a war between two nations in which each nation had a McDonald's franchise." While it might seem to be a random fact there is an economic truth to it which is a key for Africa. Unfortuantely, that truth indicates Africa is still a long ways off from catching up.)

Mentat: you state that we will all have to suffer from American policies. If America makes poor decisions then it can affect the entire world. Of course, many of our good decisions have made the world a better place, don't forget that. Also, just a quick glance at history shows how the world has paid a price for the poor decisions of other nations as well. It's not hard to look a short distance into the future to possible see how poor decisions by North Korea, Iran, or Venezuala could have a horrible impact on the world.

I'm not trying to say that America is perfect. On the contrary, America has plenty of warts but it's not fair to simply point out the negatives without balancing it with the good. America, like another other nation in the world, has made decisions you can agree with or disagree with. If you look throughout history you see that whenever a country was dominate it made decisions which were not in the best interest of other nations.

Mentat, you also make a comment Every behemoth falls some day! You're exactly right. A hundred years, two hundred years, maybe three hundred years from now America may no longer be the dominate country in the world. But who will be? China has perhaps the best chance to dominate the world economically if not also millitarily. Unless they change the way they do business that might not be a good thing. Be careful of what you wish for. America may diminish but you might not like who replaces us.

I really think you all should look at the fact that the matter. The US could not go into Iraq with out the assistances of 37 other countries including the ones a lot of you all live in. So your governments must have felt some of the views the US are shared. The war in Iraq no matter what reason we sent our coalition of troops over there for has been done, but over all we removed a murder of head of state in that country. I will not bring history in to this part because we all know about what has gone down in the past.

Yes, the US is in trouble but that is because we made ourselves too dependant to other nations; due to the upper class wanting to stuff their pockets, and they let this country slip in the toilet. Our government pays its companies with tax breaks to move into other countries and start production there up until a short time ago. That is wrong to do that I don’t care if the rest of the world sees this as be a greedy nation in the past for keeping our production in house. Now look what it has caused the US. we are in debt to the rest of the world and living on borrowed money with nothing to back those funds. Is it too late for this country to fix things here? I don’t think so; if the US stops handing out our jobs and take a back sit on world affairs, and we drop the UN rebuild ourself. But that is where the other foot drops because it will be the way things were in the 1950’s-60’s before we took the Vietnam on. that leaves the rest of the world to deal with their own issues, and then we go back to no giving a rats’ ass about it. Most conflicts the US has been in since Ronald Reagan was in office were requested by the UN minus a small few.

I can not stand the fact that the US looks like the big brother to the rest of the world, but you all have to face fact the only reason it is like that is because we have the power to do so, but again it is normally upon the request of the other nations in the UN to have us go out and police areas.

Next stop in the world’s history is in the other two hot spots on the globe; Iran and the Soviet Union/Chinese there is a lot going on over in these countries that the rest of the world needs to be worried about other then the US going into Iraq. I tell you what let the US stay out of those issues, and we let the rest of the world deal with them.

Why is oil costing the world so much now these days?? Well you have to look on what the Iraqi government was doing with its’ oil other then the (Oil for Food) program. Like trading weapons getting assistance from the French to start a nuclear program, (may this had been for an energy program or not.) buying up Soviet tanks and so on. The oil was flowing through those channels and keeping costs down. Allowing the world to be happy, but it could have lead into a larger problem further down the road. If we left Iraq to continue.

As far as air pollution goes; you should really turn your head to the right and look and China and India first before you decide to look to the left at the US, Canada, and South America.

“WAR ON TERRORâ€￾ easily correctable by letting us go into Pakistan, and have the rest of the world turn a blind eye for about 3 weeks.

No offence to you but I really have to giggle when the Irish point fingers about any government issues outside their own since you all have been killing each other over the last 50 years over the (British Government of Ireland Act)

In Final:
If the rest of the world wants the US to close its doors on its’ self; I for one would not have a problem with that. We can stop all exporting our goods, and stop our “joke percentage of world aideâ€￾ (as the original poster quoted) toss out any illegal/non citizens out of the country. Let us know I’m sure we would be happy to oblige you.

I received the following around the time of 9-11. It's a Canadian's view of America which I've saved over the years. I thought it might be appropriate to post this here, for what it's worth.

TRIBUTE TO AMERICA

The following, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing. Its subject is "America: The Good Neighbor".

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon-not once, but several times-and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."

Stand proud, America!

Every nation makes decisions for their own, so does the US. I don't complain on decisions the US makes for their internal matters, so doesn't anyone. I mean, they are clearly good in making policies and decisions to deal with internal disasters and other things.

What I do complain about, which is the same as other people complain about, is that they consider themselves as the "Police-force" of the world. They make decisions for other countries and they make decisions for the world. I find the points of ftranshel to be perfect.

The United States had no right to invade Afganistan OR Iraq. By doing so, they dragged numerous other countries into the fight who had absolutely NO business being there.
Furthermore, by doing so, they allowed the conflict to escalate only further. Talk about people dying: the dead in Madrid and London would still be alive if only Bush did not attack Iraq. While we are at it: Iraq is even in more chaos now than it was when Saddam reigned. You can say about the guy whatever you want, it was a killer and a monster, but he did know how to maintain order.
Trying to force democracy on those people also is a mistake. Democracy simply doesn't work there. They cannot even agree on a simple constitution without blowing each others' brains out.

To conclude, I have the perfect example of American arrogance right in this thread. For some reason it is considered wrong or weak or whatever to call in aid when a disaster occurs. Well, it's not. Perhaps if the US did call in for aid and acknowledged that they cannot do EVERYthing, there would have been a lot less casualties. No one is going to laugh because they ask for help to save lives!

there are a lot of uneducated/misguided/populist views being spouted in here on both sides of the argument.

for example, the war on terror. a lot of people are confusing the actions in afghantistan, which had just about the entire worlds popular support, and Iraq, which didn't. the yanks HAD to go into aghanistan after 9/11. there are no two ways about it. the bluring of the lines in regards to Iraq has been deliberate. link Iraq to al-qaeda is tenuous at best, and an absolute lie at worst. you can support one military action without necessarily supporting the other, as most countries did.

it's worth noting in regards to Iraq, that at the time of the invasion, the real nuclear threat to the world was emanating from Pyongyang, not Baghdad.

the other misconception seems to be on economics. a popular saying amongst US money traders is "if we screw up, you pay for it" in reference to the trading of the greenback. and it's true, but that's hardly something you can blame the yanks for, is it? you can criticise american foreign policy all you like - and there is plenty there to be critical of - but it's hardly fair to criticise american economic policy on the basis of it adveresly effecting other nations who have CHOSEN for years to ride on the back of the strength of the american economy.

if you want to criticise american economic policy, do so because the current government is spending more on building mechanised infantry than on provding education, medicine, employment and suitable accomodation to poverty stricken areas in L.A. and New York; rather than doing so because american inflation means that it costs more to fill the car with petrol in france than it used to...

A few comments for Centurion_VarDin: I would say that not only does the US consider ourselves to be the police-force of the world, the world also does. That isn't a one way street. If there's a crisis and we send troops part of the world complains. If there's a crisis and we don't send troops the other part of the world complains.

We didn't have the right to invade Afganistan or Iraq? By what measure does a country gain that right? Does a country have to be attack first before invading? See 9-11. Check. Does a country need approval form the United Nations? Check. What other requirements are there?

The dead in Madrid and London? Unless Spain and England are willing to call for the destruction of Israel and change religion to Islam, they would be on the terrorists target list. We certainly did not need to remain at the receiving end of the terrorist attacks. I'm certain that if Romulus was they wouldn't sit idly by to receive the punishment without taking the offensive.

Setting up a new government is not an easy task yet Afganistan already has a new constitution and had free elections. That's amazing in such a short period of time. In Iraq things are very difficult. I believe democracy and freedom can work but it will be a long and painful process. The difficulty in creating a constitution shouldn't surprise anyone. When America was coming up with our constitution the original states had fewer differences and a much more stable situation than Iraq and we didn't get this far this fast. Just the fact that they are getting this close is amazing.

I don't understand your "perfect example" of American arrogance. I do not know if America asked for help but I do know it has been offered by many nations and some has been accepted. I have no idea what type of aid was offered and what was accepted.

ftranschel - there are som many things wrong with that post, i don't even know where to begin...