[Villainous]

I kinda like when they say Irak, its kitchy

[Boldfinger]

Makes me think of a face building shop. "Oh yeah, I left it over there beside the eye-rack"

/shrug

[Tibilly]

First, Iraq is spelled with a "Q" and not a "K."

Yeah, in my country both spelling are valid, but i'm on a US forum after all.

Secondly, That's a gross over exaggeration of Americans. Do you see us waving our nuclear weapons in the face of other nations? Seriously? We're trying to dismantle our stockpile. Not increase it. Are you not familiar with the START treaty? Sure, it's about to expire, but the US and Russia are working to come up with another treaty that reduces the number of warheads we have further still. So here's the issue. We don't want anyone to really have a nuclear arsenal, ourselves included. We know how bad they are. So never use a weak example like that. Nuclear power is fine. But when you have someone who has openly declared that jews must be eliminated off the face of the fucking earth... you have to question his motives for nuclear power.

I've never said USA is going to nuke everyone with their nuclear weapons, it's true that my little dialoque between "us" and "them" was over exagerated. And you're right the START treaty is a good thing.

Of course we must protect Israelian against a nuclear strike even if it means a new war, but we must be sure that Iran is really building a nuclear weapon before the begining of a war. And i mean really sure not like the WMD in Iraq, for example. Have balls is cool, but have a brain is usefull too.
On a side note, we could also question the behavior of said israelians in the middle east, but it's not something USA is used to.

Another point is yeah sure, you shouldn't directly intervene in places where you have no right. But in situations where there's a glaringly obvious threat, things need be done. Also, when legitimately wrong things are being done, people need help, and everyone knows it it's more wrong than to sit around and do nothing than it is to do something (like Darfur). People love to play the game where you take a look at things after the fact and forget all about the circumstances at the time.

Our interventionism is the source of many problem on the african continent, Rwanda for exemple. A genocide caused by our intervention during colonisation, set in a total disinterest of the world community. We put dictators in several countries for raw material or strategic advantages not for the good of population (Saddam for exemple). In this case, it's more wrong to do something than to do nothing.
It seems that we are ready to make war for our interest not for the interest of the population, so we can't play the "we help the weak" card when in the same time we let 300000 people die in Soudan, 800000 in Rwanda. And i'm speaking about the country of G20 not only USA.

That's what i tried to show in my paragraph about the choice of the target. Hypocrisy or naivety, choose your side.

What's happened to the once mighty Europe is they've become afraid of themselves and history. They claim to have learned from it when in fact, they've learned nothing. The same problems as always are there, just with new names and faces, and it comes from a new direction. I'll cut my response there for now.

You are right, we didn't learn as mush as Europe wants to claim. And we still have a lot to learn. Europe is an old continent, but EU is young (only 60 years old), we need to improve ourselves. But at least we managed to etablish peace in a continent devastated by wars during more than 2 thousand years. it may be nothing from your perspective, but for us it's a huge improvement.



In conclusion, I dont agree with all this anti USA bullshit so trendy in my country, i think we are friends even if sometimes we are not in agreement. The world needs strong USA, to stabilize the power balance. you are the only country able to send troup all over the world. And in all honesty, some parts of the globe would be a big mess if you wouldnt' be there.
But sometimes the use of the war is too systematic , and focus on wrong areas.

[Varizen]

I see your points, and yeah, it is an improvement in that Europe itself is no longer at war. And I'll be the first to admit that the US is pretty darn attached to being #1 and still has it within our collective heads that we have a divine right and a duty to be #1, which as much as we like that, will unfortunately not always be true. We had a good streak, unfortunately, we've seen our own decline since the 60's when we over stepped out boundaries. Many problems stem in large part from Harry Truman's dream to create a unified world government, and then our congress wouldn't let us join the organization he created which soon faltered without the leadership of its founder.

As for Iran, there's no way in hell under Ahmadinejad they'd have a nuclear program for energy. Especially in light of how the EU and UN made attempts to say "Hey, look. If you want nuclear power, we'll set it up and run it for you. But we don't want you building your own." If you just want it for energy, that's a pretty good deal. All out war may not be the best approach to Iran. There's still time. But when its obvious talking isn't working, it's time to do more than condemn their actions. That's the time for blockades around the nation.

My personal opinion about much of the strife in the world is that it is all linked to 1 big rock in the middle of Jerusalem. The Temple Mount. All 3 big religions have something at stake there.

[Icerat]

Despite having a democracy with an elected official or a dictator or whatever form of government a country has, it is rare that the people as a whole share the same opinions or desires. War is decided and planned and started by a very small group of people, not the citizens of a nation. Of course it is fought by the citizens in the military.

The US being at war now, or Europe being at war whenever or countless other examples does not mean we should condemn it's people. Saying things like "Europe sucks because it is full of pussies" or "the US sucks because they think they are the boss of everyone" or "I hate the Japanese for Pearl Harbor" really makes no sense because I doubt that anyone in these forums had anything to do with any of those decisions. Just because a French, or English or Japanese person is in here does not make them 'one of those' so it is really a stupid arguement.

I am proud to be an American and was in the military and would fight for my country again, but the point is if I was born in France I would be just as passionate about my country (well maybe not France), j/k don't get all pissy.

Think about yourself and your views and opinions and imagine if you had been the same person as you are now but born to parents in Moscow, or Paris, or Ontario, or Prague, or wherever else you like or dislike that you have never been. Your outlook would be completely different.

My point? No clue, I got off track.

Wasn't this thread about Popeyes or something?

[Tibilly]

My personal opinion about much of the strife in the world is that it is all linked to 1 big rock in the middle of Jerusalem. The Temple Mount. All 3 big religions have something at stake there.

QFT ! Jerusalem International area ! if only we could discuss about that without being called an Anti-Semite.


About the rest of your post, i have nothing to add. you determine with precision what the problem is. Good job.



It was interesting to read your point of view, even if we are not in agreement on everything. And i browse this forum only for read what our distant cousins think about different topical issues.

Sorry for the derail.




Edit :i just saw what Icerat wrote. And once again i can't do anything but agree. And like i said above, i come here to understand and read other point of view than those i can find in my country, and give mine. I'm not here to convert everyone at my cause or make people love France or Europe. And i'm well aware that it's only varyzen's point of view, and i hope it's the same thing for him. But add "IMO", or "i think" at the begining of each sentence is boring and redundant.

[Varizen]

It's not problem Tib. Its nice to have an intellectual conversation with someone who doesn't agree that doesn't degrade into rampant "You're fucking wrong and here's why." The "Here's what I think and allow me to defend my position" conversations are better.

[Villainous]

the black community has encountered another tragic setback in its ongoing pursuit of that most delicious of deep-fried avians:
KFC cancels free chicken deal after Oprah eats whole damn bucket

[pathwriter]

I love that the article feels the need to explain who Oprah Winfrey is. "In case you've been living in a hole in Afghanistan for 15 years, Oprah Winfrey is the 55-year-old magical Negro that American housewives rely on to tell them what to care about."

[treelo]

i'm not saying we should shit our pants and not go to war,

From: France

Wish I'd checked this thread sooner...

[Varizen]

I love that the article feels the need to explain who Oprah Winfrey is. "In case you've been living in a hole in Afghanistan for 15 years, Oprah Winfrey is the 55-year-old magical Negro that American housewives rely on to tell them what to care about."

I'm so tempted to sig that.