Do other countries take us seriously now? No, they don't. They hate us.
Here is why it is important that other countries are willing to work with us:
Mohammed Atta lived in Germany. Most of the terrorists who would strike America aren't terribly religious until they move to Europe. I spent a year in Paris, I know what Europe is like. Over there they have a huge Muslim population that they treat like sh!t, 3rd class citizens, and they refuse to allow them to integrate into the society (this is nothing at all like America where basically everyone is welcome).
These Muslims kids live in poverty and are scorned and become easy targets for preachers who then turn them on to a radical form of Islam dedicated to fighting the West, and specifically America. All of the terrorists that would attack America on our home soil will come from Europe.
Why should the French help us to track down terror cells in France? Especially after the disrespect that we've shown them. Why should Germany help us if there is another Atta in Hamburg? Why on Earth should they help to protect us after the way that we have behaved?
Do you want to launch a pre-emptive strike into Paris? Get serious - we need to be good global neighbors because it will benefit us.
I am not saying that we don't have a right to defend ourselves - which we absolutely do - but we don't need to engage in the piss poor diplomacy like Bush has that makes sure no country would want to help us.
Do you think we could seriously put together a coalition to disarm Iran? "You say Iran has WMD, the CIA says so? Hahah, we've heard that one before. Get lost."
I think it is quite clear that Bush has been a miserable failure and I don't think it is possible anyone could be worse. I think Kerry would help mend alliances that would likely make other countries be more willing to work with us, including raiding terror cells in their own countries.
Nobody knew about 9/11. I don't blame Bush and I don't blame Clinton. Everything changed that day, nobody was at fault, we were all walking around innocently.
But it did happen and now it is in our best interests to protect ourselves. As I stated above it is well known that the terrorists who would attack us come from Europe - where they are subjugated and radicalized - and, therefore, it is in our best interests to cooperate with Europe and not behave like some cowboy renegade.
The only reason that they will help is because they would want to help us. And we certainly haven't given them any reason to do so. In fact we have treated them so badly I don't think most of them would care if terrorists were living in their country and planning to bomb America.
That is dangerous. And that is completely the fault of Bush and his piss poor diplomacy. Even his father did a much better job at getting the world on our side, he did so well that other countries paid 90% of the cost of the first Gulf War (as opposed to the staggering 200 Billion we will suffer under).
And this whole "they hate us because we are the best" is naive and ignores quite a bit. No, they hate us today because of the way that we have behaved for the last 3.5 years. We have almost gone out of our way to alienate and insult other countries. We enjoyed much better relations under Clinton - arguably when we were "even better" - because we behaved a lot better.
Europe is tied to us economically and our downfall would result in their downfall. The same with Canada, and large parts of South East Asia. The stronger we are the stronger they are.
The people trying to kill us are doing so largely because of our behavior in the Middle East. I don't think we deserve it but that is their reason, not some hatred because we are the best. As an example to everyone who ignores the WMD argument for Iraq and claims that we are right if only to remove Saddam - you do realize that Donald Rumsfeld was the one who sold Saddam the weapons that he used to oppress his people, right?
The idea that people are merely jealous because we are everything that they are not is simplistic - it is a silly idea to think that people all over the world are dying to come to America. Maybe that is true in third world countries like Mexico and those that constitute South America but it is simply wrong when it comes to Europe (which was, I believe, the topic of discussion).
There is no European desire to defect en masse and become American. America and Europe are roughly equal in lifestyle, personal freedoms, and things that would make you want to move - again, Europe isn't some third world country where you'd give everything that you own to escape.
Actually I think you should know that Switzerland - the most economically prosperous of West Europe - has a population that does better than most Americans. I can guarentee you that the average Swiss person is much better off than the average red state American in a one factory town. If people looked at it objectively the grass is greener in Switzerland than in central Kansas. And, as we would expect, there is no great defection from Switzerland to become American.
This whole "my country is great and all others are bad" is stupid and part of the cowboy diplomacy that has put us in danger. It is simplistic and ingores the fact that maybe people in other countries can be upset at us for reasons more complicated than simple jealousy.
Our foreign policy used to be based on the principle of "respect not ridicule". Take, for example, our relationship with France. When we approached France to join our coalition they said no. Instead of saying "Well, thanks for listening to us and maybe we can cooperate in the future" we went out of our way to insult and ridicule them - "freedom fries," "the French can't fight," etc. This nonsense made America look like a child throwing a tantrum rather than a people who deserved to be listened to.
What we have done is ensure that French are completely unwilling to cooperate with us on any endeavor as long as Bush is in office. You want to pass a UN resolution to disarm Iran? Sorry, the French have veto power. There is a terrorist cell in Paris planning on attacking the Sears Tower? Why should the French care?
Instead of maintaining a working relationship of respect we have ridiculed and insulted them. Instead of the French looking at our mess in Iraq and thinking "our poor friends in America are struggling, isn't that unfortunate?" they now look and think "those arrogant SOBs deserve it."
It works elsewhere, too. We decided to insult and ridicule Germany for their decision to not be part of the coalition and the Germans responded by electing the candidate who ran on an anti-American platform. If we had simply been respectful they might have elected somebody willing to cooperate with us but we had to go out of our way to be insulting and have now ensured that they elected somebody contemptuous of us and unwilling to work together.
No, if we had been respectful we would have left open the opportunity to build a network of countries willing to help us fight terrorism by cracking down on their own radical Muslim populations. But instead we chose to insult them and are now paying for it with anti-American governments with no real incentive to help us from being attacked again.
This was poor diplomacy and it is has endangered us. And it is entirely the fault of Bush.
Your simplistic idea that people in Europe are tripping over themselves to come here is simply wrong. Their quality of life is the same as ours, in some cases even better, and jealousy is a poor reason compared to our insulting behavior. We got what we gave.
Europe is not some backwater third world country where America is steps above, and for all of our nonsense, Europe will be integral in preventing future terrorist attacks against us. So we did the reasonnable thing and insulted them until they no longer want to work with us. Brilliant move.
In my opinion the whole "freedom fries" incident showed how easily Americans could be led around by poor leaders to damage their own self-interest. You should note that is exactly these same leaders that have continually screwed over the red states that continue to vote for them.
Nuance and the ability to be a good global partner are integral in today's world. Acting responsibly is not the same as refusing to defend yourself, and more to the point, the foolish way that we have acted is directly opposite to what we should have done to protect ourselves.
I think people ought to seriously re-think their approach to foreign policy and start demanding that we behave in a manner consistent with keeping us safe, not as some bully.
Here is why it is important that other countries are willing to work with us:
Mohammed Atta lived in Germany. Most of the terrorists who would strike America aren't terribly religious until they move to Europe. I spent a year in Paris, I know what Europe is like. Over there they have a huge Muslim population that they treat like sh!t, 3rd class citizens, and they refuse to allow them to integrate into the society (this is nothing at all like America where basically everyone is welcome).
These Muslims kids live in poverty and are scorned and become easy targets for preachers who then turn them on to a radical form of Islam dedicated to fighting the West, and specifically America. All of the terrorists that would attack America on our home soil will come from Europe.
Why should the French help us to track down terror cells in France? Especially after the disrespect that we've shown them. Why should Germany help us if there is another Atta in Hamburg? Why on Earth should they help to protect us after the way that we have behaved?
Do you want to launch a pre-emptive strike into Paris? Get serious - we need to be good global neighbors because it will benefit us.
I am not saying that we don't have a right to defend ourselves - which we absolutely do - but we don't need to engage in the piss poor diplomacy like Bush has that makes sure no country would want to help us.
Do you think we could seriously put together a coalition to disarm Iran? "You say Iran has WMD, the CIA says so? Hahah, we've heard that one before. Get lost."
I think it is quite clear that Bush has been a miserable failure and I don't think it is possible anyone could be worse. I think Kerry would help mend alliances that would likely make other countries be more willing to work with us, including raiding terror cells in their own countries.
Nobody knew about 9/11. I don't blame Bush and I don't blame Clinton. Everything changed that day, nobody was at fault, we were all walking around innocently.
But it did happen and now it is in our best interests to protect ourselves. As I stated above it is well known that the terrorists who would attack us come from Europe - where they are subjugated and radicalized - and, therefore, it is in our best interests to cooperate with Europe and not behave like some cowboy renegade.
The only reason that they will help is because they would want to help us. And we certainly haven't given them any reason to do so. In fact we have treated them so badly I don't think most of them would care if terrorists were living in their country and planning to bomb America.
That is dangerous. And that is completely the fault of Bush and his piss poor diplomacy. Even his father did a much better job at getting the world on our side, he did so well that other countries paid 90% of the cost of the first Gulf War (as opposed to the staggering 200 Billion we will suffer under).
And this whole "they hate us because we are the best" is naive and ignores quite a bit. No, they hate us today because of the way that we have behaved for the last 3.5 years. We have almost gone out of our way to alienate and insult other countries. We enjoyed much better relations under Clinton - arguably when we were "even better" - because we behaved a lot better.
Europe is tied to us economically and our downfall would result in their downfall. The same with Canada, and large parts of South East Asia. The stronger we are the stronger they are.
The people trying to kill us are doing so largely because of our behavior in the Middle East. I don't think we deserve it but that is their reason, not some hatred because we are the best. As an example to everyone who ignores the WMD argument for Iraq and claims that we are right if only to remove Saddam - you do realize that Donald Rumsfeld was the one who sold Saddam the weapons that he used to oppress his people, right?
The idea that people are merely jealous because we are everything that they are not is simplistic - it is a silly idea to think that people all over the world are dying to come to America. Maybe that is true in third world countries like Mexico and those that constitute South America but it is simply wrong when it comes to Europe (which was, I believe, the topic of discussion).
There is no European desire to defect en masse and become American. America and Europe are roughly equal in lifestyle, personal freedoms, and things that would make you want to move - again, Europe isn't some third world country where you'd give everything that you own to escape.
Actually I think you should know that Switzerland - the most economically prosperous of West Europe - has a population that does better than most Americans. I can guarentee you that the average Swiss person is much better off than the average red state American in a one factory town. If people looked at it objectively the grass is greener in Switzerland than in central Kansas. And, as we would expect, there is no great defection from Switzerland to become American.
This whole "my country is great and all others are bad" is stupid and part of the cowboy diplomacy that has put us in danger. It is simplistic and ingores the fact that maybe people in other countries can be upset at us for reasons more complicated than simple jealousy.
Our foreign policy used to be based on the principle of "respect not ridicule". Take, for example, our relationship with France. When we approached France to join our coalition they said no. Instead of saying "Well, thanks for listening to us and maybe we can cooperate in the future" we went out of our way to insult and ridicule them - "freedom fries," "the French can't fight," etc. This nonsense made America look like a child throwing a tantrum rather than a people who deserved to be listened to.
What we have done is ensure that French are completely unwilling to cooperate with us on any endeavor as long as Bush is in office. You want to pass a UN resolution to disarm Iran? Sorry, the French have veto power. There is a terrorist cell in Paris planning on attacking the Sears Tower? Why should the French care?
Instead of maintaining a working relationship of respect we have ridiculed and insulted them. Instead of the French looking at our mess in Iraq and thinking "our poor friends in America are struggling, isn't that unfortunate?" they now look and think "those arrogant SOBs deserve it."
It works elsewhere, too. We decided to insult and ridicule Germany for their decision to not be part of the coalition and the Germans responded by electing the candidate who ran on an anti-American platform. If we had simply been respectful they might have elected somebody willing to cooperate with us but we had to go out of our way to be insulting and have now ensured that they elected somebody contemptuous of us and unwilling to work together.
No, if we had been respectful we would have left open the opportunity to build a network of countries willing to help us fight terrorism by cracking down on their own radical Muslim populations. But instead we chose to insult them and are now paying for it with anti-American governments with no real incentive to help us from being attacked again.
This was poor diplomacy and it is has endangered us. And it is entirely the fault of Bush.
Your simplistic idea that people in Europe are tripping over themselves to come here is simply wrong. Their quality of life is the same as ours, in some cases even better, and jealousy is a poor reason compared to our insulting behavior. We got what we gave.
Europe is not some backwater third world country where America is steps above, and for all of our nonsense, Europe will be integral in preventing future terrorist attacks against us. So we did the reasonnable thing and insulted them until they no longer want to work with us. Brilliant move.
In my opinion the whole "freedom fries" incident showed how easily Americans could be led around by poor leaders to damage their own self-interest. You should note that is exactly these same leaders that have continually screwed over the red states that continue to vote for them.
Nuance and the ability to be a good global partner are integral in today's world. Acting responsibly is not the same as refusing to defend yourself, and more to the point, the foolish way that we have acted is directly opposite to what we should have done to protect ourselves.
I think people ought to seriously re-think their approach to foreign policy and start demanding that we behave in a manner consistent with keeping us safe, not as some bully.
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