So we didn't invade Iraq- we performed a 'search and seizure'...<br><br>Touché! <br><br>[color:red]You slap my back, I'll slap yours!</font color=red>

I vote for DaddyMac for UN Secretary General! <br><br>

Interesting response, Yoyo... thanks for making it. I guess I was more responding to my fellow countryman's posts than I was trying to suggest that Spain is actively into appeasement. As you yourself have suggested, it could be a situation with more subtlety than than what many of us are willing to acknowledge.<br><br>I don't know... I still think the Bush admin tied Iraq and 911 together for the sake of legitimizing going into Iraq - nothing has fundamentally changed my own opinion about that situation. Of course there are many in the West who find such a stance abhorrent... just as there are many who uncomfortably wonder what side everyone is on in these high-stakes games playing out in the media.<br><br>But as for rampant anti-Americanism, I believe it's long been out there - so in that sense, invading or not invading Iraq would not make a difference to those who seek personal advantage by slagging the US on a full-time basis. Hating/denouncing America has become something of a spectator sport around the globe. That said, I also wonder if we aren't seeing several parallel developments arising... the demonization of Islam on the part of the West, the rise of fundamentalist religions around the globe as a direct response to increasingly tense conditions between the haves and have-nots in this increasingly crowded, dog-eat-dog world... crazy times we are living in.<br><br>Anyway, always good to try and foster a degree of understanding, especially between borders. Cheers!<br><br>max

I don't know why you're upset with me. you're the one with absolutely no clue about what can be done. So to compensate for your utter failure, you lash out at me. You resent that I have a solution. You resent that I speak clearly about the issue and the best you can do is rail like a child throwing a tantrum. <br><br>That you think posting pictures is a mature, adult response says a lot about you. That you completely dodge my direct question to you, also says a lot about you.<br><br>Okay, you can post another picture, or large, bold text.<br><br>

If you're interested, there's an interested op-ed piece in the NY Times, here. You need to register to get to it, though. Anyway, it's written by a professor at Bard College who's just published a book on how "the west" is perceived by non-westerners.<br><br>

&[censored] job in America I said: "Wow, that's amazing, he made it!". Coca-Cola, Elvis and Hollywood were idols of at least two generations.<br><br>just very recently, few years ago, things have suddenly changed. it has started at the end of Clintons term and exponentially grew during the Bush era. now the situation is worse than ever. i always wanted to go to America to live and work, but nowadays i fear expressing my wishes in front of other people. doesn't matter if i'm in Bahrain, Hungary or Thailand. even Australians and Germans look at me with a sorry smile. the image of America has been systematically destroyed. before people envied American citizens, now people feel sorry for them.<br><br>there are real reasons behind this amazing transformation. you need to look at issues from a more global standpoint, rather than local. first of all, the image that has been built before was a bit of a hype and when [censored] hit the fan, the first thing that happened is that the pink bubble burst.<br><br>i can't list all things that happened that lead to this collapse, but i'll try to list a few. first of all the media gave a better understanding of issues, people read alternative news sources, that are much less controlled. the eyes of people have opened and many got interested in global issues. many had high hopes for the biggest democracy (not in size). all they got for the last 6-7 years was disappointment. America failed to handle the global environmental problems. America pulled itself out from most international efforts that united 90% of the countries of the world. America repeatedly bullied the UN, the only hope of a future World government. America's oil lobby is killing all scientific development for renewable energy generation. America started wars on countries for reasons that big part of the world think is false. America became a threat culturally and physically to many. etc. All this and many other bad decisions led to change the image of the US in the world on all social levels. people don't perceive American as a role model. they think America is just greedy and uses it's friends for it's own good.<br><br>this is very sad, because all these issues overshadow the tremendous achievements that America can share with the world in every sense. it's going to be very hard to cure this situation, but it's for the benefit of all.<br><br>i'm not saying that the US should baby sit the World, but it should act as an important and fair player in global issues. it should act responsibly and not based on short term gains. you can't expect to make everyone happy, but when the the perception goes from angel to evil, than there is certainly something is wrong. i blame mainly Bush jr. & Co. for this, but you know the situation better, draw your own conclusions.<br><br>

Good post, iraszl. It was never my intention to suggest that the world has entirely switched its perception of America... rather, the impressions people have around the globe tend to form a more complex agreggate these days. A great deal of the old admiration is still there, of course.... that's like bedrock. As for America's role on the world stage, I vacillate on that one on a regular basis. Usually I stick by the adage that all of the big players should show leadership and shoulder tremendous responsibilities. But often enough I also think it a quaint, even dangerous, notion that any one nation could or should attempt to act like a global cop - it opens things up to all sorts of moral distortions. Not that there isn't enough bizarre role-playing and moralizing going on in the world as it is... and where we used to have two superpowers a few decades ago, now we have one, and I'm not at all certain that this is a healthy thing either... as I indicated, it's complicated. Cheers.<br><br>max

Thank you for the NYT link, Yoyo... when I get into work I'll register with the Times and give it a read - cheers.<br><br>max

<br><br>[color:yellow]a candle is not there to illuminate itself</font color=yellow>

The US did treat terrorism as a legal problem through the Clinton administration and earlier. What did it get us? 9-11. Treating terrorism as a legal problem is really just silly. Think about it. If Osama knew he was going to be caputred no matter what, all he'd have to do is go to France and they would never extridate him to the US because we would sentence him to death in our legal system. Terrorism is a war. Unfortunatly people can't wrap their heads around a war without a two defined political entites making formal declarations. America sees it's very foundation under attack. 9-11 cost this country billions and billions. It cost people jobs, threw the economy into semi-chaos and is probably the reason why we are having such a slow recovery now. To tell lthe American people, "Well this 9-11 bombing is a legal problem and the 11 guys who did it are dead so there is nothing we can do there but the FBI is working with the international community to bring their bosses to justice as long as we find proof beyond a reasonable doubt who was invovled and they don't flee to a country like Iran or Iraq who could give a crap less about international justice." See my point?<br>Of course statements like "treat international legal entites, like the UN, as if there were a real government" start to reveal some of your beliefs. To that I respond, "You can take my national sovereignty when you pry it from my cold dead fingers."<br><br>Dean Davis