BleepingComputer.com: Why are Americans considered so Badly Abroad?

This is not intended as a Bash anyone Thread. Please keep comments nice.

Recently The American President was given the Nobel Peace Prize and immediately was the subject of a Letter from Republicans that to me was just Sour Grapes all round and actually follows on with what the Talabian say. What a Sad Day for America.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_.../eu_nobel_peace

What the Talibian said.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/taliban-condem...91010-gr2m.html

Look up what the Republican letter says then ask yourself Why?

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-...91011-grsf.html

Remember I have no Interest in this, I am an Aussie, except am a really great Friend to many Americans.

Hope we can Debate nicely?

George W Bush-Do i need to say any more

*quote* Remember I have no Interest in this, I am an Aussie,*unquote*

Then I have to ask what your purpose is, in even beginning such a sensitive topic? Especially when you title it "Why are Americans considered so Badly Abroard." If you do not have interest, I can only presume that you wish to sit back and fuel the flames. Since you start the topic with a negative tone to begin with.

Perhaps the topic was approved because

Abacus 7 is a "really great Friend to many Americans."?

Hmmm, you have also quoted a negative response by the Republicans, and they are in the US.
Therefore I don't think that the title of this topic is *correct*. It's rather a question if people all over the world - including the USA - think that the peace prize is really earned or too soon to be awarded to Obama. Some may think it was the right moment, others think it's too early.

And in my opinion a statement like "Americans get bashed abroad" is generalized anyway. There may be political decisions or other issues that a part of people perceive as wrong, but that doesn't mean that each and every US citizen is condemned by them due to that.
I don't agree either with every political decision in the US, nor do I agree with all political decisions in my country. But this doesn't influence my friendship with American friends or friends from other countries who I have won on international forums ;)

Since we mentioned the recent Nobel Peace Prize:

(quote)Mr. Obama is the fourth U.S. president to win the peace price but the first to win for - in the words of the Norwegian selection committee - providing "hope for a better future" rather than any particular accomplishment. (end quote)

is very odd - winning the Peace Prize not for what he has done, but because he's made people feel good about what he might do!?

(Complete link: h e r e.)

Add that to this,

From the Nobel Website:

(quote)The Nobel Committee makes its selection on the basis of nominations received or postmarked no later than February 1 of the year in question.(end quote)

(l i n k.)

(Bold mine, for emphasis)

So, Obama may have won it for his efforts before 1 February 2009, encompassing about 2 weeks as President and, of course, the time when he was campaigning for President, when he, as virtually all candidates do, pretty much said and promised anything that sounded good and would garner votes. Apparently it worked - he got the votes from the Nobel Committee!

Continuing the quote from the Nobel website: (quote) Nominations which do not meet the deadline are normally included in the following year's assessment. Members of the Nobel Committee are entitled to submit their own nominations as late as at the first meeting of the Committee after the expiry of the deadline. (end quote)

When was this "first meeting"?

Perhaps it hasn't happened, and the award for the "hope" Obama brings will be, hopefully, confirmed then?

I think is is reasonable to question the Nobel folks, and a lot of people around the world have been doing just that, including the the Saturday Night Live folks.

The big question - was he given the prize because of something the Nobel Committee perceived about him, or something they hope to influence about him?

In my spare time I intend to cure cancer, solve the mid east problems, end the wars and make Iran a peace loving friendly nation that the whole world will love to vacation at.

Where's my NPP?

Sounds like you are a lock for 2010, Wildabeast.

Let me be among the first to congratulate you.

Should President Obama accept the award "on behalf of"?

From the article:

(quote)Here is the speech I (article author Thomas L. Friedman - JW) hope he will give:

“Let me begin by thanking the Nobel committee for awarding me this prize, the highest award to which any statesman can aspire. As I said on the day it was announced, ‘I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize.’ Therefore, upon reflection, I cannot accept this award on my behalf at all.

“But I will accept it on behalf of the most important peacekeepers in the world for the last century — the men and women of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

...

(end quote)

I suspect that if he gave this speech, the Nobel Prize folks would take the prize back.

Just an observation.

With everything that has happened since the day Barack Obama was elected President of the United States of America, there have been many things that have happened. Some have made the headlines and some have been personal or local experiences.

With that said, I'd like Barack Obama to tell me and everyone here.... Mr. President, just what have you done to make this world a better place in the 2 weeks that you held the office of President of the United States of America, and since that time what have you done to secure that you are able to uphold those things that you have done?

I will tell you from a personal point of view. I have not only seen things get worse than what G.W. Bush had them, but I have watched peoples homes be repossessed. I have watched people lose jobs that they have worked for a good many years ( 10 + at least ). I have watched a corrupt banking industry be rewarded with "Stimulus Money" that is coming out of the pocket of every hard working middle-class American's pocket ( hopefully you noticed the key words of 'middle-class' ) to once again tell us "we're sorry but we can't give you a loan to keep your house", or this lovely little nugget, "we understand you have been paying your mortgage for the past 22 years at 4.5% interest, but we are going to have to raise your interest rate to over 12%". These banks no matter whether they are here or "abroad" as they say, have been given too much leeway to "play" with yours and my money and "float" loans that were way too shaky in the first place. But since they did it, and were just about to "bankrupt" the entire economical system, we had to give them over 950 billion dollars to "try again".

What the government, the banking industry and even the President himself need to realize is, our lives and their jobs are not a "video game" where if you screw up, you get a "do-over" or "another life" to try again.

Yes, I see the world as a try and wonderous place. Not just the US. The entire world is a truly remarkable place that should be treated that way. But i also think that each and every one of us, you and me alike, deserve a fair shot at saying "no I don't like that idea" or "yes, that sounds like a good idea" and having someone actually listen.

Now that I have ranted on about my own personal thoughts and experiences, I'm gonna go smoke ( although outside as I'm no longer permitted to do that within 15 feet of the building. Thank you politicians for telling me what's good for me ) and get some coffee. ( surprisingly the coffee is still permissable. How long till you are not allowed to drink that because some politician said no? )

@techextreme

You can't possibly think repossessions, job losses, and deregulation all came about in the because of the current administration? I assume that you must think so since you spent an entire paragraph explaining how much worse things have become.

I spent 14 years in construction before going back to school. During that time, people were putting up houses left and right due to the ability to get subprime loans. There were some even better loans at the time called interest deferred loans where people only paid on the principal for a few years. Then there were the variable mortgages where you could pay what you wanted, as long as you at least met the minimum. This took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For the record, Reagan was president at the beginning of that, and responsible for a great deal of deregulation. Then Wall street decided that it would be a good idea to invest in mortgages, oil prices went way up, etc, etc. Or if we want, we can just blame the founding fathers for creating a system in which this could happen in the first place.

While you are outside smoking your cigarette, maybe you should really thank the scientists for telling us that cigarettes are bad for us since the tobacco companies have gone to tremendous lengths to hide that information. I will thank politicians for making sure that even though you have a right to smoke, you do not have a right to interfere with my right to clean air. And while I support your right to smoke, please stand at least 25 feet away and recognize my right to not smoke.

@groovicus

No, I do not think that the current administration is to blame entirely. But in light of what has gone on with the banking industry and the ease with which the government ran so quickly with yours and my money to fix what they screwed up, yes I'm a little upset.

Whether or not it was a good or bad thing has yet to be seen. But the fact of the matter is, it should not have happened when "WE" as a collective country and people voted these people into office to use their best judgment while asking for "OUR" opinions on issues at hand. The opinions we have should be taken into account along with true and real facts instead of the politicians having their own agendas and pockets to fill to keep themselves in office for even longer.

As far as the auto industry, my opinion is still the same. They made their hole, let them dig themselves out of it. GM and Chrysler have been the biggest ones to have their hands in yours and my pockets while building a cut rate vehicle at a premium price then offering mediocre service to them.

I worked in the auto industry for 10 years before also going to school and watching them get away with not fixing what was clearly a problem on their end, be it a design flaw or just down and out-right stupidity to save a buck. Yes, I worked as a mechanic and I also had my time in the service write up area hearing everything from kudos to down and outright disgust for the "big three".

And I do thank the scientists that plaster the point of "smoking being bad" on the side of every pack of cigarettes I open.

To quote the side of the one I have now: "SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth, and low birth weight". I get to read that every time. Does it change my mind about it? No. Does it make me want to quit? No. Do I know better that I should? Of course. But the point is, I don't need some self-righteous politician who didn't like sitting in the bar where he was having a drink and paying for that drink with my money and yours ( read tax dollars ) getting upset cause he didn't like the smoky bar. If he didn't like it, find another one. I have the right to breathe clean air just as much as the next guy and I also have the right to smoke. I too do not like going home from the bar smelling like smoke but even before I started, I didn't tell people they didn't have the right to do it. If people want to die, let them. If I want to smoke, I will. But don't tell me I don't have the right to do it when the building owner has made the choice to open up to the smoking and non-smoking public.

Groovicus, I agree that we disagree on a few points, but I also agree that we probably see many things in the same light. What they are at this moment I do not know.

From my point of view Obama got the NPP way too early, saying something is nothing compared to doing it, the saying "Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk" comes to mind, Obama has talked it and is trying to walk it so to speak, this Nobel panel or whoever they are should have waited a few years to see how his term as President goes to see if he has done what he said he would do to a reasonable degree.

Anyway I haven't seen no concrete evidence of improved peace in recent months if anything, people might mention the improved relations between the US and Russia which in principle is leading to cuts in nuclear stockpiles, but that doesn't hide the fact that Iran (suspected, I say suspected because it hasn't been proven plus talks have gone some way to seeing what their nuclear enrichment facilities are like) and North Korea are developing nuclear weapons, I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them, but because of these weapons (If they continue to develop them or are working towards developing them) it means we have to tread carefully diplomatically sometime in the future if we don't want a nuclear war starting.
I don't know why countries are holding back issuing sanctions just stop all trade with them cripple there economies we'll see how far they can get then, Nuclear countries and Western countries have the upper hand at the moment if it is left too late I can probably guarantee we'll (or at least the Politicians) come to regret it.

The war in Afghanistan has escalated rapidly with high amounts of troops being killed during the last 3 months or so, around 40 UK soldiers I think? god knows how many others went for other forces, but there is nothing we can do about that with Madmen running around the mountains in Afghanistan and Pakistan and wherever else on a so called Jihad.

This isn't the thread for it but I have to comment...
@techextreme
While I agree with what you say about leaving the financial and auto industry to dig itself out in terms of the cock ups the top brass made, they are such big organisations that letting them try to dig themselves out would be catastrophic and plunge us into an even worse spiral of decline, what would you rather have a recession or a full blown depression which could have affects for decades to come?

The question was why do other countries dislike us?

The answer is quite simple, we are the last of the super powers. We are what other countries aspire to be but lack the resources, the economic power, and the defense capabilities. It is human nature that people want to see the big guys fall, the Wal-Marts, the big banks, the New York Yankees, serves them right, as we see it.

All countries will do what is in their best interest, including the U. S. Thinking that other countries will alter their way of doing business because of who we have in the White House is ridiculously naive and absurd. Would they rather see a weak President of the U. S., of course they would, it makes their job easier, i.e., Obama backing down on the missile defense plan concerning Russia. The Russians got what they wanted, they would not have gotten it from George Bush. They still would have tried, their goal was the same, regardless of who is President. Obama just made it easier for them.

The U. S. is the same, of course, we could give a ratsa$$ who's in charge in China as long as they keep covering our debts. It is simply a matter of protecting your interests, nothing has changed.

When Resources have to be backed up from this Statement, it is a very true statement.

The U. S. is the same, of course, we could give a ratsa$$ who's in charge in China as long as they keep covering our debts. It is simply a matter of protecting your interests, nothing has changed.

Maybe the average American is not aware how the Balance has changed a little, allowing China to enter into it all?

That was my reason for this Topic, my own Country is in the same process with China and quite frankly I am worried about it.

Edit. Just to clarify. China has more Resources than USA and has an incredibible Army, has USA in a bind finiancially, is Nuclear ready and willing.

That is quite diferent to this crazy Gem?

Why no kangaroos at airports?: tourists

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/8...rports-tourists