With Apologies to My American Friends
Jan. 29th, 2008 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladymirthFound on a post on LnCMBs:
Since the United States is the world's only real superpower, whose military arsenal is many times greater than the rest of the world's put together, the President of the United States becomes, in some ways, the President of the whole world. The General Secretary of the United Nations is nothing in comparison with the President of the United States.
So when the people of the United States elect their President, the rest of the world gets that President too, only we didn't get the chance to vote for him (or her?). - TOC
Um, what?
The President of the United States becomes the President of the whole world? The General Secretary of the United Nations is nothing compared to the President of the United States?
What drivel. The U.S has always had a tremendous cultural and economic impact on the world, but this is nonsense. It's the sort of self-congratulatory, hyperbolic egocentricsm that led the Bush Administration to believe that they could ride rough-shod over the U.N if they so pleased and invade Iraq without any sort of international backlash.
As far as I know, Clinton was all talk and little action during his term, but Bush was a rank idiot who made his entire country into a laughing stock, and his administration is a by-word in terms of corruption and isolationism for the internationational public at large, whatever the sentiments of his own electorate. As a citizen of a country who has also been electing equally rank idiots for quite some time now, I sympathise with the people who never wanted another Bush in the White House after the Gulf War. I am rather satisfied with the President we have now, and I can only hope that the U.S also elects a President better qualified to represent its best interests and repair its image.
But if the American President is indeed the single most influential person in the world, and if history does indeed repeat itself, it should mean either or both of the following:
a) there is a serious flaw in world politics that means the United Nations has failed worse than it's predecessor The League of Nations, and should be dissolved immediately in favour of a better balanced system.
b)We're looking at World War III on the horizon.
The day I accept this sort of colonial mindset wherein I'm supposed to let someone who represents less than 300 million people out of six billion, and who I never had the choice to vote for in the first place, declare his prominence over the leaders of 185 other countries, is when I personally vote to re-elect our stooge ex-Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe as President. As in, never.
Btw, the world's most efficient military belongs to Switzerland, the world's most populous country and fastest-growing economy is China, the most technologically advanced is Japan, the one that enjoys the best standard of living is Iceland, and the richest in terms of per capita is probably Saudi Arabia (must check). The country which has contributes the most manpower to the International Peace Corps is Canada.
Just saying, is all.
P.S: I trust the Americans on my flist will not be offended by this particular rant, unless they are gunning for world domination. Which I doubt. ;-)
ETA:elluxioninforms me that India has narrowly beaten China as the current fastest-growing economy.
Since the United States is the world's only real superpower, whose military arsenal is many times greater than the rest of the world's put together, the President of the United States becomes, in some ways, the President of the whole world. The General Secretary of the United Nations is nothing in comparison with the President of the United States.
So when the people of the United States elect their President, the rest of the world gets that President too, only we didn't get the chance to vote for him (or her?). - TOC
Um, what?
The President of the United States becomes the President of the whole world? The General Secretary of the United Nations is nothing compared to the President of the United States?
What drivel. The U.S has always had a tremendous cultural and economic impact on the world, but this is nonsense. It's the sort of self-congratulatory, hyperbolic egocentricsm that led the Bush Administration to believe that they could ride rough-shod over the U.N if they so pleased and invade Iraq without any sort of international backlash.
As far as I know, Clinton was all talk and little action during his term, but Bush was a rank idiot who made his entire country into a laughing stock, and his administration is a by-word in terms of corruption and isolationism for the internationational public at large, whatever the sentiments of his own electorate. As a citizen of a country who has also been electing equally rank idiots for quite some time now, I sympathise with the people who never wanted another Bush in the White House after the Gulf War. I am rather satisfied with the President we have now, and I can only hope that the U.S also elects a President better qualified to represent its best interests and repair its image.
But if the American President is indeed the single most influential person in the world, and if history does indeed repeat itself, it should mean either or both of the following:
a) there is a serious flaw in world politics that means the United Nations has failed worse than it's predecessor The League of Nations, and should be dissolved immediately in favour of a better balanced system.
b)We're looking at World War III on the horizon.
The day I accept this sort of colonial mindset wherein I'm supposed to let someone who represents less than 300 million people out of six billion, and who I never had the choice to vote for in the first place, declare his prominence over the leaders of 185 other countries, is when I personally vote to re-elect our stooge ex-Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe as President. As in, never.
Btw, the world's most efficient military belongs to Switzerland, the world's most populous country and fastest-growing economy is China, the most technologically advanced is Japan, the one that enjoys the best standard of living is Iceland, and the richest in terms of per capita is probably Saudi Arabia (must check). The country which has contributes the most manpower to the International Peace Corps is Canada.
Just saying, is all.
P.S: I trust the Americans on my flist will not be offended by this particular rant, unless they are gunning for world domination. Which I doubt. ;-)
ETA:
elluxioninforms me that India has narrowly beaten China as the current fastest-growing economy. 
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-29 04:20 pm (UTC)Yes, I know. I detest isolationism worse than anything else. It is worse than communism and a lot more insiduous an evil.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-29 05:55 pm (UTC)Here,w e have a saying: "politics? all not worth it!"
Me? I think world today is more about the rest of the world that US or UE. I think in the future, they'll be: Asia, India, Africa, Latin, UE, US on the same level. but, it's just a POV.
And it's always more complicated than you think...politics...