America about EU

[RegisCartoons]

So, does America and american people cares about European politic. It's really interesting to me. For example, do you know that 7 new members soon will join European Union. Do you know the names of these countries. Do you know country, in wich after 3 days there will be a referendum because of joining the EU or not.

[FUNKbrs]

honestly, as an American, I have absolutely no clue whatsoever what you are talking about. I know there is a european union in the offing, and that all members use the euro as currency, and that there was some debate over whether or not the UK should join, but thats about it.

[Raptorman]

Since nobody has bothered to give you a serious response to what seems to be a serious question, I will. Yes, most of us know about the expansion of NATO and the EU. If I may be so bold, I believe you are mistaken about 7 new members to the EU. There are 7 new (pending) members of NATO. There are 10 pending members of the EU. If I am wrong about this please point it out.

We are interested in this as ours is a truly global economy. What happens in one place happens everywhere. We know that the economic policies of "old" Europe has caused it to flounder. Even our good buddies, the Brits, show no real ability to continue to grow. The former Soviet block countries, who's development has been artificially held back, will be engine that will drive Europe to continued growth and prosperity. We all know this, this is why the France recently tried to discourage American/Eastern European relations by subtly hinting that it would oppose EU membership to nations that supported the US in Iraq. This is also why Pres. Bush, in a speech to Latvians about joining NATO, said "Anyone who makes an enemy of the people of Latvia makes an enemy of the United States." Note he said US, not NATO.

NATO is slowly decaying. The petty bickering and childish power plays of some of it's members *cough* France *cough* are sorely wearing it's credibility and relevance. If this continues, NATO will be about as relevant as the UN general assembly. As NATO crumbles, everyone wants to get in with the growing players on the block. This makes for an interesting power inversion, where the traditionally weak powers of Eastern Europe get to pick and choose between friends.

Interesting times indeed.

[RegisCartoons]

At 5/7/03 11:47 PM, Raptorman wrote: Since nobody has bothered to give you a serious response to what seems to be a serious question, I will. Yes, most of us know about the expansion of NATO and the EU. If I may be so bold, I believe you are mistaken about 7 new members to the EU. There are 7 new (pending) members of NATO. There are 10 pending members of the EU. If I am wrong about this please point it out.

We are interested in this as ours is a truly global economy. What happens in one place happens everywhere. We know that the economic policies of "old" Europe has caused it to flounder. Even our good buddies, the Brits, show no real ability to continue to grow. The former Soviet block countries, who's development has been artificially held back, will be engine that will drive Europe to continued growth and prosperity. We all know this, this is why the France recently tried to discourage American/Eastern European relations by subtly hinting that it would oppose EU membership to nations that supported the US in Iraq. This is also why Pres. Bush, in a speech to Latvians about joining NATO, said "Anyone who makes an enemy of the people of Latvia makes an enemy of the United States." Note he said US, not NATO.

NATO is slowly decaying. The petty bickering and childish power plays of some of it's members *cough* France *cough* are sorely wearing it's credibility and relevance. If this continues, NATO will be about as relevant as the UN general assembly. As NATO crumbles, everyone wants to get in with the growing players on the block. This makes for an interesting power inversion, where the traditionally weak powers of Eastern Europe get to pick and choose between friends.

Interesting times indeed.

Thanx, Raptorman. It's a big shame to me that I gave you a wrong number of new joining members. Yes, 7 members are joining NATO, and EU - 10 members. Sorry about that. But you made one mistake too - This Bush speech was in Lithuania, not Latvia. "Anyone who makes an enemy of the people of Lithuania makes an enemy of the United States." - the phrase after that i felt so proud of my country and its realtions with USA.
After 2 days here, in Lithuania, will be a referendum. Our referendum law is quite point-blank. 50 % of all citizens should vote. And I'm not sure that everything will be okay. After 5 months we had a presidnet election and only 54 % citizens decided to vote. I hope that everything will be okay...

[RegisCartoons]

yeah, English isn't my native language. Before, not after... :)

[Commander-K25]

A worthwhile article if anyone has the patience to read a few pages:

The Rise of the FU Movement

Talks about the EU later in the article.

[karasz]

At 5/7/03 11:47 PM, Raptorman wrote: NATO is slowly decaying. The petty bickering and childish power plays of some of it's members *cough* France *cough* are sorely wearing it's credibility and relevance. If this continues, NATO will be about as relevant as the UN general assembly. As NATO crumbles, everyone wants to get in with the growing players on the block. This makes for an interesting power inversion, where the traditionally weak powers of Eastern Europe get to pick and choose between friends.

well lets not forget, nato was created to stop the soviet threat, and there is no soviet threat anymore... so what is the purpose of NATO??? europe seems to be a much safer place than 10 years ago (i know about the bosnia crisis, and kosovo) but the intellectuals are focusing on asia, and the mideast as that seems to be the next important place and will continue to be for at least 15 years... then who knows...

[Nightshadeplus]

At 5/8/03 01:13 AM, karasz wrote: well lets not forget, nato was created to stop the soviet threat, and there is no soviet threat anymore... so what is the purpose of NATO??? europe seems to be a much safer place than 10 years ago (i know about the bosnia crisis, and kosovo) but the intellectuals are focusing on asia, and the mideast as that seems to be the next important place and will continue to be for at least 15 years... then who knows...

The only "threat" that NATO could possibly concentrate on would be the threat of terrorism (but isn't terrorism always a possible threat? ;) )
NATO should be kept if not for defense against threats that may come but just as a sign of goodwill between the European nations involved and the US.
One question above all: Can't we all just get along?

[nitroxide]

America is tied to europe and will always be bonded they owe everything to them from supplying the ships and weapons to come to this pure land and destroy an existing race seclude and seperate them into nothing.our textbooks do not reflect history in america before 1776 we learn about egypt and english kings and queens when the real american history was here being undocumented america exist on a lie that is why they care so much about europe europe made america.

[karasz]

At 5/8/03 01:59 AM, Nightshadeplus wrote: The only "threat" that NATO could possibly concentrate on would be the threat of terrorism (but isn't terrorism always a possible threat? ;) )

terrorism is the only real threat... and the individual nations OR the EU can take care of that...

NATO should be kept if not for defense against threats that may come but just as a sign of goodwill between the European nations involved and the US.

NATO shouldnt be disbanded, but the US should focus more on Asia and the Mideast, keep the troops in germany to keep their from being a power vaccuum in europe, that way russia stays friendly...

One question above all: Can't we all just get along?

europe has not had a full scale war since 1945... and there are no signs that anything will change that... meaning only humanitarian/human rights problems will arise... and cant the european nations take care of those problems themselves? how long does the US have to old the europeans hand???

[Slizor]

We are interested in this as ours is a truly global economy. What happens in one place happens everywhere. We know that the economic policies of "old" Europe has caused it to flounder.

I suggest you read Will Hutton's The World We're In, before that you say that Europe is "floundering". Because actually, the US's economy is screwed...completely. Not only can its companies not hold up to shareholders' demands but the US is in a hell of a lot of debt. http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ When people realise, and they will, capital will move out of it faster than you can say "Screwed".

[Raptorman]

You realize, that the big scary number you have there represents just 4.7% of the GDP of the US. This is a reasonable amount and in keeping with other solvent nations. Compare this with deptor nations such as Brazil, with it's whooping 60% dept, and you will see that the US is chugging along just fine.

The US had a bad last year with a dismal 2.2% growth in GDP. Compare this to well.....just about all of Europe. Germany had a 0.5%, UK at 1.7%, Italy 0.7%, France 1.2% ect. ect. The collective growth rate for Europe was a pitiful 0.9%.

Yup I said it before and I'll say it again, Europe's markets are floundering.

[Raptorman]

At 5/8/03 12:18 AM, Regis_Cartoons wrote: But you made one mistake too - This Bush speech was in Lithuania, not Latvia. "Anyone who makes an enemy of the people of Lithuania makes an enemy of the United States."

Doh! I really should do my research before speaking, my bad.

After 2 days here, in Lithuania, will be a referendum. Our referendum law is quite point-blank. 50 % of all citizens should vote. And I'm not sure that everything will be okay. After 5 months we had a presidnet election and only 54 % citizens decided to vote. I hope that everything will be okay...

I don't understand, if less than 50% of eligble voters turn out for a referendum, the referendum is voided? Other than that, I would not worry about low voter turnout, those who don't vote tend to be either ignorant or appathetic, two types of people you don't want to have a say in running a country.

[Raptorman]

At 5/8/03 01:13 AM, karasz wrote: well lets not forget, nato was created to stop the soviet threat, and there is no soviet threat anymore... so what is the purpose of NATO???

Yes, NATO's old policy of "Keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down." seems a bit dated. One of my favorite editoral writers, Thomas Freidman of the NYT suggested that NATO be used as a kind of nursery for newly emergent democracies, kind of a "Welcome to the world, it's pretty nice out here." By providing a stable framwork and sence of security it can help these new emergent and unstable nations in their vulnerable formative years so they can develope in their own right. This is not purely out of altrueism. You see, wealth is not a zero sum game. The more wealthy our friends are, the more wealthy we can become by trading with them. We all benefit by their success. NATO seems well suited for this role so long as it is not torn apart from the inside by the short sighted bickering of it's core members.

[karasz]

At 5/9/03 01:12 AM, Raptorman wrote: One of my favorite editoral writers, Thomas Freidman of the NYT suggested that NATO be used as a kind of nursery for newly emergent democracies, kind of a "Welcome to the world, it's pretty nice out here." By providing a stable framwork and sence of security it can help these new emergent and unstable nations in their vulnerable formative years so they can develope in their own right.

so then we should extend NATO to worldwide, for emerging democracies? cuz that would be kinda wierd... "newest NATO allies, Australia and Japan" i like it... write up the treaty get PM howard (australia) on the phone, ill call the emperor

[JMHX]

I'm not versed in international politics, and my knowledge of the British government only goes so far as the vocabulary. House of Commons, House of Lords, things to that extent. When I get some time away from writing this novel, I'm going to try and do some research on the British system of government so that I can better post in topics such as these.

I think everyone, no matter what culture, should have understanding of at least two different governments throughout the world. Like the Islamic governments in the Middle East. No clue.

[Slizor]

You realize, that the big scary number you have there represents just 4.7% of the GDP of the US. This is a reasonable amount and in keeping with other solvent nations.

Always work in percentages when it helps you, everyone realises that the US has a greater GDP though.

The US had a bad last year with a dismal 2.2% growth in GDP. Compare this to well.....just about all of Europe. Germany had a 0.5%, UK at 1.7%, Italy 0.7%, France 1.2% ect. ect. The collective growth rate for Europe was a pitiful 0.9%.

A growth in GDP is not the only way to measure an economy.

Yup I said it before and I'll say it again, Europe's markets are floundering.

If they were floundering then they wouldn't be growing, just because they are not growing at such a rate as the US means nothing.

[Raptorman]

At 5/9/03 02:44 PM, Slizor wrote:

A growth in GDP is not the only way to measure an economy.

Sure, there's things like unemployment, consumer confidence and median household income. It seems these all favor the US as well.

If they were floundering then they wouldn't be growing, just because they are not growing at such a rate as the US means nothing.

Let's get one thing straight, when your growth rate is lower than your inflation rate, your actual value has decreased. This means you are in trouble.

[Raptorman]

At 5/9/03 02:44 PM, Slizor wrote:

A growth in GDP is not the only way to measure an economy.

Sure, there's things like unemployment, consumer confidence and median household income. It seems these all favor the US as well.

If they were floundering then they wouldn't be growing, just because they are not growing at such a rate as the US means nothing.

Let's get one thing straight, when your growth rate is lower than your inflation rate, your actual value has decreased. This means you are in trouble.

[NEMESiSZ]

At 5/7/03 03:56 PM, Regis_Cartoons wrote: So, does America and american people cares about European politic. It's really interesting to me. For example, do you know that 7 new members soon will join European Union. Do you know the names of these countries. Do you know country, in wich after 3 days there will be a referendum because of joining the EU or not.

Do you know them without looking it up?

I doubt it, since europeans are just as stupid as americans. The only difference is europeans are self-righteous assholes who don't know when they should just keep their accent-speaking mouths shut.

[Slizor]

A growth in GDP is not the only way to measure an economy.

Sure, there's things like unemployment, consumer confidence and median household income. It seems these all favor the US as well.

The sum total unemplyment figure for Europe is decieving as it fails to factor in gender. Why is this a problem? Because the equality of the sexes came to Europe later than it came to the US, thus there are still some old views on a Woman's job. This is shown by the fact that non-employment rate for Europe is actually lower than in the US. Consumer Confidence is not a particually accurate way of measuring an Economy, as it is often unstable and it is also hard to get a representative sample. As for Median Household Income.....wouldn't that show much the same as GDP?

[RegisCartoons]

After 2 days here, in Lithuania, will be a referendum. Our referendum law is quite point-blank. 50 % of all citizens should vote. And I'm not sure that everything will be okay. After 5 months we had a presidnet election and only 54 % citizens decided to vote. I hope that everything will be okay...

I don't understand, if less than 50% of eligble voters turn out for a referendum, the referendum is voided? Other than that, I would not worry about low voter turnout, those who don't vote tend to be either ignorant or appathetic, two types of people you don't want to have a say in running a country.

Oh, now it's 21 P.M. And only 28 % of all citizens has already voted. Now we'll wait for 22 P.M. results. I hope 33 - 35 % today and + 20 % tomorrow.