Do you stand behind your country?
- Thread starter Ricky
- Start date
Ugg
Registered
The country I would stand behind would have French/N. Italian chefs/food, Australian wanderlust, Canadian sense of humor, Czech beer, German autobahns (with less traffic, please) American computers (as long as they were Macs), Finnish education, Mexican beaches, the cleanliness of Singapore, Dutch multilingualism, an Indian English accent, the Highlands of Kenya, the graciousness of polynesia, Yemenese coffee, the foreign policy of Finland (didn't mean to include two of any one country but they are both exceptional), the industriousness of the Koreans, the order of Japan, the south Island of New Zealand. Well, I guess you get the picture.
habilis probably uses the flag to hide behind when his sister in law comes over
habilis probably uses the flag to hide behind when his sister in law comes over
Darkshadow
wandering shadow
Hmm...I must say, I've never tried Czech beer. Any good?
And ya skipped spirit in that list...the spirit of what country would you want? (Spirit as in their enthusiasms...basically, I suppose, their uniqueness)
And ya skipped spirit in that list...the spirit of what country would you want? (Spirit as in their enthusiasms...basically, I suppose, their uniqueness
)
monktus
Registered
I think I'll go and live in your country Ugg
Darkshadow, you've never tried Czech beer?! Go and buy some Staroprammen, or Budvar, there are loads of them, Czech beer is lovely!
This is an interesting thread, I've thought about this sort of thing before. I live in the UK and of course we ended up in Iraq too. The draft issue to me is one about personal morals rather than blind faith in your government, as was mentioned by someone else. There is a big difference between a draft for a war in Iraq than say World War II. I think that we'd all agree that the war against Nazism was a fight that would have effected all of us directly and that everyone had a unaminous opinion of. Personally I would not automatically go to war for my country. If it was a situation like in 1939, I'd say I would. If I was drafted to go to Iraq or North Korea I certainly would not. I'm not going to risk my life in another Vietnam.
Something similar crossed my mind the other day, its not in the same league but still important (maybe not so much to Americans but to Europeans certainly). There is a new EU convention being drafted that basically ties together all of the EU constitutional treaties (there are 4 I think) into one. The UK unfortunately has a fairly vocal anti-Europe faction in the form of many Conservatives and the tabloid media who are arguing for a referendum on this. The problem is that if there was a referendum, there is the possibility of our tabloids mobilising Joe Schmoe to vote no (alliteration not intended). This would have the disasterous effect pulling out of the EU and basically completely f**cking Britain's economy. I thought that if that was to happen, I would have to seriously consider leaving the country, which scraed me a bit. Along the same lines of the potential unneccesary conflicts that could happen, I thought that it wouldn't take much to make a very very big change to my country. So big that I'd have to consider leaving. Now I'd like to see an independent Scotland but I'm fairly glad that I'm from here and I'm reasonably content being a British citizen, but my point is (sorry I'm rambling), its frightening that its not enormously unlikely that there would be a big enough change in the world that some of us would have to consider leaving the place we were born.
Darkshadow, you've never tried Czech beer?! Go and buy some Staroprammen, or Budvar, there are loads of them, Czech beer is lovely!
This is an interesting thread, I've thought about this sort of thing before. I live in the UK and of course we ended up in Iraq too. The draft issue to me is one about personal morals rather than blind faith in your government, as was mentioned by someone else. There is a big difference between a draft for a war in Iraq than say World War II. I think that we'd all agree that the war against Nazism was a fight that would have effected all of us directly and that everyone had a unaminous opinion of. Personally I would not automatically go to war for my country. If it was a situation like in 1939, I'd say I would. If I was drafted to go to Iraq or North Korea I certainly would not. I'm not going to risk my life in another Vietnam.
Something similar crossed my mind the other day, its not in the same league but still important (maybe not so much to Americans but to Europeans certainly). There is a new EU convention being drafted that basically ties together all of the EU constitutional treaties (there are 4 I think) into one. The UK unfortunately has a fairly vocal anti-Europe faction in the form of many Conservatives and the tabloid media who are arguing for a referendum on this. The problem is that if there was a referendum, there is the possibility of our tabloids mobilising Joe Schmoe to vote no (alliteration not intended). This would have the disasterous effect pulling out of the EU and basically completely f**cking Britain's economy. I thought that if that was to happen, I would have to seriously consider leaving the country, which scraed me a bit. Along the same lines of the potential unneccesary conflicts that could happen, I thought that it wouldn't take much to make a very very big change to my country. So big that I'd have to consider leaving. Now I'd like to see an independent Scotland but I'm fairly glad that I'm from here and I'm reasonably content being a British citizen, but my point is (sorry I'm rambling), its frightening that its not enormously unlikely that there would be a big enough change in the world that some of us would have to consider leaving the place we were born.
Ugg
Registered
It's less of an issue now, but during the cold war the term "Finlandization" was coined to indicate foreign policy that was very cautious and pragmatic. Finland was flanked by the Soviet Union to the east and north and Europe and NATO to the south and west. Finland was very good at finding the middle way and balancing the conflicting desires of its neighbors. The Soviet Union left it alone because Finland refused to cave in to NATO (read US) demands that it become a greater military power and the US was forced to let Finland make its own way unlike Germany.
It was a unique situation and one not easily replicated in the rest of the world but Costa Rica is a country that has similar policies and has a very vibrant economy. It's not something everyone can practice but for those who have it has led to a much higher standard of living.