Jos,

That is just a reflection of my personality to tell me how I see things. The US is a great country. They have achieved much. However, I really get annoyed with statements that are a reflection of 'ignorance' of world affairs. I might be too sensitive of that, I agree.

However, If I see statments like the US won WWII, or even the cold war, I really wonder if such people know what happened up that time. First of all, the allied forces and the russian army won WWII, of which the US was one component. The cold war was lost by russia because economically and idealogically they were drained.

The main reason why I got involved in this thread was by a statment that we would not have freedom without the US involved in the cold war, which I find at the least a very strong statement which is hard to back up.

The US was and is a great militay and political superpower, but lets don't forget the mistakes they made in the past and their motives. It gives a more balanced view on the matters. I'm not PRO american, nor am I Anti american. However, I object against the utter stupidity going on in their administration right now. I guess I'm longing for the clinton, or even reagan years, years without american wars where the focus was much more political solutions rather than let testosteron take over.

>Walter, with all due respect you do appear to have it in for the US - it just comes across like that lately (or is it just me :) If we were to list the ill's of the world and who commits them then I dont think you are going to find the US occupying the top spots.

I might agree here. However it depends on how the I'lls of the world are defined. The west is at least partial guilty to the instability in africa. The colonial past play a contribution to the ill political stability of a lot of african countries. The 'plundering' of african resources like oil is if you examine the circumstances and history not a clean business transaction.

>If on the other hand one lists the positive contributions made to the world then certainly the US has a great track record. I think that if you really want to start focusing on the major problems around the world that there's enough to go around before you get to the US. Under that logic why focus on the US?

The US is the most powerfull nation on the earth and therefore has the greatest responsibility to have the wisdom to make the right military and political decisions. I could complain the hell about the situation in nigeria, but that would leave me here talking to a wall, isn't it? Also, problems in certain regions of the world do have its roots in the western countries. The slaugthering of approx 1 million citizens of congo (about 1 decade ago) does have its roots in its colonial past. The problems in nigeria does have its problems because of oil beeing exported to the west, a colonial past and a corrupt covernment.

I agree there is a lot of things the US achieved and did right, however equally you could wonder about its threats and past military actions in middle and south america. Vietnam? Somalia? support for rebels (the war lords of afghanistan, which they are fighting now). Also, as many americans I just oppose to the current administration and their actions. In this period, I have a hard time to filter out some positives:

- Human rights got down the drain (abu ghraib, goantanamo bay, the right to privacy)
- Freedom of speech got down the drain (the press is not independed anymore)
- Ongoing reports of corruption in congress
- Social services going down the drain

I think this is a major source of critisism. If the US presents democracy as the holy grail, then I certainly understand people say: Well, if that is it, then we'll have to say: no thank you.

In short, I don't deny the achievements of the US, however I'm not going to shut my mouth because of that. It seems that I should have lost my rights to complain, because we should be thankfull of what the US did for us in the past. Luckely I still have the right to critisize anything I see. A right that is increasingly under presuure in the US (Mainly in the press).

Walter,