I also agree with you guys there (forgot to mention this in the last post). Putin shouldn't be on the list, he was democratically elected to his office and unless he refuses to leave office peacefully in 2008 I still won't consider him a dictator. Robert Mugabe should be higher up on the list, Hu Jintao should drop down quite considerably, his actions do after all require approval from the politburo.

Originally Posted by Damien435

mmarsh: The EU already bans American makeup companies (an many, many more) on the basis that their products can cause cancer (which is BS, when's the last time someone got lip cancer from their makeup?) but supposedly everywhere you go in Europe you see people smoking like it's going out of style, and from my discussions with friends of mine who are European I would say that is a pretty accurate observation.

Damien

Thats not exactly correct, there are no US companies that are banned in Europe but there are certain products that are. Its simply because product saftey standards are different. Struggling to comply with the dizzling array of regulations the FDA puts on imports is enough to make your head spin.

I happen to work in the FMCG Market (Fast Moving Consumer Goods -like purfume, foodstuffs, tobacco) and I can tell that the reverse is true too. There are European products that can not be sold in the US for product safety reasons. Non-Pasturized (bacterial) cheese for example is banned in the USA. I cannot even take it with me on the plane, US customs will seize it.

My company sells cigars, and there are (certain) brands of cigars we cannot sell in the USA. Cuban Cigars or tobacco leafs for example, but also Tobacco leafs that are treated in a specific way. I cannot tell you the specifics, but US regulations forbid certain types of pesticides, cleaning methods, etc...

My Head Office in Sweden has an entire legal team (made up with American lawyers) whose sole job is figure out the dizzying mess of FDA regulations concerning imports.

You are confusing product safety standards (which very per country) with political bullying. Any attempt to bully countries with economic threats will have a tit for tat effect in Europe. We saw this with the Steel ban a few years back.

Its the typical bullying tactics we have seen before and the Europeans
will retailiate if we do it.

Originally Posted by Damien435

I also agree with you guys there (forgot to mention this in the last post). Putin shouldn't be on the list, he was democratically elected to his office and unless he refuses to leave office peacefully in 2008 I still won't consider him a dictator. Robert Mugabe should be higher up on the list, Hu Jintao should drop down quite considerably, his actions do after all require approval from the politburo.

Hitler was also elected by popular vote

Originally Posted by phoenix80

Hitler was also elected by popular vote

Umm no he wasn't he only received 37% of the popular vote and was asked to become chancellor after it became apparent that the opposition could not form a coalition. It is probably more accurate to say that Hitler was constitutionally chosen to be the Chancellor of Germany as leader of the largest party in Parliament.

Originally Posted by phoenix80

Hitler was also elected by popular vote

Yes, but he didn't relinquish power in a peaceful, democratic manner afterwards. Which is why Putin isn't a dictator, YET.

face it, the only thing putin has done that reeks of being a dictator (at least as far as im aware) is regularly detaining, or silencing, members of russias media.

something many of the members of this board would approve of no doubt




anyway...the list is shonky as

Originally Posted by Infern0

face it, the only thing putin has done that reeks of being a dictator (at least as far as im aware) is regularly detaining, or silencing, members of russias media.

something many of the members of this board would approve of no doubt




anyway...the list is shonky as

And why don't you name those members who approve such stuff?

What a wasteful shame!

AH....ignore list is awesome

Originally Posted by Infern0

face it, the only thing putin has done that reeks of being a dictator (at least as far as im aware) is regularly detaining, or silencing, members of russias media.

And a couple of expatriots on European soil.

Retargeting a few ICBMs toward Europe, or threatening to, in an effort to silence a few Governments was pretty doggone naughty of the Putster.

Oh please, Russia probably has every major European and American city targeted right now anyways, just as the United States probably does the same to Russia, China, North Korea (so that's one more city there), Iran and Venezuela. It takes what, 12 seconds to reset the targeting of 100 ICBM's? Saying that he is re-targeting Europe is really only saying what most people should suspect anyways. It's not like he has to literally point the missiles at Europe, they'll still be sitting facing towards the stars in their silos.