Who Is the World’s Worst Dictator?
phoenix80
Banned
Ditto! :m16shoot:
mmarsh
Active member
You know why it is? We try to take out a foreign leader, and somebody will try to take out ours.
Of course, there are non-official channels, everytime I hear of a coup somewhere I have to wonder...
phoenix80
Banned
mmarsh
Active member
Question: Who the hell are we to tell the Europeans who they can do business with? This is exactly the type of 'bullying' the world accuses us of.
How would we like it if Europe countries decided to punish US companies for doing business with Isreal? (who is also in violation of UN rules).
Secondly, given our shortage of friends in the world right now does screwing around with British and Dutch Companies make any degree of political sense?
Food for thought.
MontyB
All-Blacks Supporter
I seriously doubt it will be enacted there will be rumblings and posturing from both sides and then it will be buried or "redefined" so that no one loses face and life will go on as usual. I seriously doubt that Europe is going to let the USA define its trade policies.
CABAL
Active member
Not going to work. Someone will just come around and replace him/her while the dead becomes the martyr.
Heres an interesting Dialog from the TV Show Babylon 5:
Vir Cotto (Diplomat Attache)
I thought I was supposed to provide detailed and the most accurate intelligence
I thought I was supposed to provide detailed and the most accurate intelligence
Londo Mollari raises his voice uproariously
Londo Mollari (Ambassador)
Intelligence has nothing to do with politics!!
Intelligence has nothing to do with politics!!
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Damien435
Active member
Ted: The reason the whole "EU trading partners" was mentioned is because a lot of Europeans like to take a Holier Than Thou Arte attitude and point out dictators supported by the US in the past (while also ignoring the fact that we had a much larger enemy that we were having to deal with from the 50's-80's) and we just wanted to show people that the EU does the same thing.
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.
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.
major liability
Active member
The US is pretty damn arrogant if it thinks it can tell the EU what to do. But hey, I guess being a superpower since the end of WWII has that effect on your psychology.
Also I pretty much agree with Mmarsh and CABAL on this one, the list is skewed and some of the bottom ones should be on top and some shouldn't even be on the list.
Also I pretty much agree with Mmarsh and CABAL on this one, the list is skewed and some of the bottom ones should be on top and some shouldn't even be on the list.
Damien435
Active member
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.
mmarsh
Active member
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.
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phoenix80
Banned
Hitler was also elected by popular vote :read:
MontyB
All-Blacks Supporter
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.
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Damien435
Active member
Yes, but he didn't relinquish power in a peaceful, democratic manner afterwards. Which is why Putin isn't a dictator, YET.
phoenix80
Banned
Missileer
Active member
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.
Damien435
Active member
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.