Hello msfe, and thank you for the compliments. Yes we live in a beautiful country, although not all is really in order. It is difficult to say why exactly we have all the problems that we have. Perhaps it is our ethnic diversity, perhaps our geographical structure with the more than 10 000 islands, or maybe those thousands of years of history, I just don't know. Certainly a solution is not coming forward from loud mouths like you find here, who keep telling us that "not long ago there were cannibals" in Indonesia etc. Actually, that is true, in some parts in Sumatra, Sulawesi and even Borneo (the Indonesian part is called Kalimantan) there are still "headhunters", and I suggest you stay away from there, unless you are desparately looking for a job. If you are interested in developments in Indonesia, there are some websites of local English language newspapers, eg http://www.thejakartapost.com/headlines.asp Personally I have also been to Switzerland many years ago. I attended an MBA programme in a business school in Geneva, but because of my passport it was very cumbersome to travel to other countries in Europe. I was impressed by your country's deeply rooted democracy. Most people I met were democrats, not like that American party, but in the true sense of the word. I wish we could have similar thinking in Asia, but our traditions are simply not such that people easily adopt to what all sorts of politicians tell us are "western values". Terima kasih!!!
I do not know the situation in Germany and France that well, but I guess for the people there it does not make a difference where the army is coming from that helps them against an invasion. Frankly, what's wrong with the Chinese army? If they can do a good job, so be it. But please tell me which country in your opinion will be next to invade Germany and France. And do Germany and France not spend on defense?
Optional makes a little joke, and is answered with a BIG joke. Fairplay, if your post was meant to be taken seriously, I suggest you find better use of your time. Peace, rs7
Very funny, hahaha! So we are making little jokes about war and people suffering? Is that American sense of humour? I find that not only not funny, but of bad taste. You should bear in mind the feelings of parents when they get the news that their son has been killed in a war. Just one example: how many young boys - Vietnamese and American - died in Vietnam? And how many parents lost what was most precious to them? How do you think they would react to this kind of remarks? I wish Mr Wild was still here, he could give you the bashing that you deserve!
Wild would be here right now if he could, but he can't. He seems to have lost that privelage because he was unable to act in a civilized manner, respectful of the feelings of others, unable to engage in debate and discourse. In his absence, why don't you try to give me the "bashing I deserve?"
Wild was a complete failure at "bashing." He was, however, quite adroit at cut-and-pasting and avoiding meaningful debate. Your marks thus far are a "C" on the former and an "A" on the latter.
fairplay, you seem to be almost as popular in the inner circles of american free speech advocates as the vanished mr. wild. i found him mentioned and critized quite often when browsing through different elitetrader threads. to me he appeared to be quite knowledgeable of contemporary european and world history apart from being a very typical german pacifist. optional777 has obviously a highly developed sense of typical american humor when it comes to certain sexual orientations and the cutting and pasting of tasteful photographs. in the remote valleys of the swiss alps one would think that the more someone talks about sex the more problems with that often quite pleasant pastime he has. hard to understand how anyone outside the realm of what americans like to call their culture can possibly find optional777s jokes funny. what i can not find funny or just entertaining is the generally aggressive tone in these forums and the horrible misconception of and in most cases total lack of information about european history, which in large parts is in fact the history of the majority of americans. as a swiss national from schaffhausen (brutally bombed by americans in 1944) i can only warn against a rush to another devastating war regardless of the credibility of the reasons presented here and elsewhere. http://193.194.138.190/udhr/lang/eng.htm
I don't blame the EU for their reluctance. They haven't been attacked recently. When you're attacked by a bully though, you only have two choices really. One is to rise up and nail the SOB like the US, the UK, the Israeli's and others have done in the past. The other is to try to negotiate, bargain, and appease the bully. That never works. He'll just smile at you and nod and tell you what a good person you are while enjoying the wonderful warm feeling he gets deep down inside from the contmpt he feels for you. Ask the Chineese about the Japanese, or the English and the Poles about the Nazi's. The only thing a bully understands is force.
He was especially knowledgeable about cutting and pasting. Too bad he never articulated any of the vast knowledge you claim he has in a presentable manner. Cutting and pasting mostly op-ed links from obviously far-left sites does not qualify him as a genius. Lovely how you stereotype all us typical Americans with our "typical American humor" and what we "like to call" our culture....If you represent the sense of humor to be found in the remote valleys of the Swiss Alps, it must be the most boring, uptight place on earth. You need to take a few laxatives. What part of European history did we get wrong? The part about saving Europe from Hitler? You neglect to mention that Schaffhausen was mistakenly bombed as a result of aircraft being off-course in bad weather. Death toll 40-50. Definitely tragic, but the fact that it was accidental should have been mentioned. And what bombing is not brutal?... As far as not taking action "regardless of the credibility of the reasons presented here and elsewhere," it must be quite pleasant to be sitting in your remote valley in the Swiss Alps, safely removed from fanatics who long for the annihilation of MY country, MY family, and MY fellow citizens, and presume to dictate to us not only the manner we choose to rid ourselves of the threat but to in fact take no action at all. Thank you for that link. Too bad Saddam and his government violate each and every article on a daily basis.