W. Bush: Destroyer of the US Empire

BSD

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W. Bush, the worlds ruling Terrorist-in-Chief isn't only a personal coward whose sole talent in life is lying, deceiving and spin doctoring, and whose only legacy is having started a counterproductive Oil War of aggression that may have killed or maimed over a million innocent people (!!!), reintroducing torture while destroying democracy at home, and, as if that weren't enough, he has also unilateraly managed to end the USA's 15 minutes in history as sole Superpower after having lost the worlds sympathy and respect that the USA had from all over the world after 9-11. Post Bush, the USA is perceived as one of the biggest threats to world peace there is.

"U.S. loses its status as economic world power

DAVOS, Switzerland

The World Economic Forum has proved to be an uncanny barometer of global trends. Over the past decade, the United States has been lionized as world leader, economic giant and home of high-tech wizards such as Bill Gates.

When the high-tech bubble burst, when deficits rose, when the Iraq war went sour, the shine on the American model dimmed. But, despite widespread dismay over U.S. foreign policy, few here used to question America's role as the world's unipolar power.

What a difference a year makes. Davos 2008 has laid bare a world in which no superpower seems to be in charge. The unipolar American moment is deemed over, in part a casualty of the Bush administration's political and economic policies, in larger part the result of global economic changes that are shifting wealth elsewhere.

But we have not entered a multipolar world: China and India, though on the rise, aren't ready to take the global lead, nor can Europe do so. The consensus at Davos seems to be that we now live in a "nonpolar" world, with America too strong to stand on the sidelines, but too weak to implement its agenda alone.

The metaphor for Davos 2008 came when its executive chairman, Klaus Schwab, suggested onstage to Condoleezza Rice that America was a piano and the world the orchestra. Playing metaphorically on the secretary of state's talents as a pianist, Schwab asked whether the piano and orchestra could play together in harmony.

Rice asked whether Schwab wanted to be the conductor. But among the 2,500 top chief executives, politicians and intellectuals at the meeting, many believe there is no conductor at all.

The U.S. financial crisis grew out of years of massive lending for subprime mortgages during a housing bubble. The collapse of the bubble has undercut banks and revealed serious flaws in the entire U.S. financial system. Added to American foreign policy failures like Iraq and debacles like the response to Hurricane Katrina, this creates an image of American incompetence.

What makes the American case so acute, in foreign eyes, is that it comes at a time when the United States is massively in debt to China and oil-rich countries like Russia and the nations of the Arab gulf. As America cuts interest rates to keep banks solvent, the dollar becomes less attractive to those countries who are keeping America afloat. Yet we need their capital to keep our ailing banks afloat.

What was also stunning at this year's Davos was the growing self-confidence of Asian nations (except for Japan, which stayed much on the sidelines). China now sends large numbers of English-speaking entrepreneurs to Davos who are investing globally and mix on equal footing with top Western executives. All the panels on Asia were oversubscribed.

"It's remarkable how few have noticed we are entering an entirely new era of history - the rise of Asia," says Kishore Mahbubani, dean of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. "By 2050," he adds, "the world's four largest economies will be China, the United States, India and Japan" - in that order.

He also talks of an Asian continent where young people "are convinced they will do much better than their parents" - which used to be the American mantra.

Yet, for the most part, I heard little triumphalism about America's dimming role. Just the opposite. None of the rising powers is ready for a global leadership role. International institutions have little power. And without a conductor to lead the global orchestra, there will be no concert.

Davos 2008 was adrift as its members tried to figure out who might become that global conductor and handle the orchestra in the collegial manner suggested by Schwab. Most attendees were casting an anxious eye on the upcoming U.S. election."


LINK:
U.S. loses its status as economic world power -- Newsday.com
 
"Bloomberg

Bargaining while buying some trinkets in the Maldivian capital, Male, recently, I heard most unexpected words: ``You can keep your dollars.''

This tiny nation of 1,200 islands has long accepted U.S. currency out of convenience for visitors and financial sobriety. The dollar tended to do better in global markets than the local monetary unit, the rufiyaa. That may be changing and it's a bad omen for the world's reserve currency.

These things start out slowly, and in recent months I have had similar experiences from Mexico to Vietnam. In markets, restaurants, taxis and tourist shops that long accepted dollars, many are opting for local currency. The reason: concerns the dollar plunge that analysts have predicted for years is afoot and that the U.S. is uninterested in halting it.

Transformational Event

There's also a nascent realization that something transformational may be happening in global markets. Some states that long pegged their currencies to the dollar are scrapping the policy -- like Kuwait -- while others are quietly considering it. A survey by HSBC Holdings Plc found that twice as many Gulf businesses see benefits from dropping currency pegs to the dollar as those that see negative consequences.


`Rogue Nation'

President George W. Bush's handiwork doesn't help, of course. In December 2004, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad suggested Muslim countries should refuse to trade in dollars and use their economic influence to force a change in U.S. policies. The U.S. ``owes huge sums of money to the rest of the world,'' Mahathir said. ``If people do not keep giving money to the U.S., it will go bankrupt.''


For years now, Joseph Quinlan, chief market strategist at Bank of America Corp. in New York, has been warning that the U.S.'s image as a ``rogue nation'' is a key force behind the dollar's decline."...

LINK
 
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It is a mistake to hang all this on Dubya. He's simply a puppet, as was his father. Without the support and influence of the religious (Christian) right, he wouldn't even be in office.

Unfortunately, this has been the situation since Roe v Wade, and it's unlikely to change anytime soon, regardless of who's elected next November. Or the election after that. Or after that. One can only hope that the rest of the world learns how to do without the U.S.
 
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The religious right, yes, that's a very good point DB.

Funny how there is a really strong correlation between the amount of religion people hang over their shoulders and their tendency to evil deeds, obviously always committed in the name of God, lol.

People who claim to be Christians are pretty good at that, but people selling themselves as Muslims are just as accomplished.

You know what is the single biggest tragedy about this whole mess, it's that the USA, during their tenure, could have done SO MUCH good in the world by simply acting as a shining beacon of the democracy, human rights and decency that it has stood for for so long, by simply setting a positive example, while building on and upholding international rules of conduct that no rogue regime or dictatorship could have afforded to ignore, the US could have left a legacy that for at least the next hundred years or so wars would, like for largely the last half century, not have been an extended arm of national policies, and democracy be the natural aspiration for most countries on earth.

That may sound naive but it by no means is, that is exactly what the EU was originally about, ending the eternal, pointless wars feuding that had been rampant amongst European nations for centuries without ever having actually ever changed anything much of the status quo apart from having caused endless bloodshed, misery and havoc.

I don't believe that anything is ever to late, and I sincerely hope that you guys get your act together again.

I love China, but with their one party dictatorship they most definitely are not a role model for societies of the future.

The US was, and hopefully can become one again.
 
Democracy.....Don't forget India.....Huge diversity.....multitude of religions.....24 languages......All have state holidays.....India is the ONLY ancient land where Jews were never persecuted.....Parsees came there......Sindhis came there....Muslims came there....Portugese, British, French all came there to trade but by deceit took over.....All were absorbed but were never forcefully assimilated......India never forced their religion on anyone....No forceful baptism.....No spread of religion by sword.....All children are taught about the whole world subject and not only Indian subject in Curriculum.....It is a very Multicultural and Celebrates that fact as well...!

There have been Presidents from minorities like Muslim, Sikh, South Indian communities....

Show me any Western Country where this has happened...!

Perhaps there should be a word to describe a REAL Democracy as 'Indian Democracy'...and others as a 'Basic Democracy'.
 
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I suspect that women, children, and the poor might take issue with this suggestion . . . :)
 
I suspect that women, children, and the poor might take issue with this suggestion . . . :)


......Being weaned on incorrect picture and non propotional information about a culture is always bad....

.....Knowing more and a personal visit normally helps to get a correct picture....
 
......Being weaned on incorrect picture and non propotional information about a culture is always bad....

.....Knowing more and a personal visit normally helps to get a correct picture....

I agree that knowing more is usually preferable to knowing less, which is why I'm reluctant to endorse your view of democracy in India. But I don't know that this is the thread to debate it. :)
 
....Fine.....

...I am not seeking your approvals on any comments.....

....My comments were in response to a word Democracy.....

....There is Democarcy outside US....Imperfect it may be, but the fact that it is there, is an immence achievement in present world....
 
Democracy.....Don't forget India.....Huge diversity.....multitude of religions.....24 languages......All have state holidays.....India is the ONLY ancient land where Jews were never persecuted.....Parsees came there......Sindhis came there....Muslims came there....Portugese, British, French all came there to trade but by deceit took over.....All were absorbed but were never forcefully assimilated......India never forced their religion on anyone....No forceful baptism.....No spread of religion by sword.....All children are taught about the whole world subject and not only Indian subject in Curriculum.....It is a very Multicultural and Celebrates that fact as well...!

There have been Presidents from minorities like Muslim, Sikh, South Indian communities....

Show me any Western Country where this has happened...!

Perhaps there should be a word to describe a REAL Democracy as 'Indian Democracy'...and others as a 'Basic Democracy'.


The British left a good legacy eh :clap:
 
...Actually I do agree with your comments partly.....

.....They did leave a modern approach to life.....But we lost some of the ancient traditions....

...I agree with British abolishing tradition of 'Sati' which was barbaric....

....But I do not agree with the demise of some old Universities and Vedic teachings that were abolished in favour of Convents....

...But then if life is a progressive empirical evolution, then perhaps that can be accepted....!

....It did prepare India for today....And that matters...
 
Let's look at numbers ..
 

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...Actually I do agree with your comments partly.....

.....They did leave a modern approach to life.....But we lost some of the ancient traditions....

...I agree with British abolishing tradition of 'Sati' which was barbaric....

....But I do not agree with the demise of some old Universities and Vedic teachings that were abolished in favour of Convents....

...But then if life is a progressive empirical evolution, then perhaps that can be accepted....!

....It did prepare India for today....And that matters...


Super reply Zambuck... It was tounge and cheek but I concur whole heartedly.

No mention of cricket there but perhaps that's you being polite... :cheesy:
 
Super reply Zambuck... It was tounge and cheek but I concur whole heartedly.

No mention of cricket there but perhaps that's you being polite... :cheesy:


...You cheeky bugger....

....I would have preferred a punch in face...!...Rather than mention of cricket....!!

...That would have been very POLITE...!
 
There is no punch line.
Just a reality check


I thought we were talking about empires.


DT

....I thought that BSD, in initial post was saying that US needs to win hearts and minds and act as a responsible Empire....

....Not touting statistis as to who has the biggest 'pea shooter'.....

....Please correct me if I have got it wrong....
 
...You cheeky bugger....

....I would have preferred a punch in face...!

...That would have been very POLITE...!

Oh dear... No offence meant... I am told, I can be tactless at times but nobody is perfect are they?

Have a great weekend... (y)
 
Oh dear... No offence meant... I am told, I can be tactless at times but nobody is perfect are they?

Have a great weekend... (y)

....NO NO...NO offence was taken at all.....

....I watched the criket and Indians played dismally.....

....And i was so embaressed that I just crumpled my cigar Siglo VI in anger....

....Unfortunately web always gives wrong signals in words...

...I can assure you that my response was also with element of sense of humour....

...No I would NEVER take offence from your commets...

...RELAX...
 
There is no punch line.
Just a reality check


I thought we were talking about empires.


DT

My understanding of an empire constitutes the ability to build not destroy...

With this gun ho - shootem up approach hordes of barbarians comes to mind. Instead of being on foot or perhaps like the Vikings they come in big boats.

The American super-power was built on economic might.

In our modern era it is economic might that makes super powers not military. The point about the Davos article is this economic power is shifting...

The USA is like a spoilt fat kid in a global world who wants to hog all the toys and throws a tantrum kicking and scratching at any child that comes close to share. All the kids then run out side to play and he is left all alone surrounded by dead toys...

Very sad... Very sad indeed... :cry:
 
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