I have to admit that in Amsterdam I ate the best falafel I've had outside of Israel.
My Dutch friends kept warning me not to eat in restaurants that featured Dutch cuisine; we did very well with Indonesian. This is the upside of colonial policies.
My Dutch friends kept warning me not to eat in restaurants that featured Dutch cuisine; we did very well with Indonesian. This is the upside of colonial policies.
I wonder what the US would have to do to get threatened with expulsion from the U.N? Ignoring U.N. directives doesn't seem to count for much. Unless of course that directive is indistinguishable from a certain large nation's political objective. 🙄
"There is no honour in politics".
Benjamin Disraeli. 19th century British prime minister.
I suppose honour is perhaps a scalar quantity in the abstract sense. Lucky then, that negative numbers extend toward infinity. 🙄
"There is no honour in politics".
Benjamin Disraeli. 19th century British prime minister.
I suppose honour is perhaps a scalar quantity in the abstract sense. Lucky then, that negative numbers extend toward infinity. 🙄
Circlotron said:
The US would have to do a heck of a lot more than what it did to get threatened with expulsion.
First, there was UN directive after directive saying that Saddam must disarm.
Then there were UN directives saying he had to let the inspectors in.
Then there were UN resolutions saying that if he didn't let the inspectors in, he would be threatened with firm military action.
Then the head of the inspectors, Hans Blix, said that Saddam did not really co-operate with the first round of inspections. He had agents, (called "tour guides"), with the inspectors as they interviewed the scientists, etc. Blix opined that he would like to give Saddam another chance-thereby admitting that Saddam had blown the first one.
Then the second round of inspections commenced, and after several weeks, the US truncated the inspections and came in.
After the US and Britain conquered the country, Kofi Annan offered the UN to come in. He specifically said that this would grant "legitimacy" to the US and British effort.
The invasion of Iraq was a boondoggle, as far as I am concerned. We never should have done it, and the American people were continually lied to about it. I have opposed it all along.
But the US followed about 95% of what the UN said. It only departed from the UN after chief inspector Hans Blix admitted that Saddam did not co-operate fully with the inspections.
The US does not deserve to be threatened with expulsion.
It would be terrible if we were expelled. After all, where else can we get directives about human rights from Libya? Or directives against terrorism from Syria?
I'd propose rotating the UN HQ site yearly. I wonder how the delegates might feel about a year in Saudi Arabia, followed by a year in North Korea? I mean, don't these fine, honest, hard-working guys deserve a break to get away from that hellhole called America?
I'd propose rotating the UN HQ site yearly. I wonder how the delegates might feel about a year in Saudi Arabia, followed by a year in North Korea? I mean, don't these fine, honest, hard-working guys deserve a break to get away from that hellhole called America?
SY said:
ok SY, I could be wrong about the average size of a home in the states.
The thing that struck me most is that people living in trailers or gettos aren't uncommon in the US. In Belgium, there are some small gettos, but most people in trailers are really considered outlaws. But maybe that's just a difference in culture.
well yes, It happend to be New York. But those elderly people packing my grosseries were all over the place. That wasn't in New York.
Over here you never see someone over 65 work. Unless he really wants to ofcourse.
Maybe i expressed myself bad, when I said minimum wage. I wasn't talking about a minimum income for a working person. I was talking about a minimum income for anyone, even someone who isn't doing anything. That's why there aren't that many homeless eople around here.
Well, I have a feeling I do have a clue. Much more so then most americans who have never travelled outside the US. I've seen a lot of the world for a person my age, so I can compare a little. And I'm also not the Holiday Inn type of tourist.
And about food. Anyone who has been in a few Belgian restaurants will know that it's very hard to find a better country when it comes to food.
That's why our restaurants are packed with dutch people...
SY said:
The same can be said about britain and the US.
Luckely they have indian food in britain. To bad you can't find any good food outside a major city in the US. I really got tired of eating burgers every day.
I don't know, maybe americans just don't like to eat good food. They also throw you out as soon as you're finished.
If the USA were expelled from the UN, there would be no change..... Even US expenditure would be little changed 😉
Dhaen:
In what way do you feel that there would be no change? Are you essentially saying that the UN has no real effect on world affairs?
In what way do you feel that there would be no change? Are you essentially saying that the UN has no real effect on world affairs?
Hi KW,
My reply was twofold:
The UN has little effect
and
The USA ignores it as it pleases anyway
Cheers,
My reply was twofold:
The UN has little effect
and
The USA ignores it as it pleases anyway
Cheers,
dhaen said:
Well, it would improve traffic in Manhattan a bit, and free up some prime real estate.
Now that the going has gotten tough in Iraq, they are begging for U.N. help...🙄
Ah...so....we need the U.N. when it suits them....etc...etc....
Ah...so....we need the U.N. when it suits them....etc...etc....
I wasn't stereotyping the us. It's just a fact that it is very very hard to find decent food outside a city in the US. If you have ever eaten good food, you know that its the truth. believe me, I love to eat good food. It's my number one hobby. I really tried to find something nice over there. I was even willing to pay some money for it, but I just couldnt find it.
I'm shure they have nice restaurants in major cities, but I don't like cities, so I never stay there for long.
I stayed a few days in Las Vegas, Dalles and Phoenix, but had no luck there. I asked a few people about good places, but I always wound up in some steak house where they serve you a mega size steak that was pretty good, but it was always prepared in an unimaginative way. a little salad, a slice of tomato and fries. thats it...
That kind of food can be had in any cafe over here. It's almost considered fast food. Nothing of a high cullinary standard.
I live in a pretty small town, for US standards tiny. But there's a restaurant for every 10 eople Who live there. Even the worst of those server decent food of a standard that is hard to find a typical small town in the US.
The same for choice of food in grocery stores. Very hard to find a wide variety of cheeses, beer, wine.
Just admit that food isn't what you are good at.
I'm shure they have nice restaurants in major cities, but I don't like cities, so I never stay there for long.
I stayed a few days in Las Vegas, Dalles and Phoenix, but had no luck there. I asked a few people about good places, but I always wound up in some steak house where they serve you a mega size steak that was pretty good, but it was always prepared in an unimaginative way. a little salad, a slice of tomato and fries. thats it...
That kind of food can be had in any cafe over here. It's almost considered fast food. Nothing of a high cullinary standard.
I live in a pretty small town, for US standards tiny. But there's a restaurant for every 10 eople Who live there. Even the worst of those server decent food of a standard that is hard to find a typical small town in the US.
The same for choice of food in grocery stores. Very hard to find a wide variety of cheeses, beer, wine.
Just admit that food isn't what you are good at.
I've nuked a couple of very inappropriate posts and edited one slightly just to remove references to objectionable material. We all have strong feelings about these issues, not least of all me, but civil and logical conversation is the most useful and enjoyable way to convey them.And for goodness sake, let's all keep our senses of humor.
DIY_Peter, I extend an invitation to you to do some culinary touring of the US with me. I modestly claim to know food pretty well. The US is an enormous country, and the characterizations you make are not true for most of it. And there's only one way to convince you...
We had the start of football season yesterday (I'm talking about REAL football, not that watered-down little sport they call "football" in Europe- it bears the same relationship to REAL football that the bag-in-box wine from California's Central Valley labelled "Chablis" does to Raveneau's Montee de Tonnerre). So my cooking/drinking partner and I went to the grocery store in Berkeley, a small town across the Bay from San Francisco, to buy food. Twelve kinds of tomatoes, all organic and intensely flavorful. And eight varieties of figs, perfect for topping Humboldt Fog, one of the finest chevres made in the world. The tomatoes were great in a caprese, made with local bufala mozzerella and organic basil. Chanterelles the size of my head. Trompettes du mort, fresh-picked. Brentwood corn, an hour out of the fields.
I drank a toast to you while we feasted. Admittedly, it was with a '95 Maximum Gruenhaus Herrenberg Auslese- you guys still do Riesling better than we can.
We had the start of football season yesterday (I'm talking about REAL football, not that watered-down little sport they call "football" in Europe- it bears the same relationship to REAL football that the bag-in-box wine from California's Central Valley labelled "Chablis" does to Raveneau's Montee de Tonnerre). So my cooking/drinking partner and I went to the grocery store in Berkeley, a small town across the Bay from San Francisco, to buy food. Twelve kinds of tomatoes, all organic and intensely flavorful. And eight varieties of figs, perfect for topping Humboldt Fog, one of the finest chevres made in the world. The tomatoes were great in a caprese, made with local bufala mozzerella and organic basil. Chanterelles the size of my head. Trompettes du mort, fresh-picked. Brentwood corn, an hour out of the fields.
I drank a toast to you while we feasted. Admittedly, it was with a '95 Maximum Gruenhaus Herrenberg Auslese- you guys still do Riesling better than we can.
SY said:
Thanks for the invitation. If only I had time right now...
I would be more then happy to find out about the better american food, since I'm constantly trying new things.
I only hope we don't have to talk about or watch sports. A thing that I really hate. Doesn't matter if its american or european football. Both are silly sports. To bad I had to pick the only woman in Belgium that happens to love football 🙁(
Maybe I did not make my point very clear. You guys get very deffensive 🙂
I don't doubt that you can find about anything in a city like LA or New york. But the kind of stores you reffer to are not on every street corner are they? Does the average joe go there every week? I doubt it.
The average joe over here does, because these stores are the norm.
Every town has a few specialisezed cheese stores. They have at least 200 different varieties of fresh cheeses. Riped in their own cellars. Same goes for meat.
Many of those products can be found in large cities in the US. But not as fresh and much more expensive.
The average pub has maybe 20 or 30 kinds of beer. A good pub has more then a 100. Most of them brewed in Belgium. Considering Belgium has only 10million people and that is as big
as an american national park, that's rather impressive or isn't it?
So, it's not that I doubt that you can't find good foor in the US. It's just isn't the norm. Most people don't look for it like you do. There is always a small percentage of the population that will look for the better things in life. be it food, music, art, ...
You are also a person who thinks about pollitics and doesn't believe every word that his government tells him.
Most people don't and that's the same over here and everywhere in the world.
I only buy organic food, but most of my friends or familly think I'm crazy because it's more expensive. That's the only thing they care about...
Anyway I'm drifting off. I wan't to conclude that in many ways I love the US and it's culture. But many things about it bother me. Maybe because those are the things we see the most of over here. Blind patriotism, feeling of superiority, bad tv, bad movies.
But I know that not everyone is a patriot, that there are good tv shows, great movies...
OK, and that's the last thing I'm going to say about the american way of life. It's rather pointless to keep arguing about things we can't change is isn't it?
DIY_Peter said:
I misunderstood you, and I apologize (I also followed up with a personal note). Sorry for the sarcasm, sometimes I just cannot resist. Alas, a personal shortcoming of mine. Now on to the important stuff. 100 different brews in a pub!? Now, that makes me thirsty. I have never been to Belgium. I have been to Switzerland, Italy, and GB. I loved all, but have a special fondness for Ireland. I actually thought I could drink beer.
I hate to interrupt a make-up fest, but there is at least one thing that needs to be said.
About 6.5% of the US population lives in trailers. That is it. That leaves 93.5% of the people who do not. I think we have gotten carried away with a very small segment of the population.
DIY_Peter said:
About 6.5% of the US population lives in trailers. That is it. That leaves 93.5% of the people who do not. I think we have gotten carried away with a very small segment of the population.
Been gone for a long while, and unfortunately don't have the time to go all the way back to where we were last time.
It seems this thread has become a pretty civil thread on the pro's and con's of life in America and Europe...
But what is on my mind is this: Have Americans, specifically those posting pro invasion of Iraq come to realize that the Neo-Conservative thinking is fundamentally flawed? And come to realize or admit that their government has taken them to the beginning of the end of American ascendency in the world? Or at the very least admit or realize that NONE of the root causes for 9/11 have been solved or worse yet been understood.
I suppose that most of you still know me well enough to realize that I don't condone 9/11
Cheers,
Bas
It seems this thread has become a pretty civil thread on the pro's and con's of life in America and Europe...
But what is on my mind is this: Have Americans, specifically those posting pro invasion of Iraq come to realize that the Neo-Conservative thinking is fundamentally flawed? And come to realize or admit that their government has taken them to the beginning of the end of American ascendency in the world? Or at the very least admit or realize that NONE of the root causes for 9/11 have been solved or worse yet been understood.
I suppose that most of you still know me well enough to realize that I don't condone 9/11
Cheers,
Bas
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