Just one last off-topic note to thank the US readers of this blog for choosing the right candidate yesterday, for giving us hope again, for putting an end to an 8-year nightmare and for allowing us all foreigners to recognize again the country we love so much.
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3 comments:
I do like your blog, but an "8-year nightmare" wow, tell us how the last 8 years have been a nightmare for you personally since you are not even a US citizen?, I'm curious?
Thanks for this stimulating post and for the kind words about the blog. Since this is off-topic, I believe you can carry on liking the blog even if you disagree with my political views, the same way I love Orson Scott Card’s science fiction books, although I dislike tremendously his political positions.
Now for the way the Bush presidency has been a nightmare for a non-US citizen that does not live in the US. Let’s just take three areas that have a truly global impact.
Foreign policy
The absurd invasion of Iraq destabilized one of the few laic countries in the Middle East (yes it was led by a horrendous tyrant but so are quite a few other countries some of which are “friends” of the US) resulting in:
- Thousands of totally unnecessary civilian deaths in Iraq.
- A reinforcement of the position of Iran (which is much closer to Europe or Israel – a country with which I has strong emotional ties – than it is to the US) from a geopolitical point of view.
- The creation of a focalization point and safe-heaven for terrorists.
- The death of 200 people in Spain (although in that case the stupidity of then Prime Minister Aznar, who should not have gotten his country involved in the first place, did not help). I live in Spain.
- The death of quite a few people in a terrorist attack in the UK (same reflection about Tony Blair’s mistake). I travel quite often to the UK.
In other words Bush’s foreign policy has been cause of the major destabilization of the world since some of Jimmy Carter’s blunders. This has lasting consequences not just for the US but for all of us.
The Environment
The unwillingness to recognize the huge issue we are facing with the environment, the attempts to suppress the evidence and the constant refusal to take appropriate measures to at least try and address the real issues has and will have an obvious impact on the rest of the world. This is probably the worst part of the whole nightmare from a selfish point of view.
The Economy
The financial crisis that the whole world is going through at the moment and that will become much worse in 2009 was easy to forecast since the huge tax cuts proposed by Bush a few years ago that resulted in a huge budget deficit for the US. This has an obvious impact on jobs all around the world, not just in the US.
Finally, and aside from all of this, I love the US, some of its culture and what it has meant for the world as a Shining City on the Hill for many years. Unfortunately with all the points I raised above plus horrendous stupidities like Guantanamo (proof the administration’s complete cynicism) the Shining City had become a Ghost Town on the Hill. Fortunately that was just an 8-year nightmare. Welcome back to the America we love.
Brilliant Didier! You would write a great political blog. You have sincerity, passion and greatinsight!
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