[the so-called pinacle of free speech & yet when malaysian prime minister criticised the way US admins handled certain issues, they told him to shut up or face the consequences, whatever that means. ]
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- There was a large internationall poll carried lately on -democracy and press- US and Russia were close to each other staying on 100+ position. The winners were Norway, Sweden. So, democracy, you say?
[sorry, sometimes i just feel that US admin act the big bully of the world & don a 'police uniform' 4 justification. my bitter 2 cents.]
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- Hmm, we are coming back to a question. What makes one country better than another one? We can endlessly say that culture, economy, high-tech development or social helthcare etc. but, still now and forever the main reason will be military force. You have 2 tanks I have 100 so, shut up and do it my way. So, US is the strongest in the world, and it has it's own idea and plan of world domination.
Btw., Clinton was more economy oriented president, Bush (I think both of them) don't care much about economy, and pay closer attention to the means of force. It brings sooner results <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
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[the cons will be that the strong ones will suffer some setback due 2 'supporting' their poorer neighbours by distributing their currency buying power into a pool of more generic currency which becomes standard for every EU member. poorer ones will get a good deal out of this but richer ones will be poorer. it's distribution of currency buying power.
much like accepting a lower level dude into your party of elites & u see your ratings go down ...... . average does that 2 u.]
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- Disagree. Supporting lower neighbours, they make them richer (look at Greece)
The annual fee every member pays to EU depends on countrie's GDP. As GDP goes higher the fee raises, supporting the pool.
Also there are taxation and legislation bonuses from supporting so called poorer neighbours, so everyone stays happy and richer don't get poorer.
