Obama won re election

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Originally Posted by Sailor

So, as an outsider i think i do not have the need or right to tell my opinions about your candidates, but based on the facts i would say that the ones with opinions on rape like Romney would go down here forever.

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Many Thanks, for proving my exact point with that statement, you have zero correct information there yet somehow you think you are informed.. :(

BTW your Government signed the treaties that put you into Kosovo, and Afganistan, maybe you should have been more concerned with who you voted into office and perhaps the ties that connect you to the US would be lessened... Seems your Government made its own choice to go


"Finnish cooperation with NATO is based on its longstanding policy of military non-alignment and a firm national political consensus. From this basis, Finland selects areas of cooperation with NATO that match joint objectives. The country monitors developments within NATO and continues to entertain the possibility of applying for membership of the Alliance in the future.
An important area of cooperation is the country’s support for NATO-led operations. Finland has worked alongside the Allies in security and peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and currently has troops stationed in Afghanistan"

Besides those excellent points made by Sailor, we are all part of this straightrazor community are we not? Very few threads on politics come up that are not US-centric, so I also think what happens here is that non-USsians who want to participate in political discussion get drawn into the ones that come up. As I have said before, ignorance should be no barrier to expressing an opinion. If it was, talkback radio would have died a quick death many years ago.

James.

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Originally Posted by Birnando

Yes, you are right, they have lost a fair bit of potential voters lately.
I think it is a case of not being the one setting the agenda.

The conservatives seems to be the one doing that on that side of the political spectrum these days.

Our election is one year away, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out for sure.

As to a two-party system per se, that would be a bit of a simplification to say we have a battle of those two parties only, but the main opponents are, as you said, the conservatives vs the labour party.
The difference is that none of them are remotely close to majority in the Parliament and relies heavily on support from other parties on their side of the whole Left/Right spectrum.

Today, the Labour party is the bigger part of our current 3-party Government.
The other 2 are the Socialistic left and a centrum oriented party that focuses on rural Norway.
From the looks of it, our conservative party will take power next year, but only with the support and participation of 2 or 3 more parties of the right wing. (The Christian Democrats and the Progress party. Possibly also a party called The Left, who are based pretty much in the centre of the spectrum)

To further complicate matters, some of the parties close to the centrum of the political spectrum can, and have, joined governments form both sides.
Messy stuff, I know:)

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The main point here as I see it is that all your parties MUST work and deal to achive the greater good,,

For the US all politics are centered around staying in politics... :(

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Many Thanks, for proving my exact point with that statement, you have zero correct information there yet somehow you think you are informed.. :(

BTW your Government signed the treaties that put you into Kosovo, and Afganistan, maybe you should have been more concerned with who you voted into office and perhaps the ties that connect you to the US would be lessened... Seems your Government made its own choice to go

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You got it wrong, so to say. Our government is to stand with our allies, both in good and bad, not to run away when things go wrong.
Although we have several opinions how things could have been avoided, that doesn't make us run away when it comes to our national interests only.
Down with the King, as to say, but the king ain't here for us.
Not related to your elections, of course.

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Originally Posted by Sailor

You got it wrong, so to say. Our government is to stand with our allies, both in good and bad, not to run away when things go wrong. Although we have several opinions how things could have been avoided, that doesn't make us run away when it comes to our national interests only.
Down with the King, as to say, but the king ain't here for us.

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From my research Finland has played both sides of the coin for many many years, you haven't wanted to anger your Russian neighbors who have point blank said "Joining NATO would not be looked upon favorably" Yet you also want to be friends with the NATO countries and the US
Russia and the Former Soviet Union was ok with a non-comitted Finland and a neutral Sweden and figure that was an ok buffer from a NATO Norway...

This of course is what I read from news sources, and what I remember from living in Norway during the bad old Cold War days, I don't live in Finland now so it is hard for me to know the truth


One must be careful when they start looking through the eyes of the media, this is my only point,,,

You guys across the oceans are only seeing the US through the eyes of the media :( and from your statement about Romney and Rape something is being lost in the translation of even that bad source

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

From my research Finland has played both sides of the coin for many many years, you haven't wanted to anger your Russian neighbors who have point blank said "Joining NATO would not be looked upon favorably" Yet you also want to be friends with the NATO countries and the US
Russia and the Former Soviet Union was ok with a non-comitted Finland and a neutral Sweden and figure that was an ok buffer from a NATO Norway...

This of course is what I read from news sources, and what I remember from living in Norway during the bad old Cold War days, I don't live in Finland now so it is hard for me to know the truth


One must be careful when they start looking through the eyes of the media, this is my only point,,,

You guys across the oceans are only seeing the US through the eyes of the media :(

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Not only through the eyes of the media. I have family members living there.
I guess conversation about our foreign politics would be interesting (for me) but not much anyone else.
Things ain't always the way you see in the media. Me, working for the military know it quite well.
Howevers, every country needs allies. You shouldn't spit in the eye those who have stayed on your side, both in good and bad.
Of course it's not always for your greater good only. As said before, when thing are going ok in US, it has positive influences on EU & Australia and vice-versa. Without us you wouldn't have much friends out there.

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Dude yer Old :rofl2: I only was around for Perot

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Didn't say I was there, just that I knew of them.;)

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Please don't take this the wrong way

It does amaze me that so many of you guys that are not Americans are so involved and concerned with our politics, and our way of life, so much so that you are offering your opinions...

Honestly I couldn't tell most of you who your leaders are, what their stances are, what your Health systems are, or Tax systems are or Welfare systems, and better yet I don't really care, unless I lived there, it really isn't my business...

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Amen to that i have a britis friend that can tell me more about my chain of command in the usa than i can, it must be because we were so interesting at one point that they started spying on us lol jk but i give you guys credit.

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

One must be careful when they start looking through the eyes of the media, this is my only point,,,

You guys across the oceans are only seeing the US through the eyes of the media :( and from your statement about Romney and Rape something is being lost in the translation of even that bad source

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Wait, 99.9% of the us members do the same, and I think 100% of the participants in this thread were not present when those rape comments were made.
The difference, I guess, is that living in USA one could have a broader view just from the possibility of interacting with more people, but that's not a given. If you chose to live in a bubble (usually ideological), then you'll be poorly informed no matter where you reside.

As far as international politics, I would love to have more discussions on those, but sadly most americans lack the intellectual curiosity to seek information. When we've had the occasional such thread it draws almost exclusively international members.
I think it would be really good if the regular american routinely read news coverage from other countries, especially from the important geopolitical allies, rivals, and enemies, sprinkled with the occasional non-player. Like it or not the world is getting more and more connected, and choosing to not know what's happening is bound to end up hitting you in the pocket (universal common denominator).

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

This of course is what I read from news sources, and what I remember from living in Norway during the bad old Cold War days, I don't live in Finland now so it is hard for me to know the truth

One must be careful when they start looking through the eyes of the media, this is my only point,,,

You guys across the oceans are only seeing the US through the eyes of the media :( and from your statement about Romney and Rape something is being lost in the translation of even that bad source

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You left out the important part Gugi,,, The part about not living there which means you are saying the same thing as I am... you have to take in a ton of view points and decide on your own where the truth is

And Sailor attributed Akin's & Mourdock's idiocy to Romney with the rape comment, which is exactly what the Left Leaning media intended to happen, Romney said no such statement...

GOP Senate Candidate Akin Says Pregnancy ‘Rare’ in ‘Legitimate Rape’ - ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/...ry?id=17552263


My entire point was the by only seeing something through the lens of the media which has it's own bias you are not seeing the truth only anothers rendition of that truth...