Earl,
Why I asked?
I am Swedish and have lived and worked in 8 countries including US,
worked in 25 and visited 60+ more. I found many things that I liked
and some things that I disliked in all of them. I can make myself
understood in 5 languages, not including the Danish and Norweigian
which are very close to Swedish.
A big majority in all countries, are very proud of their country and
would not want to live anywhere else. The less international
experiences they have, the more staunch their opinions are. The
Americans do not want to live anywhere else and especially not in a
country like the "socialist" Sweden. The Swedes do not want to live
anywhere else and especially not the undemocratic US, where money is
the only power. Yet, I have never found any countries that has so
much in common as US and Sweden, this even if Sweden have a higher
general living standard, according to UN and US statistic. That is
also why Americans who live in Sweden generally like it very much and
the same for Swedes who live in US.
What I want to get to, is that you should avoid to have those
unqualified opinions about other countries. It is amazing how a
little bit international experiences can make you more humble and
appreciate that we are all people that basically like each other,
once when we get the opportunity to meet. There are also many very
good places to live, independent of what you think of their political label.
Visited Vietnam last year and it was amazing how Americanized and
unsafe the south still was, compared to the north. As a whole, it was
a very positive experience and interesting to see the places that I
for years followed in the news. They will develop fast and in a
positive direction.
Hakan
At 17:16 13/08/2005, you wrote:
Keith,
I think you are confusing what I said. I perfectly agreed with you
that the U.S. is not a charitable organization, and does take much
more than it gives (here and abroad). I can't speak for other
developing nations, as I have only lived in the U.S. (answering
Harkan's question in another email). But I expect you are correct
about that too. And the end result is an even bigger gap between
the haves and the have-nots.
The charity I was referring to is when individuals like your or I
give something (money, food, clothing, medicine, etc.) to someone
else, without expecting anything in return. It would be nice to
know that if I send a dollar to help provide clean water to a
village in Sudan, that 90 cents isn't being sucked up by some U.S.
corporation before it even gets there.
Thanks,
Earl.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Addison"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
No it is not charity, and this is the point you miss, I hope it's
through ignorance rather than convenience, but I think it's already
been pointed out to you. There is LOTS about it in the archives,
and the gist of it is that all the industrialised nations, the
so-called "developed" nations, and especially the US, take VERY
much more than they "give" to poor countries, and even the
"giving", in the form of "aid", is often or usually tied to
benefiting commercial interests in the donor countries rather than
benefiting poor people at the receiving end as alleged. All they
get dumped on them is harsh neo-liberalism and yet more imported poverty.
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