Cskin Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Can Canada now be considered an Ally? Can Mexico? Turkey's reluctance can be understood.... albeit not without a grimace. Is Spain now a favored nation? Does the whole transatlantic relationship morph into a new alliance with new members? Have we met our new cold war foes in Germany and France? Should Nato now be our "United Nations".... relegating the UN to essentially the FARM AID of the world? Hummmmm....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelms Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Our true friends: Great Britain, Poland, Australia, Spain, Israel, Kuwait, and now Iraq. Can't think of anyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gridironmike Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Our red, white, and blue American brothers and sisters!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SkinsHokie Fan Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 As hard as it may be Pakistan shoud be included. As much as I disklike Musharaff he completely reversed policy on Afghanistan and has been very helpful in this war on terror. There have been mishaps but Pakistan has been for a long time a loyal ally of America Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Consigliere Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 England. That's it. We have plenty of friends, but the only one I have 100% faith in is England. Other than a brouhaha over a ME issue back in the fifties, where we essentially told England to stop cold on a war/Battle they were about to engage in, we've been perhaps the greatest powerhouse partnership between countries ever. I trust England for a lot of reasons, although perhaps the most impressive one, is in their decision to not seek terms with Hitler in 1940. Instead, they stayed in the fight, essentially alone (getting financial and some shipping help from us, and Canada and Austrailia helped too) against the most powerful military machine in history up to that point. Only the Mongol Hordes could equal what the Nazi's were accomplishing at that point militarily in History. Still, they stayed in the fight, and fought the good fight. They've rarely been in the wrong on issues this past century, and have consistently had our backs, as we have had their's. I trust England a great deal and I consider them a friend. Many of you have listed other valid choices, although none of them would be trusted implicitly by me and considering a true friend (particularly Pakistan, which is one coup away from being as ugly, if not moreso than the Taliban/Al Qaeda Regime). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardi gras skin Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Counted on for what? What I find amazing is how few countries there are that have any ability to be usefull for anything other than talking. We've taken on the role of world policeman and, given the state of their militaries, most of the world seems to be fine with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbear Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Nelms, I haveto disagree on Iraq. I strongly suspect that their new government won't be viewed as "truly theirs" until they go against our wishes. That's the price for their legitamacy in the eyes of the Arab world and the Iraq people. That's fine. If we're smart, once we've set up the new Iraq government, we'll quickly give them something to go against us on. We'll make a big broohaha about it, and our public will talk about how ungrateful they are. Meanwhile, the foreign policy hawks will turn and grin a little. Atleast that's how I'd play it. If you really want to change that part of the world, it's got to be from within. That means acceptance is required. So set up a new government...put in place all the institutions that will bread freedom...then go away for a bit and let them work. We need to set up an independant judicial system, a truely free press (though it won't be kind to us at first), a liberal (by their standards) constitution, a transparent government in terms of spending, and free elections. We then need to make the institutions hard to change like they are here. Then we need to have faith that over the next 20 years another generation will come in that has grown up with the institutions, and they will begin to use them more like they are used here. I fully expect this to look like a trainwreck for the next 5-10 years. And the sad thing is that would be quick. A truely good government doesn't happen overnight. I just hope we don't panic as the first waive of religous politicians wins elections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennesseeCarl Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 I think we have friends - true friends - around the world. They may not always be in power in their country. I correspond regularly with a guy in the Philippines who became a Redskin fan when his father was posted in Washington during the 1950s. He - and many in his country - are very pro-American. But if the litmus test of friendship is blind acquiesence to everything we do, then nobody, including Britain, falls into that category. And look at the flip side. Is there any nation we ALWAYS side with? We sat on the sidelines of the Falklands action, saying it was purely a dispute between Britain and Argentina (which of course it was). Could you really respect any country that just went along with everything we did, regardless...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Could'a, Would'a, Should'a Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Originally posted by The Consigliere England. That's it. We have plenty of friends, but the only one I have 100% faith in is England. Other than a brouhaha over a ME issue back in the fifties, where we essentially told England to stop cold on a war/Battle they were about to engage in, we've been perhaps the greatest powerhouse partnership between countries ever. I trust England for a lot of reasons, although perhaps the most impressive one, is in their decision to not seek terms with Hitler in 1940. Instead, they stayed in the fight, essentially alone (getting financial and some shipping help from us, and Canada and Austrailia helped too) against the most powerful military machine in history up to that point. Only the Mongol Hordes could equal what the Nazi's were accomplishing at that point militarily in History. Still, they stayed in the fight, and fought the good fight. They've rarely been in the wrong on issues this past century, and have consistently had our backs, as we have had their's. I trust England a great deal and I consider them a friend. Many of you have listed other valid choices, although none of them would be trusted implicitly by me and considering a true friend (particularly Pakistan, which is one coup away from being as ugly, if not moreso than the Taliban/Al Qaeda Regime). Other than Vietnam, England has fought alongside us on every memorable skirmish to date, As far as true friends go there is only England. England the 51st state Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smsmith40 Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Could somebody please tell me where this country called England is. ? I think you might mean the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) of which England is one part. Sorry to be pedantic but I think it might be important to the following groups of people Royal Welsh Fusilliers Royal Scots Dragoons The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) The Irish Guards The Royal Irish Regiment All currently stationed in Southern Iraq and all definitively NOT English Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Consigliere Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 smsmith40: It's mostly South of Scottland, and west of Wales right . Seriously, I actually wrote out the U.K. first, but changed my mind and decided to be more specific historically. Perhaps it was the wrong idea, but it seemed right at the time. I'd never impune our excelent relationship with the Scots, and the Welsh, not to mention the Irish, all have historically been a great help, but I have a bad habit of using U.K. and the English interchangably, and decided to adjust it to England specifically. I probably should have gone with U.K. , but alas, I didn't. My mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJWatson3 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 hunter s thompson-- he also comes fully armed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJWatson3 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 here's a pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smsmith40 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 Well Consigliere its east of Wales but I think I've made my point. I know a lot of people use the terms interchangably, especially the English but it is important to those of us in the UK who would never describe ourselves as English. By the way England as a political entity hasn't existed since 1707 Union of Parliamnets so I doubt they have EVER been an ally of the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsfan44 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 nelms, you have to include Danmark on that list of our true friends. They have been by our side, even before WWII. They are part of the colalition and they are one of the very few country's of the world that celabrates America's freedom day, July 4th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 Let's add the Iraqi Kurds. Not exactly a nation, but they have stayed allied with us for decades despite how many times we've screwed them over. Also, virtually all the non-former-Soviet or Yugoslavian East Bloc countries i.e. Latvia, Czech Republic. And Japan. Yes Japan. They don't fight, but they put their trust in us, and are grateful for our transforming them into a democracy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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