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vermontsavant
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20 Sep 2020, 8:10 am

Is there such thing as a friendly foreign country?

It is interesting that the word in English for a person's national origin is "ethnic" as in ethic origin Ex.....

And "ethnic" which means in Greek lacking in "ethikos" which meant morality or morals.This come from Greek speaking early Christians calling the pagan nations "ethnic" because they thought they lacked morals.

And the phrase caught on and people started calling any person from a foreign country "ethnic" and today ethnic simply means your national origin.

I think throughout history people have always saw there culture as right and other countries as wrong.And likely all countries have there faults which are obvious to other countries and we see the faults of other countries as obvious as well.Hence the world filled conflict and countries make temporary alliances because they have mutual enemies there more concerned about.

It's the old "my enemies,enemy is my friend" and that is the root of most international alliances.

So I guess in the end all countries are out for themselves and friendships are just temporary conveniences.

I suppose the answer to your question would be NO.


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20 Sep 2020, 8:42 am

The short answer is no ...by definition all sovereign nations ("sovereign" for practical purposes simply means "having your own standing army") live by "the law of the fish"(as the Chinese say), or "the law of the jungle"(was westerners say).

But some combinations of cooperative countries are both "friends and allies", and others are "just allies". For example in WWII the UK and the USA could be said to be "both friends and allies" ( shared values and like that). But the relationship between either the UK or the USA with Stalin/the USSR would be better described as "allies but not exactly friends".



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20 Sep 2020, 11:30 am

Metal Rat wrote:
Still, what really angers me is how others refer to America as a Nation. For, after all, America has always been far too Ethnically and Racially diverse to be any form of National State, like say, Poland or Germany or France or Israel is. America, unlike those other countries does not have any actual Ethnic Majority.


What surprises me is:

A. You don't know know that those other countries are also racially and ethnically diverse.

B. A nation can be defined by any common identity, which does not have to be racial or ethnic.



Jiheisho
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20 Sep 2020, 11:56 am

Metal Rat wrote:
There is no such thing as a friendly, foreign country. Every country, on the face of the Earth, is the enemy-- the potential enemy-- of every other. Thus, it would be really sad if Americans were to heatedly debate, among themselves, as to whether the Russians are eviler than the Germans, or the other way about. After all, they might forget, to their peril, that the French and the British are not exactly their friends either!

One of the problems, with Americans is that they seem so fixated on The Second World War and the Early Cold War, that they forget all about the events previous to the 20th Century: the American Revolt, the War of 1812, and the Napoleonic War. Moreover, however one may feel about either Russians or Germans; I would argue here, that they were the way they were, and did what they did, due to how both Russia and Germany were surrounded, and played against each other by the French and the British, among other Colonial Powers. So much comparing and contrasting between Stalin and Hitler, yet Napoleon Bonaparte, and even King George the Third, are much forgotten.

Indeed, much of both Russian and German militarism, I would argue here, was in reaction to French and British Colonialism. What do the rest of you think? I wonder!


If I remember, King George is dead and his policies are long gone. (You do know that the British monarchy is no longer a political institution in regards to UK policy.)

Interesting question. Lets take Germany and Russia.

Currently, which of these two countries: interfered with our election to sow discord; are aiding opposite sides of conflict we are engaged in; have cooperative military and intelligence agreements with us; support our international objectives; etc...

Sure, every country has its own interests and who is friendly can change over the course of history. Right now, Russia is a great threat to this nation. Germany is not, but we are also harming that relationship.



Kraichgauer
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20 Sep 2020, 3:51 pm

Jiheisho wrote:
Metal Rat wrote:
There is no such thing as a friendly, foreign country. Every country, on the face of the Earth, is the enemy-- the potential enemy-- of every other. Thus, it would be really sad if Americans were to heatedly debate, among themselves, as to whether the Russians are eviler than the Germans, or the other way about. After all, they might forget, to their peril, that the French and the British are not exactly their friends either!

One of the problems, with Americans is that they seem so fixated on The Second World War and the Early Cold War, that they forget all about the events previous to the 20th Century: the American Revolt, the War of 1812, and the Napoleonic War. Moreover, however one may feel about either Russians or Germans; I would argue here, that they were the way they were, and did what they did, due to how both Russia and Germany were surrounded, and played against each other by the French and the British, among other Colonial Powers. So much comparing and contrasting between Stalin and Hitler, yet Napoleon Bonaparte, and even King George the Third, are much forgotten.

Indeed, much of both Russian and German militarism, I would argue here, was in reaction to French and British Colonialism. What do the rest of you think? I wonder!


If I remember, King George is dead and his policies are long gone. (You do know that the British monarchy is no longer a political institution in regards to UK policy.)

Interesting question. Lets take Germany and Russia.

Currently, which of these two countries: interfered with our election to sow discord; are aiding opposite sides of conflict we are engaged in; have cooperative military and intelligence agreements with us; support our international objectives; etc...

Sure, every country has its own interests and who is friendly can change over the course of history. Right now, Russia is a great threat to this nation. Germany is not, but we are also harming that relationship.


I think if we get rid of the orange turd, then everything will be okay with us and the Germans again.


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20 Sep 2020, 4:04 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
I think if we get rid of the orange turd, then everything will be okay with us and the Germans again.


The current US president does - indeed - appear to be relevant to the deteriorated relations between the US and Germany.

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Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020 ... rus-badly/



Erewhon
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27 Nov 2020, 4:48 am

vermontsavant wrote:
Is there such thing as a friendly foreign country?

It is interesting that the word in English for a person's national origin is "ethnic" as in ethic origin Ex.....

And "ethnic" which means in Greek lacking in "ethikos" which meant morality or morals.This come from Greek speaking early Christians calling the pagan nations "ethnic" because they thought they lacked morals.

And the phrase caught on and people started calling any person from a foreign country "ethnic" and today ethnic simply means your national origin.

I think throughout history people have always saw there culture as right and other countries as wrong.And likely all countries have there faults which are obvious to other countries and we see the faults of other countries as obvious as well.Hence the world filled conflict and countries make temporary alliances because they have mutual enemies there more concerned about.

It's the old "my enemies,enemy is my friend" and that is the root of most international alliances.

So I guess in the end all countries are out for themselves and friendships are just temporary conveniences.

I suppose the answer to your question would be NO.


Sorry for the late answer. My answer to your question is NO.
A planet with more than 1 country makes polarisation, not only countries, religion have the same mechanism.
The most danger from today is the invisible country. I mean the multinationals who infiltrate in the visible countries.
These invisible countries among the countries are not a unity, the multinationals who based on China are different than the invisible powers from India, Russia, and the west.

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naturalplastic
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27 Nov 2020, 1:50 pm

vermontsavant wrote:
Is there such thing as a friendly foreign country?

It is interesting that the word in English for a person's national origin is "ethnic" as in ethic origin Ex.....

And "ethnic" which means in Greek lacking in "ethikos" which meant morality or morals.This come from Greek speaking early Christians calling the pagan nations "ethnic" because they thought they lacked morals.

And the phrase caught on and people started calling any person from a foreign country "ethnic" and today ethnic simply means your national origin.

I think throughout history people have always saw there culture as right and other countries as wrong.And likely all countries have there faults which are obvious to other countries and we see the faults of other countries as obvious as well.Hence the world filled conflict and countries make temporary alliances because they have mutual enemies there more concerned about.


Also of note is the word "nation".

The word "nation" is related to all of those words with "nat" in them like "nativity scene", and "prenatal care". Its derived from the word for "birth". Your 'nation' is both the piece of land, and the tribe, into which you were born.



Erewhon
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29 Dec 2020, 1:54 am

I think its a Bansky.


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naturalplastic
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29 Dec 2020, 5:53 pm

What's a "bansky"?



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29 Dec 2020, 6:33 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
What's a "bansky"?

Him, I assume
Banksy
Quote:
Banksy is an pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director, active since the 1990s. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. Banksy's work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.

Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. Banksy no longer sells photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, but his public "installations" are regularly resold, often even by removing the wall they were painted on.[6] A small number of Banksy's works are officially, non-publicly, sold through Pest Control. Banksy's documentary film Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for the film. In 2014, he was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby Awards.


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Erewhon
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02 Jan 2021, 9:05 am

The Olympic flag i like to. The symbolic of unity on the planet.
All the 5 rings have the same size, and they are connected with each other.
A good medicine against nationalism and religion.

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CockneyRebel
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02 Jan 2021, 10:29 am

Erewhon wrote:
The Olympic flag i like to. The symbolic of unity on the planet.
All the 5 rings have the same size, and they are connected with each other.
A good medicine against nationalism and religion.

Image


That's why I love The Olympics and the Olympic flag. Can't we all just get along, instead of making each other feel unwelcome?


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02 Jan 2021, 10:48 am

CockneyRebel wrote:
Erewhon wrote:
The Olympic flag i like to. The symbolic of unity on the planet.
All the 5 rings have the same size, and they are connected with each other.
A good medicine against nationalism and religion.

Image


That's why I love The Olympics and the Olympic flag. Can't we all just get along, instead of making each other feel unwelcome?


Actually no, not really, when the US, Russia and China take up to 90% of gold medals, the other countries feel really inferior; it reminds us of the wealth gap in the world.



Erewhon
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03 Jan 2021, 8:08 am

There are also the Paralympic Games, also a social thing.

The famous words from Pierre de Coubertin.
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07 Jan 2021, 11:02 am

Fnord wrote:
I think that this thread was started to preach Nationalism.


I think OP is [or was] blatantly trolling.