Thoughts on other world leaders and political figures

namelessfly wrote:May be it would help Merkel's image if she would publicize these photos of herself during her youth?

http://www.chrisspivey.co.uk/angela-merkel-naked/

...

My... EYES! >.<

What has been seen can't be made unseen. Namelessfly, you DEMON...

clancy688 wrote:

namelessfly wrote:May be it would help Merkel's image if she would publicize these photos of herself during her youth?

http://www.chrisspivey.co.uk/angela-merkel-naked/

...

My... EYES! >.<

What has been seen can't be made unseen. Namelessfly, you DEMON...

Actually, from the neck down Merkel was reasonably attractive. She was never in the same league as Governor Palin and she certainly has not aged as well.

namelessfly wrote:Actually, from the neck down Merkel was reasonably attractive. She was never in the same league as Governor Palin and she certainly has not aged as well.

Yes, I wasn't refering to the old bw-images. Those were kind of okay. I was refering to the newer ones...

Btw, simple and honest question: Is it possible for a not-attractive politician to be elected in the US? Or rather: Is it a handicap to not be attractive?

Because over here, it obviously isn't.

clancy688 wrote:

namelessfly wrote:Actually, from the neck down Merkel was reasonably attractive. She was never in the same league as Governor Palin and she certainly has not aged as well.

Yes, I wasn't refering to the old bw-images. Those were kind of okay. I was refering to the newer ones...

Btw, simple and honest question: Is it possible for a not-attractive politician to be elected in the US? Or rather: Is it a handicap to not be attractive?

Because over here, it obviously isn't.

We have plenty of ugly politicians in the US. Hillary Clinton certainly proves that point. Height rather than attractiveness has been the most consistent deciding factor for POTUS since we passed the 19th amendment.

I can understand why other European countries don't want Merkel ruling the EuroZone, but if they genuinely want to stop her they actually have to elect competent leaders of their own. The referenced article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2311874/DOMINIC-SANDBROOK-SATURDAY-ESSAY-mousy-hausfrau-ruthless-cunning-Angela-Merkel-Germany-master-Europe-way-Hitler-Kaiser-Wilhelm-dreamt-implications-frightening.html

is full of references to how incompetence by leaders of Europe's OTHER countries has transformed Germany into the dominant power it currently is. All the street protests in the world won't make a difference if they don't fix their own governments. And frankly if the leader of Germany were anything like the leader's of most of the rest of the EuroZone, the entire EuroZone would have collapsed by now.

Let's face it. We pay more attention to the way non-US politicians interact with the Pres. than how they actually do their job in their own country. It is only when we finally realize that what they decide affects the US that we give them any real scrutiny. And it still is most often couched in terms of "their" support of the Pres., not his support of their policies.
Part of this is the "fact" that what the US does affects a larger portion of the world than just about anybody else. In some respects this is a true statement. In others, it is false. Every industrialized country affects events around the world every day in major ways. It is not even necessarily the size of the economy involved that determines the impact. But the one being watched and blamed or praised is the US.

namelessfly wrote:
[Snip]

Actually, from the neck down Merkel was reasonably attractive. She was never in the same league as Governor Palin and she certainly has not aged as well.

OK fly where is the nude photo of Governor Palin so we can make our own comparisons? But please no nude shots of Obama my stomach couldn't take it.

Poker

PS. Why did Obama set fire to his wife's crotch?

It had a Bush on it.
.

clancy688 wrote:...

My... EYES! >.<

What has been seen can't be made unseen. Namelessfly, you DEMON...

That's what you get for looking!

biochem wrote:I can understand why other European countries don't want Merkel ruling the EuroZone, but if they genuinely want to stop her they actually have to elect competent leaders of their own. The referenced article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2311874/DOMINIC-SANDBROOK-SATURDAY-ESSAY-mousy-hausfrau-ruthless-cunning-Angela-Merkel-Germany-master-Europe-way-Hitler-Kaiser-Wilhelm-dreamt-implications-frightening.html

is full of references to how incompetence by leaders of Europe's OTHER countries has transformed Germany into the dominant power it currently is. All the street protests in the world won't make a difference if they don't fix their own governments. And frankly if the leader of Germany were anything like the leader's of most of the rest of the EuroZone, the entire EuroZone would have collapsed by now.

It is always easier to blame someone else for your misfortunes, than it is to admit your own failings.

Here in the UK, we vote for the Party, not the person representing the Party. This lack of attention as to exactly WHO we are voting for can and does lead to problems. For instance, there was a scandal involving MP's and Lord's fiddling their expenses a few years back which has lead to two Lord's and 4-5 MP's being jailed for fraud. This hasn't exactly helped the image of politicians in the UK, which is pretty low. Which probably exacerbates the "I'm voting for the Party, not the scumbag him/herself" tendency.

I believe most Europeans do the same.

Mike.

Michael Riddell wrote:...

I believe most Europeans do the same.

Mike.

Parties set a preferred order of their people on ballots, then voters voting for the party can mark any 2 of them as wanted on top by them.
Used to be that you could cross over any number of names you didn´t want but they changed it to the "bump up" system instead in the early 90s.

Personally i would prefer both combined but it can get complicated enough even as it is now so i certainly understand that one or the other is preferable for the sake of a system that functions without taking a week to figure out the results of.

The crazy guy in North Korea seems to be cleaning house. I wonder if he will be successful or if it will provoke a civil war? One of the ways in which these totalitarian personality driven regimes collapse is when the charismatic leader dies and is replaced by a less competent son, the other secondary powers (head of the military for example) see it as an opportunity to replace the scion of the ruling dynasty with themselves. So is Kim going to emerge as a strong leader with a consolidated power base or is North Korea going to descend into civil war?

I'm in favor of civil war myself. Generally civil wars devastate the civilian populace but in this case the civilian situation is so dire that diverting the various militaries/police forces etc to fight each other instead of oppressing the populace may actually improve living conditions for the civilians.