Change the Guard

shakes asked:


I keep hearing about Palin having no foreign policy experience as vice president but obama the top of the demacratic ticket who wants to be president has no foreign policy experience and no experience of any kind. Since vice-presidents amount to nothing after the election. Whats more important.

? ? alma ? ? asked:


Foreign policy is by definition an expression of nationalism. The doctrine that the state belongs to the people and that each nation has to have its own state interacts with foreign policy.

What are the specific issues illustrating this interaction?

Murad Ali asked:


Saudi Arabia and the United States have been friends for some time. To the average public within the country most Americans view Saudi Arabia as sponsors of terror citing the countries Muslim background. However, Saudi Arabia regularly supports the United States and has done so again in the last round of OPEC meetings.

Venezuela and Iran wanted to open discussions about valuing oil against a new currency standard then the dollar. They were hoping the move would be symbolic that the world should move away from seeing the United States as a leader and move towards some other supper power like China or the European Union.

The 12 member OPEC dignitaries flew into Riyadh and Saudi police and helicopter blocked roads, and protected the sky with helicopters and the dignitaries made it to their place of residency. The meeting was called to discuss oil exports and the cost of oil. In addition, the meet is to ponder ways of reducing emissions.

A secret broadcast came around which showed that Venezuela and Iran were behind the move to change how oil is priced into another currency. Venezuelan representative Angela’s de Morais stated, “The weakness of the dollar is affecting us all” and “But that’s a global-scale problem. It’s not for an individual organization to tackle.” He was referring to Saudis insistence on keeping the American dollar.

Saudi Arabia doesn’t want to see the American dollar collapse as much of its economy is based on the American dollar. They have hundreds of billions of dollars invested within the United States and removing the dollar as the oil pricing standard may make it decline further which is likely to hurt Saudi Arabia further.

The dollar has declined significantly over the past few years. This decline is up to 15% against the Euro in the past 12 months alone. As the dollar deflates American buy less products from overseas which hurts our allies and business partners. In addition, the decline in the dollar reduces the value of investments made by foreign countries in the Euro.

When countries purchase American dollars or make investments in American dollars they can find that the dollar is deflating which means they are losing money on their investment. Each dollar is worth less then it was a few years ago and therefore their investments have shrunk. To counter this a number of countries have begun to diversify their holding in foreign currency to more stable currency like the Euro.

The declining value of the dollar is a double-edged sword for the United States. On one end the declining dollar increases American exports because American products become cheaper but on the other end America has less foreign influence because countries aren’t selling as many products in the United States.

The current crisis the country has to face is the amount of dissention that a number of disgruntled countries are beginning to show now that their economies are not so tightly tied to the U.S. We may see a growing trend of countries attempting to hurt American interests and business partnerships around the world.

John Callingham asked:


If you’re a beginner at trading foreign currencies, this is the article you need to jumpstart your career as a trader in the Forex market. Here you will learn to trade foreign currency the right way, with all the data you need to know out in the open, all secrets exposed for your very use.

If you’re an individual who’s interested to invest in the currency market and learn to trade foreign currency, the basic things you must have is knowledge in the currency market lingo, currency trading software, and a Forex mini account from which you will do all your trading.

Basically, the first thing you have to do is to open a Forex mini account. This is an account for new traders who lack the necessary funds to open a standard account. You can open a Forex mini account of your own by paying a relatively small fee so you won’t experience any damage to your pocket on the onset. The lot sizes that are traded in a mini account are 10,000 of the base currency, unlike in a standard Forex account in which the lot sizes that are traded are at least 100,000.

Of course, you won’t be able to make good trading if you don’t know your current affairs. If you want to learn to trade foreign currency effectively, try to read the newspapers and watch the cable news channels to be updated on currency status, as well as factors that influence currency value, such as socio-political standing in a country. Also keep track of the rise and fall of interest rates, other political and economic factors, as well as bank activities and import and export policies.

Naturally, if you want to earn, you’ll have to make an investment - and it’s not just about your money. You have to adjust your biological clock. Keep a trusty sleeping and waking patterns. Remember, the Forex market is open 24 hours a day. You don’t want to miss any good trading so you must be informed and ready to trade any time, day in and day out.

To learn to trade foreign currency, you must be fluent or knowledgeable in the currency market lingo. For example, you have to know what PIP stands for (it stands for price interest point, signifying the tiniest fluctuation in the price of a particular currency). There are many other terms you must discover in order to trade efficiently. You want to be able to understand what’s going on, so brush up on your Forex market lingo skills.

Finally, download good currency trading free software. In this way, you won’t have to deal with a broker in the Internet and shell out big bucks. Most brands of software available in the market are user-friendly so you won’t have to worry about messing up the downloading and installing processes.

With these secrets exposed, you can now learn to trade foreign currency and profit big from the Forex market.

? ? ? ?.??????.? ? ? ? asked:


I think he is a little cute, I don’t know what happened to me! I’m in love with Barack Obama!!

How many of you have a crush on Barack Obama?

CSPANJUNKIEdotORG asked:

APRIL 21, 2007 CSPAN CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER

m1media asked:

Exclusive: Palin On Foreign Policy
Katie Couric Interviews The Candidate About Watching Russia, Her New Passport, And Her Opinion Of Obama

Katie Couric: As we stand before this august building and institution, what do you see as the role of the United States in the world?

Sarah Palin: I see the United States as being a force for good in the world. And as Ronald Reagan used to talk about, America being the beacon of light and hope for those who are seeking democratic values and tolerance and freedom. I see our country being able to represent those things that can be looked to as that leadership, that light needed across the world.

Couric: In preparing for this conversation, a lot of our viewers and Internet users wanted to know why you did not get a passport until last year. And they wondered if that indicated a lack of interest and curiosity in the world.

Palin: I’m not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world.

No, I’ve worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I guess, that culture. The way that I have understood the world is through education, through books, through mediums that have provided me a lot of perspective on the world.

Couric: Gov. Palin, you’ve had a very busy week. And you’re meeting with many world leaders. You met with President Karzai of Afghanistan. I know the McCain campaign has called for a surge in Afghanistan. But that country is, as you know, dramatically different than Iraq. Why do you believe additional troops, U.S. troops, will solve the problem there?

Palin: Because we can’t afford to lose in Afghanistan, as we cannot afford to lose in Iraq, either, these central fronts on the war on terror. And I asked President Karzai, “Is that what you are seeking, also? That strategy that has worked in Iraq that John McCain had pushed for, more troops? A counterinsurgency strategy?” And he said, “yes.” And he also showed great appreciation for what America and American troops are providing in his country.

Couric: The United States is deeply unpopular in Pakistan. Do you think the Pakistani government is protecting al Qaeda within its borders?

Palin: I don’t believe that new President Zardari has that mission at all. But no, the Pakistani people also, they want freedom. They want democratic values to be allowed in their country, also. They understand the dangers of terrorists having a stronghold in regions of their country, also. And I believe that they, too, want to rid not only their country, but the world, of violent Islamic terrorists.

?ThE OnE asked:


Like women that have made economic, cultural, religious, or foreign policy impacts on america or the world. or women like Asma Jahangir who is a pakistani leader, who is on house arrest right now. …i dont know what she did though.

IC asked:


Foreign movies which have been nominated for awards in several categories were recently produced (2006) and are now being rated and recognized according to how fresh their material is, the content quality, story lines, best actors, best directors, etc. There have been several foreign movies which deserve to be mentioned but just a few excel in their genre.

This year’s most successful movie genres have been: Drama/Fiction/Fantasy/Sci-Fi through film such as Pan’s Labyrinth, Drama: Days of Glory and The Lives of Others, etc.

This year, distributors waged Oscar campaigns for their foreign fare, among them Picturehouse for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth,” the Weinstein Co. for the French-Algerian World War II pic “Days of Glory,” Fox Searchlight for Deepa Mehta’s “Water” and Sony Pictures Classics for Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver,” German drama “The Lives of Others” and Zhang Yimou’s “Curse of the Golden Flower.”

Starting with Pan’s Labyrinth, a very renowned films which portrays the though environment a young little girl lives through and how she finds a way out through her amazing imagination in order to survive her harsh reality. This film reminds us of the ways children think and how we as adults have lost touch with such wonderful imagination. This is without a doubt one of the best recent foreign films done in spanish.

The exquisite film “Days of Glory” is a French-Algerian production which deals with discriminatory treatment of French Africans which is still an issue today, and the conditions leading to a change in government policy. A very heart touching moment in relation to this film occurred at the Cannes Film Festival when the four main actors sang a song which has a sad yet truthful line: “we come from the colonies to save the motherland, we come from afar to die, we are the men of Africa”.

“The Lives of Others”, this film takes place in 1984, east Germany, just before the Berlin Wall fall in 1989. This excellent German production dramatizes the repressive living conditions under a communist regime. Set during the time that Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s movies had saturated world cinema consciousness, The Lives of Others’ style is cool modern noir.

From clever exposés of human nature, reality, psychology and social conditions these films stand out and make us think about our world’s situation, our part in it and it teaches us about the mistakes people have made in the past so that we don’t fall in the same destructive cycle. These foreign films are true masterpieces of our time.

longhaired freaky person asked:


If your answer is “not much”, can you explain why the U.S. President and Secretary of State talk as if they rule the world?