Btw, the ability to differentiate very clearly between an entire country and the current leadership is equally evident throughout Germany.
It is no secret that we opposed Bush and the Iraq war from the very outset, but deducting from that that we are anti-American is just plain wrong, as our extremely enthusiastic welcoming of Obama clearly demonstrates:
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/news-current-affairs/35652-germany-obama-superstar.html
As I wrote in another thread:
"Nobody would question that the USA, like everbody else, has its share of bad deeds, but it has also done a lot of good in the past, and I am the first to acknowledge that, and as I have shown in the "Germany: Obama Superstar" thread, the problems we have are by no means with the US itself, they are merely with the current leadership, with the corrrupt, incompetent, and criminal NeoCons that are currently running the show and making the world a much more dangerous place through a lost oil war in Iraq, and another lost war in Afghanistan, and, also, by having clearly demonstrated that illegal wars or overt force are once more a perfectly legitimate means of politics, a band wagon the Russians in Georgia and Chinese in Tibet have all too willingly leapt up on.
But my understanding of true friendship is that one does not shove problems under a carpet and hope they will disappear of their own accord.
Friendship does NOT mean supporting Mussolini just because the Romans contributed lots to civilization, nor does it mean supporting a friend I don't have who decides to go start robbing banks, and, in the same vein, friendship also does not mean supporting the US in a blatant oil war based on nothing but lies and deceit just because we also owe them a lot.
In all these cases REAl friendship means not breaking off the frienship in a childish huff of posturing.
But it also doesn't mean that I support my friend through his wrong and counterproductive plans just because he was a good guy in the past.
No, what it does mean, imo, is, remaining engaged, showing real conviction and real courage, standing up, doing the right thing, and telling ones friend that they are most seriously going off on a wrong tack that will without doubt entail unforseen and severe consequences.
That is real friendship.
Anything else really amounts to little more than the inexplicable, obsequious behaviour of an abused and exploited wife who nevertheless stands by her husband, or a mistreated dog that still loves its daddy."
OK, lets get Obama elected and take if rom there, and, Split and DD, you won't hear a peep from me
no more.
