Aby The Liberal

Captain Sasha June 19th, 2011

A couple of years back, I wrote to a British newspaper that Tony Blair’s friendship with the United States is going to end up like a deal with Rumpelstiltskin (a character in a German folklore). My statement was vehemently opposed, both by British nationalists who were in denial and by Americans who insisted that their relationship with Britain is one of harmony and kinship. The recent spate of extradition of British citizens by US law enforcement agencies while rejecting Britain’s demand for extraditing IRA terrorists shows a rather weird expression of kinship and harmony between US and the UK.

Gary McKinnon faces extradition for hacking the NASA servers and look for ‘little green men’.

A 23 year old student, Richard O’Dwyer from Sheffield Hallam University faces extradition to the United States for hosting a site that provided links to download American films and TV shows. Never mind that not only did he shut the site on notification, but as a British citizen residing in Britain, he is subject to laws and trials in Britain, not United States. More so for a crime that is rather petty - copyright infrigement is like a political crime, an offence of conscience and artificial interpretion, rather than a crime against humanity. On that note another British citizen, an Asperger’s syndrome sufferer Gary McKinnon, is also battling an extradition for hacking into a US government website and looking for ‘little green men’. For those who think this is diplomacy, I’d say it is more a D&S relationship between the US and UK where UK is the submissive. Despite countless attempts and requests from Britain to get IRA terrorists and their financiers extradited from the United States, the US government has done the diplomatic equivalent of plugging its fingers into the ears and shouting ‘la la la la..”.

I wonder what the future holds for Britain. If they are not careful, they could end up a puppet state of United States, just like some of those Latin American and South East Asian countries. Something I’d hate to see happen to a country that gave us some of the most brilliants minds and the best gifts of science since the time of Issac Newton. It is time that the people of this great country wake up and make a stand against this violation of the freedom and sovereignty of their people.

• America , Europe , Freedom of Press , Media Control , World Politics
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Captain Sasha June 3rd, 2011

I read an article in USA Today, that talked about how American tourists are singled out and harassed overseas. Yet another one of those  “we are victims of the world’s hate and jealousy” pieces that the US public seems to be rather fond of. The article talks of how American tourists are harassed, insulted and even spat on in Europe, just because they are American (and no, you weren’t spat at because you wore that “America! Fuck yeah!” t-shirt).

My interest was piqued by the last paragraph of the article that tells of the experience of a US TV star trying to pick up two girls at a bar. The excerpt:

“Man, it was bad,” says the Rat Pack-y star of Swingers. “These girls saw us and were kind of flirting, and they kept asking us if we were American. Finally we said, ‘Yes,’ and they just took off.

“One girl turns and says, ‘We were hoping you were Canadian.’ Canadian? Since when was it cooler to be Canadian?“

 

Most Americans would have missed the irony in the last sentence, but with attitudes like this, it is no wonder these people have problems in Europe. Someone needs to educate these people that wearing your “We are the coolest” mindset isn’t going to help you score brownie points in Europe. Especially since Europeans do not watch as much American films and TV as you’d like to think and their idea of who is cool is based entirely on merit, rather than TV tropes. Unless you get that in your heads, Canadians will always be cooler in Europe.

If you believe that you are the coolest one around because you are American - forget travelling to Europe. Try India or the Philippines, countries where people believe that Americans are the gods of coolness. The rest can enjoy their travels in Europe; I am sure your travel experiences will be pleasant, interesting and enlightening. I haven’t personally known any American who got taken to task for their nationality anyway.

This is a guest post sent by a reader, Eugenia Stergiou from Athens, Greece. Post has been edited by Captain Sasha for better grammatical clarity and comprehension.

• America , Europe , Sarcasm , Travels
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