Baff2

Do you? As for burying American presidents upside down if they got involved in civil wars, genocides of their own people or revolutions, which president are you planning to dig up first? It's not a case of right, it's a matter of power, and plenty of people hold that authority and have held that authority all through history. Unlike you, Stalin considered all those Russian massacring Nazi volunteers and death camp running Ukrainians not to be all that innocent. Neither do I. That you wish to define them as "his own people" says alot about you. In a revolution, the enemy is your enemy, not your own side. The same in a civil war, the same during an invasion. A war is a war.

Why would US citizens be apathetic to a country ruled by a man that kills millions of his own countrymen? or a country that has a government that allows it to happen? If an American president  did that, you would carve his face into a mountainside or something. America has had it's share of revolutions, civil wars and genocides too. Very disappointing, if not a little stomach turning to think this kind of attitude still persists in such an otherwise enlightened nation.

We already love the allies we got including your nation..... A feeling that's not too mutual currently. Deep down you get that fuzzy feel for America. So, you can't hate us. We don't hate America, America hates everyone foreign. American Exceptionalism is directly opposed to the national intrests of all other nations by it's fundamental principle. As long as you follow this path it is self-defeating for anyone to ally with you. In the long term, should you persist with this, we will have to take a stand against you. Here in England we culturally associate that attitude with Nazi Germany and the parts of British history that we are too ashamed to teach our children in school. The fuzzy feeling felt here for America comes predominantly from the WW2 generation. And they are a dying breed. The majority feeling here is anything but fuzzy. Visitors are advised to say they are Canadian in public. I was highly ashamed of my town when an American lady, here attending her mother's funeral last week, said her son had been attacked 3 times in as many nights. I live in Cambridge. A multicultural tourist town. I was speechless with shame. Support for the U.S. is not a vote winner. When given the vote, parliament voted against allying with the U.S. for the invasion of Iraq and PM's decision to do so anyway sparked the largest public demonstration in the history of the country.

How do you make them loot all the shops?

We already love the allies we got including your nation..... A feeling that's not too mutual currently.

Not nearly, they've thousands report to hospital, grounded two aeroplanes, shut down an area of his hotel. They've found radiation all over the place, even in Italy and Germany. The saga continues.

Do you think the mass panic part was the radiation, or all the loud smoke alarms going off at the same time?

We're have an exploding peace protester. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news....t12.xml Or at least we could of had, until they banned peace protests. Luckily parliament has been saved again!

As far as I'm aware Illusionsoft are still working on it, and Atari is still publishing it.

How about the United States does not drop the so-called "idea" of "American exceptionalism"? How about the U.S. finds some new allies?

My mistake. They changed it 5 years ago it seems. Not that I was right even then, since they changed it from 18 to 16.

I'm British, the age of consent for manloving here is 21. The Iranian parliament has an elected parliament. That makes it democratic. There are countless successful democracies in which positions of high authority are appointed not elected or in which the appointee's are censured by an unelected body. (The unelected House of Lords regulary veto's appointments to it's own body). With the neighbouring democracy of Iraq as a regional example, the largest political party in the land has been 100% vetoed from standing by a foreign power. Voter turnout however was still highly impressive. I wouldn't call it an advanced democracy or even a successful one, but it's still a democracy nevertheless. Gerrymandering is an unfortunate factor of all democracies not just Iran. The U.S. and GB have different methods of manipulating their own votes. But they have them nonetheless.

Id say they know quite a bit considering all the messing around with it they have done. If you think goverment-approved sources are the best way to get critical information on a country.. I also believe they called Pol Pot's cambodia the "Democratic Cambodia", north Korea the "People's republic of Korea" and of course every fucked up african state likes to put the word democratic and republic in their name. This is about the equivalent of calling somebody with 8 speeding tickets worse than somebody who was convicted of 7 murders. If your idea of progressive society is something where under 18-year-old boys can get strung up for gay sex I dont want to know what you consider regressive. Those American government agencies haven't had any involvement in Iran at all. I absolutely agree that politically motivated state controlled sources are not to be relied on upon. Particularly not foreign ones from an enemy nation that have been directly attempting to destabilise the regime for the last 30 years. Even domestic Iranian state departments are more credable than those. Iranians have the internet too. I spam with Iranians in Iran every bit as often as I do with you. They have telephones and internet, there is not a political appointee with a machine gun standing over them as they type. Our access to knowledge is not limited to government propaganda in this day and age. I'm not disputing that their are less liberalised democracies than our own, only that Iran has a very advanced one and is more comparable to our own than to Pol Pots. Amnesty Internationals reports on Iran are no worse than it's reports on Guantanmo or the H blocks in Northern Island. Injustice is not a word that only applies to foreigners. You offered the size of the reports as your qualification, I have demonstrated that to be very comparable. Not only that but I have demonstrated that in the case of Finland, those reports cite identical injustices. I don't think Amnesty Internetional addresses traffic violations. I'm not equating traffic offences with murder, I have equated the imprisonment of consciencious objectors with the imprisonment of consciencious objectors. While gay sex under the age of 18 is illegal here also, I don't attempt to condone hanging as a method of punishment. That is unacceptable in my own society. If you continue only to look for the injustices or evil in any society only, that is all you will find. You seem to have never looked for anything good about Iran. Only that which you are able to revile. You will never gain a balanced perspective about that place (or any other) until you learn to. I can't force you to be open minded, or to learn about things you do not wish to. I do however, offer the suggestion.

Freedom of speech while fully an admirable ideology, is not a system of government or a function of democracy. By way of comparison. The U.K. also does not have freedom of speech. The state is the largest media body and excerises censorship, editorial veto, lisencing restrictions and content enforcement over all the independants based on it's political, moral and religious agendas. Public demonstration is only allowed under approved lisence. You are not even allowed to say what you like to your friends and family in private. Racist incitements or anti-religious intolerance for example, are a criminal offence. The U.K.'s second chamber, it's judiciaries and it's head of state are all appointed not elected as are the BBC chiefs. It's still a democracy. I'll go further, it's still an advanced democracy.

What are you talking about? You are talking mumble jumbo like I do sometimes. I was talking about candidates for office (i.e. the House). You are ignoring what I said. I'm sorry but.... Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Yes, the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council agrees with you. I have given up. Â Since your comparison is mumbo jumbo, please forgive me if my any comment about it appears the same. The Guardian Council does not hold the same political function of the House in the U.S. You are still attempting to directly equate two different governmental systems. They do not equate. Iran is not the U.S. I'm aware of how the U.S. government and society functions. I'm aware of how the Iranian government functions. Believe it or not there is more than just one successful system of government on the planet. More than one type of successful democracy even. N.B. The President of America, agrees with you too.