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Author Topic:   World reaction: Democratic win welcomed
DayDreamer
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posted November 08, 2006 05:01 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hopefully this is a good step forward, to reducing terrorism and putting priorities in order.

World reaction: Democratic win welcomed
POSTED: 1450 GMT (2250 HKT), November 8, 2006


MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The seismic shift that midterm elections brought to Washington's political landscape was welcomed by many Wednesday in a world sharply opposed to the war in Iraq and outraged over the harsh methods the Bush administration has employed in fighting terrorism.

From Paris to Pakistan, politicians, analysts and ordinary citizens said they hoped the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives would force President Bush to adopt a more conciliatory approach to the globe's laundry list of crises, and teach a president many see as a "cowboy" a lesson in humility.

But some also expressed fears that a split in power and a lame-duck president might stall global trade talks and weaken much-needed American influence.

On Iraq, some feared that Democrats will force a too-rapid retreat, leaving that country and the region in chaos. Others said they doubted the turnover in Congressional power would have a dramatic impact on Iraq policy any time soon, largely because the Democrats have yet to define the specifics of the course they want to take.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said American policy would not dramatically change, despite the Democratic election success.

"The president is the architect of U.S. foreign policy," the ambassador said in a videotape distributed by the U.S. Embassy. "He is the commander in chief of our armed forces. He understands what is at stake in Iraq."

Regardless of the effect on world events, global giddiness that Bush was finally handed a political black-eye was almost palpable throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as "the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world" and gloated that they left the Bush administration "seriously weakened."

In Paris, expatriates and French citizens alike packed the city's main American haunts to watch results, with some standing to cheer or boo as vote tabulations came in.

One Frenchman, teacher Jean-Pierre Charpemtrat, 53, said it was about time U.S. voters figured out what much of the rest of the world already knew.

"Americans are realizing that you can't found the politics of a country on patriotic passion and reflexes," he said. "You can't fool everybody all the time -- and I think that's what Bush and his administration are learning today."

Democrats swept to power in the House on Tuesday and were threatening to take control of the Senate amid exit polls that showed widespread American discontent over Iraq, nationwide disgust at corruption in politics, and low approval ratings for Bush.

Bush is deeply unpopular in many countries around the globe, with particularly intense opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, the U.S. terror detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and allegations of Washington sanctioned interrogation methods that some equate with torture.

Many said they thought the big gains by Democrats signaled the beginning of the end of Bush's reign. The next presidential election is in November 2008.

People across the Mideast also reacted swiftly, saying it appeared the U.S. president had paid the price for what many view as failed policy in Iraq.

Al-Jazeera television said on its Web site that the elections had been shaped "by an unpopular war in Iraq" as well as scandals at home and dissatisfaction with Bush.

No official comment
Most governments across the region had no official comment, but some foes of the United States reacted harshly. "President Bush is no longer acceptable worldwide," said Suleiman Hadad, a lawmaker in Syria, whose autocratic government has been shunned by the U.S.

Even some Iraqis voiced hope for change.

"We hope American foreign policy will change and that living conditions in Iraq will improve," said 48-year-old engineer Suheil Jabar, a Shiite Muslim in Baghdad.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, 35-year-old Jens Langfeldt said he did not know much about the midterm elections but was opposed to Bush's values. He referred to the president as "that cowboy."

In Sri Lanka, some said they hoped the rebuke would force Bush to abandon a unilateral approach to global issues.

"The Americans have made it clear that current American policy should change in dealing with the world, from a confrontational approach, to a more consensus-based and bridge-building approach," said Jehan Perera, a political analyst. The Democratic win means "there will be more control and restraint" over U.S. foreign policy.

Passions were even higher in Pakistan, where Bush is deeply unpopular despite billions in aid and staunch support for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

One opposition lawmaker, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said he welcomed the election result but was hoping for more. Bush "deserves to be removed, put on trial and given a Saddam-like death sentence," he said.

But while the result clearly produced more jubilation than jitters around the world, there also were some deep concerns.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told broadcaster TV2 he hoped that the president and the new Congress would find "common ground on questions about Iraq and Afghanistan."

"The world needs a vigorous U.S.A.," Fogh Rasmussen said.

Some also worried that Democrats, who have a reputation for being more protective of U.S. jobs going overseas, will make it harder to achieve a global free trade accord. And in China, some feared the resurgence of the Democrats would increase tension over human rights and trade and labor issues. China's surging economy has a massive trade surplus with the United States.

"The Democratic Party ... will protect the interests of small and medium American enterprises and labor and that could produce an impact on China-U.S. trade relations," Zhang Guoqing of the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a report on Sina.com, one of China's most popular Internet portals.

The prospect of a sudden change in American foreign policy could be troubling to U.S. allies such as Britain, Japan and Australia, which have thrown their support behind the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Democrats campaigned on a platform that demanded a change of direction in Iraq, and the war has lost the support of the majority of American voters.

"The problem for Arabs now is, an American withdrawal (from Iraq) could be a security disaster for the entire region," said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi analyst for the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "The Mideast could be left to cope with a disintegrating Iraq mired in civil war, with refugees fleeing a failed state that could become an incubator for terrorism."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/vote.world.reax.ap/

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lalalinda
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Posts: 1120
From: nevada
Registered: Apr 2009

posted November 08, 2006 10:50 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for lalalinda     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
here's a question to everyone who does not live in America.

Do our policies really effect your day to day life? If so, how?

and do you see a more liberal America as being a better friend to your country?

Or do you just see us as egotistical maniacs?
(these are serious questions though)

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DayDreamer
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posted November 08, 2006 11:38 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think the world feels safer with fewer Americans in power (neocons or republicans?) that believe they can go into other countries and tell them how to run things...Or in some cases actually attempt to force others to do things according to "America's" values and political/economic likings...without regard to what the people of those countries actually want and need.

America is seen as having an obsession with war by many. They're leaders in weapons and have military bases in many parts of the world. I think people feel safer that the loony bins that have been running the show the last two terms are losing power. I hope this will be the case.

The world sees what Bush and his neocons have done and created in Afghanistan and Iraq...And what they havent done in other countries and even in their own country (Katrina).

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Mirandee
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posted November 09, 2006 12:10 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Interesting article, DD. I was wondering how the rest of the world viewed yesterday's election results. I think it is as much a victory for the rest of the world as it is for most Americans.

The Democrats have stated over and over again that they don't want to cut and run in Iraq. That is just a Republican scare tactic to get votes. They want a timeline set for complete withdrawal from Iraq but not until the country has competent leadership. It is the strategy they want changed. They wanted Rumsfeld replaced by someone who would actually listen to what his generals in the field were telling him.

No one is going to cut and run. That was something that GW's dad did, not something the Democrats have ever even suggested.

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Iqhunk
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posted November 09, 2006 01:09 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
<<here's a question to everyone who does not live in America.
Do our policies really effect your day to day life? If so, how?

and do you see a more liberal America as being a better friend to your country?>>

Chaos Theory in a nutshell: "A butterfly fluttering its wings too much in the south pacific can cause a cyclone in the Caribbean."

Thoughts are things. Wealth is Energy. AMerica has the maximum GDP and the ways of their wealth have a huge economic impact.

The negative vibrations of hatred created by pro Bush conservatives, the masked racism etc bring about the feelings of disgust in those of other countries. These thoughts express as negative events.

A liberal anti-racist America with the image of the happy entrperneur than a hated Abu Gharabian Soldier can shift the vibes to positive.

If I may speak for the rest of the world, we loved the Clinton era. Inspite of the scandals.
Clinton may be a corrupt and lecherous individual but he did project optimism, wisdom and good vibes in all his speeches. The policies of his time created knowledge wealth and the greatest industry since manufacturing, the IT-Internet-Telecom boom. Bush and cronies could not think beyond oil, guns, "Hell"iburton and tax cuts, leave alone algorithm research and nano technology.

So yes, there is maximum happiness in the world when America is a liberal, peace loving, intellectual nation with a dynamically growing economy.

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thirteen
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posted November 09, 2006 09:19 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NPR last night was interviewing Ted Koppel about the election results. He said basically that to pull out of iraq would leave Iran the strongest power in the middle east. He said that nobody wants that. He said it will be impossible for the Dems to get out of this region. He said that there will probably be very little changes in the next few years.

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Iqhunk
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posted November 10, 2006 01:35 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Priceless gems in Indian newspapers today.

The best is a cartoon of a sad Dubya commenting:
"We gave Iraq Democracy and they gave us Democrats.."

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Mirandee
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posted November 10, 2006 02:52 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

Thirteen,

Both Ronald Reagan and Bush senior kept telling the people and the press that the budget could never be balanced. Clinton in his election bid for president said he would balance the budget and the second year into his second term of office Clinton had balanced the budget even though the press was echoing what the Reagan and Bush administration had told them. So for Ted Koppel to be echoing what the Republicans are saying well, it's nothing new. But they were proven wrong before.

We liked Clinton here too, Iqhunk. His popularity rating with the American people was well into the 50% range when he was impeached. Much higher than Bush's has been for a very long time now. He is still liked by most of the American people.

America has a history of presidents who have had affairs while serving their terms. But we have never come this close before in history of losing our democracy and our freedoms. That is why the Democrats were put in the Senate and the House. To stop the silent revolution of the Republican neo cons and their destruction of democracy.

Now if we can do that, restore the balance of power in America with a grassroots movement working with the Democrats, I think we can find a way to turn things around in Iraq that works for both our country and the Iraqi people. Then we need to develop a more just middle eastern policy and we should start in Palestine.

American citizens are also calling for something to be done by our government to help the people of the Sudan. Immediately if not sooner.

And that is why the ultra conservatives don't like us liberals. We change things. They want to maintain the status quo. Rather it is fair and just or not.

I liked what you said about the butterfly, Iqhunk, and it's very true. Like throwing a rock in a stream causes outward ripples.

I love that cartoon. hee hee

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