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 Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:17 pm What do you think about corruption? (any examples?) |
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Do you mean that the Albanians from Kosovo claimed that it was historically their land?? Now that is funny! Thirty years ago they were five or ten per cent of the population of Kosovo. They belong to Albania and if they wanted to have their own republic, they should have simply moved to Albania. In fact, all the people I know from Kosovo never had such an idea, and that makes me think that some people didn't want a republic as big as Serbia to exist on the Balkan peninsula. Maybe you should read a bit more about Balkan history and, referring to the San Stefano peace treaty, remind yourself who controls what happens here- those who can destroy us. So, when the Serbians disobeyed the Americans, they attacked them, but I never heard that the UN gave them a permission to do so. I was even more offended to hear that our forces allowed NATO to use Bulgarian airspace and to fly over our lands! And that is called neighbours!
OK, then I will change my rhetoric question a little bit: What will the US do if California was populated mainly by Mexicans, it is still one of their most famous resorts, and they want to make it a separate republic? As we saw with Kosovo, that could happen for thirty years!
Anyway, in Bulgarian papers was written a lot about the war, as it would be for any war, so although I was eleven at the time, I heard a lot about it as it was the most discussed thing for years to come.
To your question if I had visited the US, I haven't, and I never will. I don't agree with your president's ideas of controlling the world and with all the other governments' ideas of supporting him. If I ruled my own state, maybe I would also agree with him- there is no other choice. We all saw what happened to Serbia. The main reason why I don't want to continue my education in the US is that there is a lack of freedom for the underaged. I am considered an adult here, but I really don't want to wait till I'm 21 to smoke, drink or even not drink alcohol in a pub! Underaged people are generally allowed to do these things here, therefore I don't really want to change my habits. My neighbour has an American passport and he sais that we are not even allowed to go out and have a drink with friends! (I don't like discoes, so I have never asked anyone about them and that's why they weren't mentioned here)
I've been to Britain and I don't remember any other country in Europe to have given me greater satisfaction and happiness, as I have been to all the countries in Southern, Eastern, and Central Europe. Maybe the Ballearic islands were a nicer place, but I still like the UK and nobody can change my mind about it. I know that there is also a support for Bush's ideas, but where isn't? |
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ElenaUzunova
I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 25
Location: Plovdiv, Bulgaria
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| Mon Jul 31, 2006 14:19 pm What do you think about corruption? (any examples?) |
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| ElenaUzunova wrote: | | OK, then I will change my rhetoric question a little bit: What will the US do if California was populated mainly by Mexicans, it is still one of their most famous resorts, and they want to make it a separate republic? |
As I mentioned before, it would probably be put up to a referendum. US law does have procedures that allow a state to leave the union if it wants to, but so far no state has wanted to. Generally Mexicans come to California because they accept the American way of doing things, and they want to be part of it, not because they want to "take California back".
The one thing you can be sure the US would not do is what the Serbs did to the Kosovar Albanians, the Croatians, the Bosnians and others. They sent paramilitary forces into those areas who killed masses of men from the other ethnic groups. They frequently killed all the non-Serbian men in an entire town, whether they were combatants or not. The Serbs also terrorized the populace by raping and impregnating large numbers of "enemy" women. It was a frequent occurrence for raped Croatian and Bosnian women to arrive in Slovenia, give birth to the baby in the hospital, and leave it there, explaining that it was the offspring of a Serbian rapist.
| ElenaUzunova wrote: | | Anyway, in Bulgarian papers was written a lot about the war, as it would be for any war, so although I was eleven at the time, I heard a lot about it as it was the most discussed thing for years to come. |
You really need to discuss this part of history with some Bosnians and Croatians.
| ElenaUzunova wrote: | | We all saw what happened to Serbia. |
Yes. Bill Clinton told Serbia to stop the genocide in the other parts of the former Yugoslavia and enter negotiations. Bill was a big fan of the UN, so that's who would have been involved. Serbia continued to murder entire towns of men, military and civilian, so it was bombed into compliance. The Serbs could have done what the Czechs did, which was to let those republics go in a civilized manner, without ever picking up a gun, but instead they chose genocide and terrorism.
| ElenaUzunova wrote: | | The main reason why I don't want to continue my education in the US is that there is a lack of freedom for the underaged. I am considered an adult here, but I really don't want to wait till I'm 21 to smoke, drink or even not drink alcohol in a pub! |
So it's for the children's reason. This shows that you are forming your opinions on American society based on almost no knowledge. For several years the legal drinking age was lowered to 18 in most states, and in most of Canada. This resulted in a huge increase in highway accidents and deaths. In Bulgaria you probably can't drive until you're 18, and it would probably be many more years before you can afford a car. In the US, teenagers can drive at 16, and by 18 they usually have cars. Since the distances in the US are vast, and the cities are huge and complex, the main means of transportation in most places is private cars. This means that an 18-year-old who drank usually then got behind the wheel of a car. Not only that, but since many 18-year-olds are still in high school, they would buy alcohol for their friends who were 16 and 17. They would also get drunk, get behind the wheel of their cars, and kill other people, and themselves. Raising the drinking age back to 21 brought the rate of highway deaths back down to where it was before.
I have lived in Eastern Europe, and I have seen how blind drunk 18-year-olds there routinely get. If they had cars, there would be a national catastrophe. As it is, this alcohol results in a lot more rapes, beatings and other crimes that probably would not occur if teenagers could not drink there.
In the US, people have full rights at age 18, but they cannot buy alcohol, which is not a right anyway, but a privilege. You would probably be very upset to know that there are some states, like Mississippi and Arkansas, and some towns, where it is completely illegal for anyone to buy or sell alcohol no matter what their age.
| ElenaUzunova wrote: | | I've been to Britain and I don't remember any other country in Europe to have given me greater satisfaction and happiness, as I have been to all the countries in Southern, Eastern, and Central Europe. Maybe the Ballearic islands were a nicer place, but I still like the UK and nobody can change my mind about it. I know that there is also a support for Bush's ideas, but where isn't? |
I have also been to Britain, and I found the society and the people strangely similar to those in America. I did not feel like I was in a foreign country. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:40 pm What do you think about corruption? (any examples?) |
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Jamie (K), I really don't see what you've been doing in Eastern Europe (where every country is unique, because I don't think that Romanians and Bulgarians have anything in common) after you haven't gotten to know the people. As a matter of fact, I have been driving MY car which I bought with MY money since I was fourteen. I will be eighteen this Saturday, I still have no lisence and I haven't been involved in any accidents. I have 292 in TOEFL cBT, I also have Cambridge CAE and FCE and I am attending iBT on Friday. Alcohol has never been forbidden for me, but it is MY choice if I am going to drink and then drive. That is a cuiside. Simple ethics. Also, I don't smoke when I drive, because dropping my cigarrette could cause death to many people. I don't believe that smoking or drinking should be banned for anyone, as long as they KNOW HOW TO KEEP OUT OF TROUBLE. Some people become mature early, and you can't say that Americans or Bulgarians are such and such. I can say that this American is a jerk and that the other is a genius. There is always a black sheep in the flock, but we can't judge about the flock by the actions of a single sheep. That's what my grandmother sais, and I believe that she is right.
So, my personal conclusion from what I experience and what I see on TV (nobody can deny that the media is the third power in the world), I believe that alcohol, drugs and smoking should be allowed individually. If someone is caught to be driving after drinking, his lisense should be taken away and never retrieved. If someone is caught to be smoking where babies come to play all the time (when babies are present, of course), I don't believe that I will argue with you that he should be feed.
The problem is that other smokers and drinkers don't understand that they should keep to some ethic rules. If others are not to be disturbed by smoke, then don't disturb then. But the government is not right, too. Smoking is a multi-billion-dollar business, which will be voluntarily handed over to criminals. I will no doubt become one of them, because I get personal satisfaction and an escape from stress by this single thing that politicians want to ban. Instead of prohibiting tobacco, they should explain to the public what is ethic and what is not.
Smoking is partially forbidden in Bulgaria, but at the moment the community started to rebel, the situation changed back to normal. Seven children were murdered in a disco- the only consequence is that my personal identification card is asked at the entrance and no matter whether I am underaged or not, I enter as long as I have one. People here get them when we are fourteen. My driving and also working has never been a problem here- corruption is widespread, nearly everywhere. Economical police came today in my house to look for my father.So don't tell me to become an adult because I don't want to. They might come for me some day.
As long as I keep my brain working, I can do as I wish. Nobody can stop me in this country, and nobody wants to. |
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ElenaUzunova
I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 25
Location: Plovdiv, Bulgaria
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| Short fuse? long fuse? | Do you believe in ghosts? |
