Why the hell don't we have a "world politics/affairs" forum....

[Flabbergasted]

This site has such a narrow focus of attention (Democrats, Elections, Bitch in Office, Domestic).

Any threads are extrapolations of these topics. Why not create an inverse forum of sorts?

Why not expand by actually discussing the outside world?

No offense intended.

But I think it would be really beneficial!!!!!

[Horse with no Name]

1. You could always venture to the Israel/Palestine forum

Don't forget your safety gear though.;)

[Flabbergasted]

3. Democratic Underground would increase in membership with a minor forum change....

Why not try to see things from multiple ways of seeing? Why not actually include I/P (as a seperate forum).

[Horse with no Name]

7. It is a separate forum

It is an emotional forum and should be by itself.
That being said, an international forum would be nice.
I wasn't being argumentative.

[Flabbergasted]

10. In a seperate forum as a subgroub of world forum.

We can certaintly call it International if you'd rec this?

[Horse with no Name]

14. Of course

You have a rec from me for it.:thumbsup:

[Ghost Dog]

15. Vote this up with an actual DU recommendation, then, please Horse.

Any more serious geopolitics or otherwise internationally-oriented 'freaks' out there in here also, please?

[Horse with no Name]

17. Done.

And kicked for more recs for a new group.

[LeftishBrit]

23. Yes - obviously I would be for this, as a non-American who is interested in American politics as

part of general world politics; and perhaps not all Americans here would agree, but I think this would be a great idea!

[rman]

22. That still excludes most of the rest of the world

[cool user name]

35. That would be suicide ...

Oh ... I'm going to hell for that one.

:hide:

[entanglement]

2. You don't mean "Edwards' House" is a narrow, focused issue, do you?

Have you even thought about the complexity of PLUMBING a 30,000 square ft house using non-union labor? Or the number of trees chopped down to build it? :cry:

[Ghost Dog]

4. Why is US culture so provincial, so parochial,

so self-centered and so wary of otherness, you mean, mate? If so, let me assure you, amigo, that you are imho so right.

But, to open up in such style just doesn't appear to be the 'American' way, mon ami. Hence, no further fantasy of 'American' leadership. Cookie crumbles. C'est la vie.

(No offense intended either :evilgrin: :hi: )

[Flabbergasted]

5. I'm saying that minor changes eventually become major changes

Thanks that was awesome!

[Ghost Dog]

9. I've raised the same issue myself here in the past, to no avail.

Understand: All is to be consumed under the rubric "National (In)Security", it seems.

BTW, The only place in the Americas I've ever set foot in (and I really don't enjoy long-haul flights) is the island of Cuba. But one is constantly inundated with (occasionally awesomely authentic/artistic)'cultural' references from stateside. Without going right now any further, two great 'mainstream' movies have quite recently taught me a great deal about life in the USA: 1). "American Beauty"; 2). "Crash".

Glad I didn't (above) have to employ the non-existent :irony: tag, btw. But here's some in-solidarity hugs :grouphug:

Please reflect and remember, folks: it ought to be possible to be pro-peace, multicultural and anti-fascist without necessarily being 'anti-American'.

Plenty of people around the world know you can do better than this.

Greetings from not far from the Mediterranean. :hi:

[Flabbergasted]

11. I understand that I don't care a rats ass for what the "elite" want.

No offense. Are you "in" with this?

[Ghost Dog]

13. Yes, of course above all I'm interested in international affairs.

(And I don't believe we're alone). That's why I'm (as a European) here.

ed. Please go for it. I support the proposal.

[Flabbergasted]

29. BTW I'm Born and Bred American but my wife is Born and Bred Bavarian nt

[mourningdove92]

6. Wouldn't do any good.

We would all still post everything in GD.

[Flabbergasted]

8. Depending on how it was set up I'd wager big on that one?....

Are you saying people are too stupid to understand globalization. (world corporatism). I'd bet everyone has something they need to say and learn about that?

In fact I think DU is dying to start that conversation.

[Ghost Dog]

12. One would have thought so, yes.

But, apart from GWOT-like 'Long War' military and resource profiteering spin-effects, it appears that the domestic feeding-trough will always outweigh those oh-so-esoteric 'foreign affairs' (I mean, like, ¿who, what, when, how come, where? Why didn't they teach me this in skool?).

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. There used to be one, but it got very little traffic

It was called something like "International Affairs/Security". One poster (I can't remember their name) diligently put a lot of international news there, but it rarely got replies. Instead, people put 'world politics/affairs' topics in GD, LBN, or Editorials (or, if they're likely to only be of interest to one country that has a specific forum, eg the UK, they end up there).

The forum was renamed to "National Security" (the poster 'Eugene' who posts a lot there may be the same person who posted a lot in the old forum).

It's a trade-off - you either create threads in a specialist forum, where they're easy to sort through, but attract little comment, or post in a high-traffic forum like GD, where lots of people see the title, and they attract more views and comments than elsewhere, but are difficult to find amongst the 'topic du jour' threads.

The 'General Discussion: Politics' forum made things slightly better, from an overseas point of view - some of the US-only politics went there, making GD slightly less of an inwardly turned forum. I find 'Editorials' can be quite good - some traffic, but not too much, and the articles that start the threads are more likely to be international than the "OMG", "concern troll" and other diversion that GD is prone to.

[Ghost Dog]

21. Perhaps a useful option would be to be able to post in GD, and select options

to link the same OP to/from other fora (without posting a seperate copy of the OP).

Should be a fairly simple thing to do in terms of database organization technique.

On the particular 'international' theme: it appears symptomatic that 'foreign policy' or 'international affairs' issues should seem to fall as it were by default into the 'National Security' slot, from a US perspective. Thus is a certain kind of insidious paranoia, to say the least, continually institutionalised; and the 'Neo-Imperialist' approach, almost with discussion, justification or explaination, becomes taken for granted.

[Flabbergasted]

31. Yes by default. I know. But how about expansion. I think most people here

would understand there is more going on than what is specifically a subject of American National Security.

[Flabbergasted]

25. Was it one of the Big Foums or Small Forums?

Overall the site may have changed since last it was around?

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. 'small' forums

I can't remember exactly when the name change happened, but it definitely became what is now "National Security" in the 'Topic Forums'. That's "National Security" as in "National Security Adviser/Agency", I guess - to me "National Security" sounds as if it ought to be a department running the police.

It's the fundamental problem with DU (and other forums) - any vaguely successful board gathers too many members, and generates too many posts, for one person to keep up with everything on it. So specialist sub-forums are created for people to follow their special interests - and then the expert knowledge ends up hidden away from a lot of the membership. Meanwhile, the general purpose forums fill up with extremely similar, and often pointless, threads. DU is actually the worst forum I've found on the web for this. The amount of threads with no replies at all during the State of the Union speech was amazing.

While DU perhaps has more members who are interested in world affairs now than when that forum was 'international'-named, I suspect the effect will always be the same - I see it in the Environment/Energy forum, for instance - global warming and energy policy have a large importance for people, but relatively few people keep up with it.

I'll do you a deal, though, if you want - I'll try to post international threads in the 'National Security' forum for a bit, and follow it, and encourage others to try it, if you will too (eg the occasional "look at this great post in National Security" plug in GD). Hopefully, people will notice the new threads on the Latest page and try the forum out.We can see if we can start a trend. :D If it takes off, we could ask Skinner to change the name.

[Flabbergasted]

28. There is no logical basis for posting threads about ie Lebanon in National Security

You're describing exactly the problem I'm talking about. Latest Breaking News is mainly not really LBN.

However if you took all the threads out of GD and GDP that specifically dealt with foreign countries and thoughts about the interconnectedness of the world I don't see why you wouldn't have a good forum. There is even some room for it as a big forum.

World Politics should undoubtedly be a separate Big Forum

[Flabbergasted]

30. Hmmmm.....

I think over the last six years you will find there is a growing trend in American political Awareness toward the worldly. Start a poll.

[Zhade]

16. Man, that's a great question.

My guess - even DU is not safe from the "USA IS MOST IMPORTANT' syndrome.

It's an unconscious thing, adopted early in life thanks to the propaganda that the U.S. is, like, the greatest country ever.

[Flabbergasted]

32. Most other forums have World Politics as a forum...

This site has a noble purpose but I think it needs to change. Eventually it will stagnate.

[alittlelark]

18. Sounds like a forum that would get 'interesting' comments

from low # posters.

[Ghost Dog]

19. It could become a place to come for updated background material on world affairs

issues and initiatives such as what these people are up to: http://www.soros.org/

Apart from the various obvious Middle-East / 'Greater Middle East' policies of the US there are signs of a new 'strucggle for Africa' going on; the 'Eurasian chessboard'; China and south-east Asia's development; a new Japan possibly rising; and a new Latin America also...

Plenty of action, a variety of interests and much food for thought.

These are issue which will undoubtedly be of increasing relevance to the domestic politics of the USA - as, indeed, we are seeing today. Many are tne international voices that have been saying that a greater understanding of the historical, environmental, cultural, social, economic and political factors underlying the 'instability' that the USA perceives in the world today can go a long way towards helping to come up with workable solutions that really should not become reduced to simplistic (eg. PNAC) 'security' issues in the popular mindset.

[Ghost Dog]

24. An example: a comprehensive Scoop article on the economic condition of Iran:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0701/S00336.htm

<snip to conclusion of a long, meaty article entitled "Ahmadinejad’s Achilles Heel: The Iranian Economy", By Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar, 24 January 2007 (Scoop 27 Jan)">

Iran with its tremendous natural resources and a young educated population has the potential to become an economic power house for the whole region. It has the potential to grow at 8 to 10 percent per year for the next two decades. Yet, year after year it grows at a mediocre rate and even that growth is dependent on the price of oil. The country suffers from lack of transparency, lack of regulations where it counts and over regulation and heavy bureaucracy where it isn’t needed. In other words, Iran suffers from systemic problems that can not be addressed piecemeal. The current high inflation, unemployment, underemployment and corruption are symptoms of these systemic problems.

Ahmadinejad’s economic policies certainly can be blamed for the current increasing inflation and unemployment. But he can not be blamed for everything that has gone wrong in Iran. Factionalism, push and pull from special economic interest groups, pervasive corruption, smuggling, bad management of state owned companies, badly planned subsidies, lack of comprehensive social security and health plan, lack of proper system for economic information collection and taxation are just a few of the problems that have existed long before Ahmadinejad became president.

The first step in the right direction is to improve the economic data collection system of the country. It is vitally important for the government to know who (individuals and corporations) earns what. Only through access to this information can the government create a workable taxing system. Only through this can the government begin to reduce corruption, target subsidies, reduce inequality and plan for the future.

The next step is to create a comprehensive social security system where people do not have to rely on charity foundations. These foundations have to be sold-off and the proceeds included in a social security fund for the country; other wise over time, these entities will become so powerful that they will become the effective rulers of the country.

The Iranian economy is now in stable condition going towards critical. As long as United States is threatening Iran, and with Iraq as an example of what can happen, people are willing to accept any kind of hardship. But once that threat is removed, people will demand an improvement in their standard of living, something that current economic system is unable to deliver. In the current economic environment, increasing salaries only increases inflation and unemployment.

The last three Iranian presidents have tried to tweak the system in various ways to optimise it without any success. They all had learned men advising them on the best way to manage this sick economy. Yet none succeeded. It is perhaps time for learning from others. The current learned people in Iran may be masters of squeezing all that is possible out of the current economic system, but that is not enough. It is time to change the economic system and try new things. It is perhaps time to become a learner again, for as Eric Hoffer (writer) once said “in times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

[Flabbergasted]

33. Hmmmm so were actually helping Ahmadinejad

"The Iranian economy is now in stable condition going towards critical. As long as United States is threatening Iran, and with Iraq as an example of what can happen, people are willing to accept any kind of hardship. But once that threat is removed, people will demand an improvement in their standard of living, something that current economic system is unable to deliver. In the current economic environment, increasing salaries only increases inflation and unemployment."

[burrowowl]

27. Good Idea!

[ConcentrationCramp]

34. My problem with such a forum would be

that my contribution would be the same every time: we can't even get our shit straight here, lets leave the rest of the world be.

Which of course is the exact opposite of American foreign policy, regardless of which Party is in power.

[Flabbergasted]

36. It could be educational hwever....nt