Your opinion please : Which are the 3 most hostile countries ?
I'm thinking the top 2 would be N. Korea and Pakistan . N. Korea for general belligerence and Pakistan for it's religious intolerance and enforcement of the laws against blasphemy . Here is some more historical details about Pakistan :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmaan_Taseer
Taseer was governor of the Punjab province until he was assassinated by his own bodyguard , Mumtaz Qadri, in 2011 . Qadri was eventually put to death for that crime but many Pakistani citizens were strongly in favor of the assassination of this western leaning governor . Their "reasoning" has to do with the religious laws there against blasphemy . Pakistan supports the death penalty for blasphemy against Islam . And many of her citizens agree . There was a lot of support for Qadri based on the blasphemy laws . IMO this is their biggest stumbling block to acceptance of non-Islamic peoples .
Although there are many unfriendly Islamic countries most of them are too small to be much of a threat [outside of their own borders] . Also I'm not certain if blasphemy carries a death penalty in those other Islamic countries . By contrast Non-Islamic countries do not have laws against blasphemy as far as I know ...
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I'm not sure which country to pick for number 3 . Please feel free to explain your own views on this ...
I think most people would agree on N Korea as #1-- no one even comes close.
And with Pakistan, its not only religious intolerance. They been supporting terror attacks on India. (in fact, there's seems to be strong evidence that their ISI have been supporting terrorism for years.
Other than N Korea in the number 1 soot, I'd have to give it some thought-- there are a lot of contenders!
I don't know if Russia under Putin would qualify as #2 or #3, but they are certainly near the top of the list. And while with Russia its more overt, China been a bit more covert, especially in terms of technology-- hacking varius entities in the U.S., as well as stealing industrial secrets).
Venezuela has been very hostile, but they don't have much power externally. And Iran's rulers are pretty nasty.
This is a difficult topic to address . Thanks for adding your thoughts . That's a good point about the covert nature of Chinese opposition ...
Iran is a whole 'nother ball o' wax . Since their sanctions are over with it is important to include them ...
It's a difficult topic to discuss because the answer is subjective depending on what the criteria are.
The biggest threat to the US is probably China, because they have the most people, and a society that is oppositional to ours, have a large military, and are a major economic competitor, and take a long range view.
The biggest threat to the US is probably China, because they have the most people
The population size is not the big issue when it comes to unfriendliness . The issue concerns belligerence and attitude . China has had a long history of relatively peaceful relations with her neighbors BUT internally that history included some major wars and power struggles . That's what happens when your history is about having a monarch in charge with no method to select him . Elections are a new concept there ... and not fully adopted as the accepted method of choosing government .
Assuming, Petey, that you mean unfriendly to America, and it is on the basis of government to government rather than people to people, look for the countries where the call for "Death to America", the burning of the Stars and Stripes and the dancing and passing out of candies when a disaster, such as 9/11, happens to America and those things are tolerated, perhaps even encouraged by their governments, then those are the ones I would call the "unfriendliest".
I would never put China in such a category, because I am aware that the Chinese people have great affection for America and all things American, worship NBA stars, wear T-shirts with American brand names on them, consider it a treat to eat American style (Pizza Hut, McDonald's, KFC, Subway, Burger King, etc etc), have a desire to study in America, and as a teacher who has asked his students which country they would want to visit I can say the answer is almost always "America". Not only did China's president study in America, visited the people he knew there while VP, his daughter was a Harvard student. By the way, would you lend money to a person you hate? - how much has China lent to America? Don't think China is alone in practising clandestine spying or corporate espionage - they're probably a poor copy of America's proficiency in doing it.
Thanks for your unique perspective Buzz . I was attempting to get at the idea of distrust of foreigners . And I agree that China is pretty good about foreigners for the most part .
I do recall that while touring Spain and Morocco about a half a century ago, that American backpackers would sew a Canadian flag on their backpack because those were the days of the "Ugly American" and Americans travelling in other countries were rude and crude and disliked for those reasons, whereas Canadians were considered polite and respectful and were liked.
I'm guessing it was only male white Americans who were selected for that description ...
I believe the description did not apply specifically to persons of ANY colour - only to the general term of "Americans".
Unfriendly to whom?
If it's their citizens, you put N. Korea in there. Syria has murdered half a million of its citizens, and caused a few million to cross borders to leave. Iran gets this gladhanding as some kind of "intellectually progressive" population, but there is no peace for critics of government, who are incarcerated for years without trial. Lots of hangings. Don't let them know if you're gay. They talk about women in government, so that makes I all right /s. Their policies are still rife with subjugation. And of course, the hostilities to the West.
In retrospect I should have been more specific in my question . I was going for relations with other countries more than internal strife . Your characterization of Iran seems to be accurate . But here is some interesting news from that region :
Iran is facing a 'wide-scale armed uprising' as Kurdish insurgents have started targeting the Revolutionary Guard
In this case Iran appears to be attacked on her borders ... thoughts ?
My thoughts are that hegemony is a game that leaves you with a great deal of enemies in every theater that you pissed in.
Iran has been great at appearing to be passive for decades . But they do stuff in the background . They let their proxies fight for them ...
Unfriendly to whom?
I'm going with Jon on this one. That is the relevant question. To the US and not necessarily in this order, I would say, Iran, Russia, and N.Korea.
To the US and not necessarily in this order, I would say, Iran, Russia, and N.Korea.
Sounds right to me.
I vote:
I wouldn't pick Russia because I don't think the people of Russia are anti American. I think it's only Putin and his circle of flunkies.
If I could add a 4th I'd select Saudi Arabia.
Thanks for expressing your opinions PJ . As to Russia , the west has had a love/hate relationship with her for a long time . She was , after all , an ally during WW2 .
Would you care to expand on your views about Iran ?
Hi dear Petey! Sorry I'm just getting to your question. I've been really busy today. :o)
Iran has been isolated for so long and I never get a warm and fuzzy feeling with countries that are ruled by religious leaders. My impression is that they are still too oppressive even though they try to give the appearance of being more progressive then they really are. I would not feel safe going there as a woman or an American.
I don't blame you PJ . Iran has been anti-American since the installation of the Shah ...
I wouldn't pick Russia because I don't think the people of Russia are anti American. I think it's only Putin and his circle of flunkies.
I don't know any Russians except on the internet, so I'm not sure how accurate a representation I am encountering...
...any way; a couple of the Russians I have conversed online with were quite nationalistic, very nice, intelligent, open and very patriotic, and see Putin as stalwart defender of mother Russia...
We have partisans right here on NT that feel the same way about Obama !
Depends on where you go in Russia. St. Peterburg, they don't like Putin, but Moscow they hold him in high esteem.
Thanks for the extra 411 ... I didn't know that .
If you're asking about how people interact with each other it's my experience that most people are relatively friendly but there are a small number that are not friendly at all. It's that way here and it was like that in the five countries I travelled to.
it was like that in the five countries I travelled to.
I have little expectation it wasn't BUT it may be the countries you could NOT travel to where the problems are ...
If I could NOT travel to certain countries how would I know if they were friendly or not ?
This is a news based site . If you choose to not follow international news then you would not know from 1st hand experience .
I thought your article was asking for opinions. I simply offered my first hand experience.
This seems like a silly approach to me . Looking for unfriendly countries from your personal experience usually involves being in the military . You weren't in the military , right ?
This seems like a silly approach to me .
What are you talking about ?
Looking for unfriendly countries from your personal experience usually involves being in the military .
I was never looking for unfriendly countries. What an odd thing to say.
You weren't in the military , right ?
What does military have to do with anything I said ?
I'll just say "ta ta" 'cause I just can't make any sense out of your comments.
I was never looking for unfriendly countries. What an odd thing to say.
THAT is the topic . If you don't want to talk about it you should def leave ...
The most unfriendly country I have visited was France, or more specifically, Paris. On the other hand, Normandy was wonderful to visit. Both trips took place last summer.
The most uneasy feeling I got was in Morocco, and then Tokyo. Everyone was polite of course, but.......
I've never been to Morocco or Tokyo but Paris I had mixed experiences. I encountered some people who were rude but some were very nice and genuinely friendly. I think knowing how to speak some french helped and as far as the meanies well the wine took away any bitterness I experienced from them :o)
Its good that you have personal travel experiences to bring up but it seems unlikely those locations would be among the most unfriendly in the world . Can't you find info in the news that is more on topic ? Should I change the title question to ask about hostility instead ?
Yeah, make it "Why is Petey hostile ? "
I am not the topic . Get off my thread , NOW . The next stupid off topic comment will be deleted .
Lighten up.
There are some countries which undergo periods of hostility to foreigners . Here is one most people here don't think much about ... Egypt :
You have a bizarre set of obsessions Petey.
I'm sure Lara Logan will be happy that you think her life experiences were bizarre . Have you ever visited Egypt ? Have you considered doing so ? If not why not ?
North Korea, Iran, Russia.
Would you care to expand on your motives for your choices ?
Petey, if you keep an eye on your articles, you should ask Perrie to dump the spam and ban the spammers. I think that selling insecticide is a little off topic.
Buzz ,
I already informed a mediator about the spam but Perrie is currently unreachable .
Gone.
I've never been anywhere other than Mexico, and the regular people were lovely!
However, I've been to Epcot Center, and I must admit that the French were quite snotty, the Germans were chilling and the Italians were arrogant. Not that it means anything-- it's Disney, after all. Those cold German eyes. Of course I tried out my school girl's German on them, and they were like, "Not an Aryan, are you? Ve haf vays of making you talk..." If you're trying to sell me a $1500 cuckoo clock, you'd better be a bit nicer!
Still no luck reaching Perrie ? Can't you delete those spam ads from my article ?
I got rid of the spam and spammer almost 20 minutes ago.
Thanks RDS . The server is slow . I just changed the title from "unfriendly" to "hostile" . I hope that will make it clearer what I had in mind ...
No problem
BEfore I left my comment, I looked at all the comments, and didn't find any from the spammer... Maybe my server is faster or something-- Maybe Randy had already taken care of it! I did my best, Petey...
Maybe Randy had already taken care of it!
I'm guessing that's what happened . BTW happy mom's day !
Thank you! It's been a great day! Godiva chocolates and my favorite perfume!
YAY!!!