I just don't get this attitude that if someone hates us and in turn puts us in danger of a terrorist attack that we shouldn't try to make them not hate us which implies it would make us less in danger of a terrorist attack.

Cute pictures though.

I just think by placating our enemies, perceived or not, we may end up alienating our allies but that’s were that word HOPE comes in again as in ‘we hope they (allies) bend over like we are’

So if we make ourselves liked around the world which allies are going to turn on us?

Isreal vs. insert name here? but I'll take a stab and say Iran

Israel will never turn on us. No matter what we do their entire existence hinges on the rest of the Middle East not being able to attack them. There is no way they ever turn on us and if they do it will be the last mistake they ever make.

are you kidding me? and the right is extreme?????

No, no, no, you missed what I am saying. What I am saying is if Israel decided to turn on us they would lose our protection and then the rest of the Middle East would crush them. I'm not saying we'd crush them.

I'd didn't presume we'd turn on them, and guess I mistook what you were trying to say

What I am saying is that we have a whole bunch of countries in the Middle East right now that have been recruiting youths into terrorist organizations on the basis of hatred for Americans. So if we can improve our image to them we cut off their lifeline, which is new recruits. And there is no way that Israel is going to get that upset over reducing terrorism in the Middle East since they are an easier target than we are.

Dont be naive enough to think that maybe they will start to "like" us. Our image is a rich country while the vast majority of people there are poor. Class envy, which is a key democratic tool by the way, will never allow the US to be "popular" there not to mention that kids recruited into terrorism are generally the ones that have few other appealing options. They are easily led astray because of the lack of opportunity that oppressive govts in the region create for their people. It is how they stay in power. If you are leading a country over there it is much easier to simply blame a far away, wealthy nation for your troubles than actually indulging in solutions. The people in power want to stay there. It is far easier to do so with an oppressed population. Not to mention that despite the idea here that somehow the region is hoping to settle the Palestine issue with a 2 state solution, the vast majority of the powers that be over there continue to support the one state option, which is Israel goes into the ocean. I know you understand this stuff but we have to understand that there is pretty much nothing that we can do outside of bombing Israel ourself that will make us popular there. Not to mention that the terror groups have plenty of paid professional terrorists to carry out their plans. The dumb kids that they get to blow themselves up are seen as expendable. Remember that Hamas was voted into power there.

Well it turns out they did cross (for 30 seconds?) Obviously we could learn a great deal about border security from that little dictator.

Good point!

glad slick willy pulled a jessey j..you know he got a "happy ending" on the plane..

Wow, you could apply some of this to most American inner cities...maybe we should worry more about that than our 'appearance' to the rest of the world?

oh yeah, cause years of hard labor is certainly the correct punishment for thirty seconds across an invisible line. the day we start taking pages out of the books of countries like north korea is the day we start to cease to exist as the land of the free.

i just read this:


Christian activists who work on the North Korean border believe two American television reporters may have walked into a trap when they were detained in March and say their arrests led to a crackdown on refugees.

Mitchell Koss, 56, a television producer, and Kim Seong-chol, a Chinese-Korean guide, both escaped and were reportedly detained by Chinese police.

“There is a strong suspicion that he [the guide] was heavily involved and it was a trap,” said an experienced activist who has led dozens of refugees to safety. There has been no word of Kim.


Such suspicions are bolstered by a first-hand account given to The Sunday Times by an American missionary who was warned by Chinese police a month earlier that the North Koreans were trying to capture a foreign journalist.