Yes, thanks. I encountered some of these a few years ago at a US Venezuela soccer match in Cincy. They didn't like my "US hands off Venezuela" sign. There were a few positive comments though too.
Oh I had this amazing argument with an alleged Venezuelan in the runup to the US election. He was going to vote Trump, because of all the awful evil terrible Venezuelans using the H1b visa to enter America. Really terrible people, gang members etc.
Hey how did you enter the US then?
“On an H1b visa. But when I did it it was ok, unlike now.”
But do you not think this might rebound on you somewhat?
“No, I’ve got citizenship, and kids, I’ve been paying my taxes for years, I’m not an illegal…”
Erm right. Not convinced your new racist friends will make the distinction. Then he started digging for biographical info on me, either to ad hominem me or maybe he was a fed planning to round me up, who knows. I didn’t give anything.
I wonder about that guy sometimes, assuming he was real.
The "gentleman" failed to redress the failures of his own countrymen within his country of origin, so he moved to another country in hopes that his failures could be justified...
Thank you Caitlin. I would always yield to people who would say, "My family" . I stopped doing that when a grad student from Iraq( Kurdish) said, " This is my country" then went on to say we in the u.s. should kill everyone so his family could return to killing everyone. Our relationship changed when he no longer saw me as a friendly voice of guidance and help. He never understood that his opinion had no more weight than mine. I wasn't speaking uninformed and he knew that. In fact I had more knowledge of what was happening that he did having been disconnected from all the facts rather than a one sided argument as told by his family. We went on to murder a million or so people in Iraq many being children. He could not see what happened in the Iran/Iraq war shaping the WAR on IRAQ. Weapons of Mass Destruction, a whole lotta lies. Soon they will be telling us Child Rape is good , War on Cuba is important to our survival, War on Iran is needed to create the Greater israel so the world can be at Peace. : (
My family's from Italy — half specifically from Genoa. I think the Genoese dockworkers would tell me to STFU were I to go tell them "non dovete protestare contro Israel qui" (you shouldn't protest against Israel here), when what they'd want to hear is Italy's Fascist government is a full-fledged toadie to US imperialist scum, disconnected from the will of its people, just like yours.
Same goes for a Russian expat as well… something I’ve had a personal experience with, listening to someone badmouth Putin as a reason for all the horrible inhumanity/death the U.S. has created in Ukraine
K'noath, Gypsy. As an example of the history of the Zionist project from w-a-a-a-y back, there were many alternatives to Palestine all over the fucking planet that they were thinking about for their 'god's chosen people' to found their Jewish state. Among these was the Murray-Darling River basin (Australia) and The Kimberley (Western Australia), both, I am reliably informed, didn't rate a mention in the bible. Curious, eh! Chuck is right. Make Palestine Palestine again!
I'm like your dad, Gypsy girl, to me Scotland is Home.
A wee anecdote -- last week when I was meant to get the corticosteroid injection into my hip joint, the Doctor who was Middle Eastern, had trained in Scotland. As soon as he saw my name and heard the accent, which after 67 years away people still recognise, he raved about Scotland, the people and, its food, oh, and "Irn Bru". I lay there with a huge grin on my face as he described to the nurse how different they way we cooked certain things was from how they cook the same dishes in Oz, even to the "fish and chips" 😁. Life and its funny little coincidences.
My late brother and his wife travelled the world, and Scotland always remained her favorite. She always referred to it as “Bonnie Scotland” 🙂
I haven’t had the pleasure but my daughter’s been there several times.
As to your hip: Girl, I had my second hip replacement six weeks ago and the third day I was walking with no assistance! So if you ever need to go that route, I highly recommend. At this point I feel 100% normal.
Sorry to be late responding, Gypsy, been a hectic few days - always is when walking us so damn painful.
Thank you for the reccomend re hip replacement. At present my Doc says to rest for a bit and see where things go. The injection into the bursa has helped a lot. It was so painful before that it blocked all the other pains that I'm aware of now, but bearable - says she, while gritting her teeth 😬
I had the injections myself; they worked great at first but by about the fourth one they had no effect.
That’s when I knew replacement was my only option if I wanted to remain active. Thing is, GF, I favored my right leg for so long that the left hip started to go and my surgeon said, That one’s looking pretty rough, you can schedule surgery any time!
In fact I see her this morning for my final X-rays. Other than continuing to build up the muscle in that thigh, I’m doing pretty much perfect! I highly recommend, but be sure to look around for the best surgeon 🤗
In fact, I brought that up to the person whom I was having a live in-person exchange with, and I asked her how often she runs into an exPat from another country in which they speak so highly about the country they left. In cases like that, I have found that it is almost always a case of conflation of personal/individual issues with national issues.
...and I'm gonna make one more edit to this comment. Also, from my personal experience, it has been the wealthier, perhaps "more-entitled", exPats who are most like this (bad-mouthing the country they grew up in), which immediately makes me think that the reason they are now here in the U.S. is because fundamental changes were happening in their native country that were making them less wealthy and running the risk (for them) of being less-entitled (like the nationalizing of oil in Venezuela... I personally know a native Venezuelan, and am almost certain that is the case with her, as well).
oops... initially, wrote this reply in the wrong spot... mind and eyes bugging out, I guess.
Yeah, when I was working in a state human services office in Texas the WORST "anti-wetback" persons were my fellow employees whose ancestry was Mexican! I spoke more Spanish than a few of them because they refuse to learn the language, even in high school. (They took French instead.)
In fact, I brought that up to the person whom I was having a live in-person exchange with, and I asked her how often she runs into an exPat from another country in which they speak so highly about the country they left. In cases like that, I have found that it is almost always a case of conflation of personal individual issues with national issues.
...and I'm gonna make one more edit to this comment. Also, from my personal experience, it has been the wealthier, "more-entitled", exPats who are most like this (bad-mouthing the country they grew up in), which immediately makes me think that the reason they are now here in the U.S. is because fundamental changes were happening in their native country that were making them less wealthy and running the risk (for them) of being less-entitled (like the nationalizing of oil in Venezuela... I personally know a native Venezuelan, and am almost certain that is the case with her, as well).
Yeah. I always wondered about ex pat Cubans in the U.S. who complained about Castro, but were apparently fine with Batista, who presided over drug running and prostitution into Cuba, killed and imprisoned his own people, e.g., students, and gave profits from sugar production to the U.S. He was a U.S. owned thug.
Yeah, and I remember reading/hearing something sort of similar awhile back, along the same lines, that that is also behind a lot/most (all perhaps?) of the the last couple decades of the U.S. animosity towards President Putin. That in attempting to turn Russia around in a positive direction after the falling of the wall, after the 1990's, Putin tried to rein in the power/influence of the corrupt oligarchs, and this pissed off a lot powerful people in the U.S. who greatly preferred their corrupt dealings with Russia's corrupt oligarchs. If this is incorrect, let me know (anyone happening upon this comment).
Good question. The term ex pat is often equated with exile. It implies flight, either forced or voluntary. Ex pat Americans, for example, often describe themselves as having left in protest. The word immigrant on the other hand is less loaded. It doesn’t imply flight or escape for political reasons. As you know, many leave their birth countries for economic, not political reasons. In other words, the two terms are not interchangeable, but I agree, there is ambiguity in the meaning of the former. I may have misused it because it generally refers to people who have relocated temporarily and intend to return to their countries of origin. Usually, however, they leave for political reasons. If you research it, many Cubans who left Cuba in 1959 hoped to return in anticipation of Castro’s overthrow. They were described as “exiles.”
Sounds like you are a pathetic Russian propagandist. Love the many dead innocent unarmed civilians in Ukraine do you? Murdered by the ICC indicated war mongering coward?
You need to read up on what this conflict is about. There is getting to be too many "pathetic Ukrainian propagandists" on Substack - absolutely not what this place is about. Send your comments to NYT.
Sure thing. Do you get paid for promoting russian aggressor propaganda? Are you happy with the1.5 million russians (mainly non Russian: Africans Indians Nepalese N Korean etc)and or primarily the russian poor and russian convicts presently dead missing or wounded over 3 yrs? And for what? Ask your billionaire ICC indicated war mongering coward.
Well, you eat me! You have the number right, but that number is Ukrainian losses, not Russian. Look at the body-exchange data. BTW, the ICJ has dropped the inappropriate charges against Russia and posted new ones against the Ukrainian nazi regime. NATO and the UK have had multiple times to end their proxy-war against Russia, and there was no excuse for "Cookies" Nuland to initiate the color-revolution regime-change operation in Ukraine, taking out the democratically-elected president and installing the MI6-trained actor Zelenskyy. I'm not making this up, you can easily find the proper history if you choose to exit your propaganda blanket.
All of the ICC indicted war mongering COWARDS online propagandist pigs must be sent to the front. To fight alongside the Korean and African muppets acting as cannon fodder. Long Live the president of Ukraine! Brave man. Fighting for honour against the ICC indicted billionaire war mongering coward and thug. Viva Ukraine
Sorry, Gaza made me immune to the propaganda that was used to sell the West on a terrible war. Diplomacy was possible after the Russians fled Kiev. We also have practically abandoned Ukraine, just like we do to everyone besides our Zionists who control foreign policy.
Not 'we'. The orange freak did, after all he's a treasonous corrupt vulgar thug and in the ICC's war mongering COWARDS pocket. Long live the Ukraine. And its brave president. FUCK off all Russian propagandist Muppets
Talk to Joe Biden about supporting the genocide in Gaza. It was the final nail in the coffin for Western moral superiority, and now we suffer the consequences. It was a bi partisan effort, and how many Ukrainians died because Israel got first priority on everything?
You don't know about the White Russians who fought the Soviets in the Russian Civil War? Millions fled after their defeat. They were another divided and incompetent diaspora group.
History repeats itself. The White Russian diaspora was fractious, filled with internal squabbling, and willing to support fascism to achieve their goals. Thats not every White Russian of course: I am discussing the similar diaspora political groups. Both also have a powerful monarchist bloc.
Russia and Iran both had total revolutions that changed almost everything about their countries. That makes the similarities even more obvious.
Yes. Dead *civilians* is the take home point. Military assholes slaughter civilians as non-combatant "collateral". The stupid fuckers have no idea who pays the carnage. Military minds are sick minds, period. All uniformed military personell, along with all administrators, should be shot on sight.
Right on, Caitlin. There are 2 kinds of people living outside "the West" who aspire to join it and "democratize" their societies after the US model:
1) Good, decent, moral people who have been propagandized and simply don't understand the complete rot and hollow materialism, greed, ruthlessness and narcissism that pervades and defines American "culture"; and
2) Bad, indecent, greedy, uncaring evil bastards who absolutely DO understand completely what this decadent Empire is like, and desperately desire to be an enthusiastic participant in, and beneficiary of, this deplorable system.
No, that's oversimplified. True, but there is more--Venezuela and Cuba are socialist countries which insisted on using their nations' wealth to benefit their own people, and succeeded in eliminating a lot of poverty, improving life expectancy etc., also true of Nicaragua. They must be crushed lest people take note of a good example. Iran successfully overthrew a puppet government and humiliated the US by holding 50 Americans hostage for a year. This reversed the senior Pahlavi's rule to which he was installed in a CIA coup in '53 after the elected leader Mossadegh nationalized Iran's oil. Some countries on the US shitlist have sold oil in denominations other than the US dollar, which is a threat to the US ability to keep operating under a load of debt that forces smaller countries into IMF Structural Adjustment Programs. So there are a number of reasons for US targeting of other countries, not just favors to Israel. Actual, legitimate threat to the US is not a factor in any case.
i feel like that's like giving the europeans too much credit. they're mindless. just a little feigned worry about the street of hormuz getting blocked, but for the rest they're all in on anything the us would do. it also seems correct that, like everyone in the world, they're convinced there would be no nuking whilst poking the bear.
what else to expect, especially from kallas (iirc, she was surprised to learn that the ussr had anything to do with stopping nazism in ww2)? the entire european political class can be regarded as cia-assets, imo. most european 'intelligence'-services just repeat what their us-'colleagues' tell them.
If you are familiar with the "Looney Tunes" canon, you may recall the yappy little dog that follows Spike The Bulldog around, singing Spike's praises, getting slapped around by Spike, and getting Spike into stupid fights.
Europe is that little yappy dog.
As for the “hapless europoodles”, it’s rare to find Americans who recognise that that’s not how the european politicians see themselves. More that they hope to lever American military and economic power in pursuit of their own objectives. For most Americans it’s usual to regard the euros as the patsy. For the europeans, it’s always been the other way round.
Remember, european strategy since 1917 has been to get Americans to do their fighting for them.
Europeans, of course, are congenital wimps, unable to fight schoolgirls. They are, however skilled in the arts of the courtier, at whispering campaigns, prancing around in fruity pageants, in bending the ears of senile monarchs.
In answer to your questions: These countries have OIL or other resources that need to be "liberated". Yo know? Liberated... Like South Africa. The Sudan. Libya. Iraq. Afghanistan. Ukraine. Kosovo and other former Soviet assets. You know? Liberated...
Well... Yes it is. Iran sits on considerable amounts of oil resource and is a major shipping partner to non-NATO allied nations. The Swiss/Vatican/Black Nobility/Mafia have been in the business of resource theft for centuries... Iran will be no exception.
You left off a few-the Venezuelans for the latest alleged presidential non-entity, the Somocistas from Nicaragua, and there are more. Always telling me why my kid or stepkid should go to war for them.
You might find this interesting. There are thousands of Russians in NE Ohio, and not once have I ever heard one of them suggest the United States should wage war on their own country.
You be such a sleeze watching your Cuban islanders suffer and freeze and go hungry and die cause they see the world thru socialist eyes not capitalist ones
All militant diaspora folk should stfu instead of capturing the foreign policy of their host nation. The small militant Banderite Ukrainian diaspora have cost Canada $22billion since 2022. Prior meddling by them, with Neocon Nuland/Freeland+NATO leadership in Ukraine before 2014 brought on the Maidan Massacre and a civil war which, deny it or not, PROVOKED Russia's intervention.
Rather than tell them to just stfu I think it’s important to explain why they’re wrong so they can understand and others can too.
The majority of Cubans who hate communism in the US came here because they were literal slave owners and Castro shut down their plantations. Tell them that. Tell these white colonizer Cubans that the only reason they think communism is so horrible is because they were forced to give up their slaves.
I can’t think of any Iranians who are in favor of the US invading and bombing them under the guise of liberation but if I saw any I would tell them to look up color revolutions. Although if after a 20 year occupational war in iraq and Afghanistan where over 10 million innocent civilians were killed and both countries were bombed back to the Stone Age they still haven’t figured out that were the bad guys you’re probably wasting your time.
As far as Venezuela anyone who supports Maduros kidnapping is a sellout empire cuck
It is not necessarily a matter of being influenced or bought. They may genuinely despise their country's political system, which may reflect a lack of understanding that what causing their suffering is the Western hegemony forcing a regime change and installing puppet. The patriotic leaders to oppose the Western evil are eliminated one by one or are subject to sanctions. These dummies admire the West, which has contributed to their misery at home, and resent their homeland's government, which sought to protect their country's wealth for their own best. This is akin to the reaction of frogs leaping into water when it begins to rain.
I'm from the "Islamic" Republic of Pakistan where my Ahmadiyya Muslim community has been declared non Muslim by law since a 1974 constitutional ammendment. By state law we are forbidden from any overt expression of being a Muslim at the threat of monetary fine, jail, or even death penalty. Saying common, spontaneous, Islamic expressions like the greeting 'Assalamo alaikum', or 'in'sha'Allah' (God willing), or 'bismillah' (in the name of God) are considered blasphemy if uttered by us. To get government ID, passport, and now even a marriage certificate, one has to claim they consider the founder of my sect a liar and other statements (that are not part of Islamic declaration to be a Muslim), in order to check the box that they are Muslim.. and yes, one must declare one's faith in government docs. My community has been target killed there for years, mob lynched, imprisoned for the "crimes" of having copies of Qur'an, teaching the Qur'an, saying the shahada (declaration of being a Muslim), having Islamic inscriptions on wedding invitations which are commonly added for blessings etc. An Ahmadi mother of a few kids was imprisoned for putting money in a non-Ahmadi local mosque's fundraiser box offered to passersby on the street. Her kindheartedness was given the charge of blasphemy. They've long transitioned from overt expressions to punishing any covert/suspected expressions of faith to such a point of ridiculousness that for a few years now, before Eid-ul-Adha they've started confiscating goats from homes of Ahmadis lest they slaughter them for Eid sacrifice, which would've been done completely in privacy. If they suspect an animal has been slaughtered, they raid the fridges and confiscate the meat (which was meant to be distributed among the poor, the relatives, and a part for own consumption). They regularly vandalize our graves and our mosques, all in full police protection. If Ahmadis gather in their "place of worship" (not allowed to be called a mosque) or any building around time for Friday prayers, behind walls and closed doors, extremist mobs gather outside chanting death to them as they are "suspected" to be offering Friday prayers. It's funny, in previous decades, they would say, these people don't pray like us; now the charge is 'how dare they pray like us.' The legal charge is "pretending/acting to be Muslim". The blasphemy laws custom made for Ahmadis are now being used against other minorities to settle property disputes or petty fights, and recently have been extended to the mainstream Muslim population as they offer lucrative blackmail opportunity.
But, even while living there and for decades abroad, I don't know of any Ahmadi wishing a foreign nation to attack Pakistan. We feel the country is heading toward full on catastrophe but our prayers are for it to be averted and the nation to recover from the abyss it's falling in. Any expat who wishes foreigners to attack their country of birth and to cause havoc on that population has lost the right to claim any belonging to that country. The only emotions they have left seem to be hatred and selfishness and those do not deserve any consideration. So yes, fully agree.
Yes Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto laid the foundation. He wasn’t even religious but wanted the religious clerics on his side. His was basically a declaration that for the purpose of the law Ahmadis are to be considered non Muslim. Zia ul Haq , the dictator that followed him added the blasphemy laws etc to criminalise our practice of faith and barring Ahmadis from higher government jobs and discrimination at every level. Since then if a politician doesn’t curse us and calls us non Muslim they don’t pass the purity test. Even western educated and otherwise secular politicians like benazir Bhutto and imran khan have done that. Rare to see someone with a backbone who doesn’t pander to religious extremists there. They get killed or are forced to live in exile. A very unfortunate nation.
That is horrific. Ahmadis are Muslim regardless of what the majority believes. You follow the five pillars of Islam and recognized Muhammad. Your religion isn't comparable to the Druze or the Baháʼí Faith, which began as Muslims and became something else entirely. Its a shame that your community is treated this way, and I hope that changes soon.
Just heard on Dimitri Lascaris’s podcast from Canada that 130,000 people marched in Toronto - Canada’s biggest city - to support war with Iran. Some were waving Israeli and US flags. Dimitri was disgusted, and wonders what happened to the anti-war movement. But I marched against the war with Iraq in Sydney - one of the largest marches ever. It had nil effect on any political leaders or policies, and we helped our terrorist ally as always.
This kind of comment, which we all hear often, presupposes that everyone in country “X” is in agreement, which obviously can’t be true. It also presupposes that a culture is better understood from within, which is also a shaky assumption.
I remind them that Rubio was born in Florida, to parents who had fled Battista, not Castro, and had they stayed, might have reared a child who could be fighting today for the freedom of his people, rather than betraying them purely from amorphous hatred and ignorance.
Add the Venezuelan gusanos too
You beat me to it. I was going to say they were just as annoying as the Cubans, which takes some doing because the latter have had more practice.
Omg choke on a dick! Lol I can’t agree more fuck the war mongering goons
Yes, thanks. I encountered some of these a few years ago at a US Venezuela soccer match in Cincy. They didn't like my "US hands off Venezuela" sign. There were a few positive comments though too.
Oh I had this amazing argument with an alleged Venezuelan in the runup to the US election. He was going to vote Trump, because of all the awful evil terrible Venezuelans using the H1b visa to enter America. Really terrible people, gang members etc.
Hey how did you enter the US then?
“On an H1b visa. But when I did it it was ok, unlike now.”
But do you not think this might rebound on you somewhat?
“No, I’ve got citizenship, and kids, I’ve been paying my taxes for years, I’m not an illegal…”
Erm right. Not convinced your new racist friends will make the distinction. Then he started digging for biographical info on me, either to ad hominem me or maybe he was a fed planning to round me up, who knows. I didn’t give anything.
I wonder about that guy sometimes, assuming he was real.
The "gentleman" failed to redress the failures of his own countrymen within his country of origin, so he moved to another country in hopes that his failures could be justified...
Too bad he was able to reproduce...
Thank you Caitlin. I would always yield to people who would say, "My family" . I stopped doing that when a grad student from Iraq( Kurdish) said, " This is my country" then went on to say we in the u.s. should kill everyone so his family could return to killing everyone. Our relationship changed when he no longer saw me as a friendly voice of guidance and help. He never understood that his opinion had no more weight than mine. I wasn't speaking uninformed and he knew that. In fact I had more knowledge of what was happening that he did having been disconnected from all the facts rather than a one sided argument as told by his family. We went on to murder a million or so people in Iraq many being children. He could not see what happened in the Iran/Iraq war shaping the WAR on IRAQ. Weapons of Mass Destruction, a whole lotta lies. Soon they will be telling us Child Rape is good , War on Cuba is important to our survival, War on Iran is needed to create the Greater israel so the world can be at Peace. : (
Problem with that is: as far as the zionists are concerned "greater israel", to them, means the whole damn planet. No, thank you.
My family's from Italy — half specifically from Genoa. I think the Genoese dockworkers would tell me to STFU were I to go tell them "non dovete protestare contro Israel qui" (you shouldn't protest against Israel here), when what they'd want to hear is Italy's Fascist government is a full-fledged toadie to US imperialist scum, disconnected from the will of its people, just like yours.
Same goes for a Russian expat as well… something I’ve had a personal experience with, listening to someone badmouth Putin as a reason for all the horrible inhumanity/death the U.S. has created in Ukraine
Expats all over the world are notoriously loyal to their new countries. How is that working in the USA?
Are ICE rounding up Iranians? What goes out comes back.
Not my dad, Jenny.
He was a good citizen but for his entire life he referred to Palestine as “home”.
Make Palestine Palestine again.
Goddamn right, Chuck 👍
STFU if you support Israel. Cancel it.
DIE if you support IsraHell!
K'noath, Gypsy. As an example of the history of the Zionist project from w-a-a-a-y back, there were many alternatives to Palestine all over the fucking planet that they were thinking about for their 'god's chosen people' to found their Jewish state. Among these was the Murray-Darling River basin (Australia) and The Kimberley (Western Australia), both, I am reliably informed, didn't rate a mention in the bible. Curious, eh! Chuck is right. Make Palestine Palestine again!
Hi David
But I imagine them-thar jooz would have been replacing indigenous people, cause I sure’s hell can’t imagine WHITE people clearin’ out.
Thing is David: why did da jooz require their own “homeland” at all? And if they did, why wasn’t it in Germany?
Oh riiiiiiiight….WHITE people….
I'm like your dad, Gypsy girl, to me Scotland is Home.
A wee anecdote -- last week when I was meant to get the corticosteroid injection into my hip joint, the Doctor who was Middle Eastern, had trained in Scotland. As soon as he saw my name and heard the accent, which after 67 years away people still recognise, he raved about Scotland, the people and, its food, oh, and "Irn Bru". I lay there with a huge grin on my face as he described to the nurse how different they way we cooked certain things was from how they cook the same dishes in Oz, even to the "fish and chips" 😁. Life and its funny little coincidences.
Davina, what a GREAT story—-loved that!
My late brother and his wife travelled the world, and Scotland always remained her favorite. She always referred to it as “Bonnie Scotland” 🙂
I haven’t had the pleasure but my daughter’s been there several times.
As to your hip: Girl, I had my second hip replacement six weeks ago and the third day I was walking with no assistance! So if you ever need to go that route, I highly recommend. At this point I feel 100% normal.
Sorry to be late responding, Gypsy, been a hectic few days - always is when walking us so damn painful.
Thank you for the reccomend re hip replacement. At present my Doc says to rest for a bit and see where things go. The injection into the bursa has helped a lot. It was so painful before that it blocked all the other pains that I'm aware of now, but bearable - says she, while gritting her teeth 😬
Poor Davina!
I had the injections myself; they worked great at first but by about the fourth one they had no effect.
That’s when I knew replacement was my only option if I wanted to remain active. Thing is, GF, I favored my right leg for so long that the left hip started to go and my surgeon said, That one’s looking pretty rough, you can schedule surgery any time!
In fact I see her this morning for my final X-rays. Other than continuing to build up the muscle in that thigh, I’m doing pretty much perfect! I highly recommend, but be sure to look around for the best surgeon 🤗
Good to hear Gypsy but it is NOT always the case.
Totally Jenny.
In fact, I brought that up to the person whom I was having a live in-person exchange with, and I asked her how often she runs into an exPat from another country in which they speak so highly about the country they left. In cases like that, I have found that it is almost always a case of conflation of personal/individual issues with national issues.
...and I'm gonna make one more edit to this comment. Also, from my personal experience, it has been the wealthier, perhaps "more-entitled", exPats who are most like this (bad-mouthing the country they grew up in), which immediately makes me think that the reason they are now here in the U.S. is because fundamental changes were happening in their native country that were making them less wealthy and running the risk (for them) of being less-entitled (like the nationalizing of oil in Venezuela... I personally know a native Venezuelan, and am almost certain that is the case with her, as well).
oops... initially, wrote this reply in the wrong spot... mind and eyes bugging out, I guess.
Hello MusicBob.....absolutely agree with you and who are the first people in any country to dislike immigrants? Expats.
Yeah, when I was working in a state human services office in Texas the WORST "anti-wetback" persons were my fellow employees whose ancestry was Mexican! I spoke more Spanish than a few of them because they refuse to learn the language, even in high school. (They took French instead.)
Totally Jenny.
In fact, I brought that up to the person whom I was having a live in-person exchange with, and I asked her how often she runs into an exPat from another country in which they speak so highly about the country they left. In cases like that, I have found that it is almost always a case of conflation of personal individual issues with national issues.
...and I'm gonna make one more edit to this comment. Also, from my personal experience, it has been the wealthier, "more-entitled", exPats who are most like this (bad-mouthing the country they grew up in), which immediately makes me think that the reason they are now here in the U.S. is because fundamental changes were happening in their native country that were making them less wealthy and running the risk (for them) of being less-entitled (like the nationalizing of oil in Venezuela... I personally know a native Venezuelan, and am almost certain that is the case with her, as well).
Yeah. I always wondered about ex pat Cubans in the U.S. who complained about Castro, but were apparently fine with Batista, who presided over drug running and prostitution into Cuba, killed and imprisoned his own people, e.g., students, and gave profits from sugar production to the U.S. He was a U.S. owned thug.
Because these gusanos were living well, and Castro cut them off.
Yeah, and I remember reading/hearing something sort of similar awhile back, along the same lines, that that is also behind a lot/most (all perhaps?) of the the last couple decades of the U.S. animosity towards President Putin. That in attempting to turn Russia around in a positive direction after the falling of the wall, after the 1990's, Putin tried to rein in the power/influence of the corrupt oligarchs, and this pissed off a lot powerful people in the U.S. who greatly preferred their corrupt dealings with Russia's corrupt oligarchs. If this is incorrect, let me know (anyone happening upon this comment).
You're not wrong.
I always wondered why US immigrants are referred to as "ex-pats", and not simply immigrants?
Good question. The term ex pat is often equated with exile. It implies flight, either forced or voluntary. Ex pat Americans, for example, often describe themselves as having left in protest. The word immigrant on the other hand is less loaded. It doesn’t imply flight or escape for political reasons. As you know, many leave their birth countries for economic, not political reasons. In other words, the two terms are not interchangeable, but I agree, there is ambiguity in the meaning of the former. I may have misused it because it generally refers to people who have relocated temporarily and intend to return to their countries of origin. Usually, however, they leave for political reasons. If you research it, many Cubans who left Cuba in 1959 hoped to return in anticipation of Castro’s overthrow. They were described as “exiles.”
Nancy. This a good comment.
Why do we use the words "expats" for white people and not 'brown' people?
All the brown 'immigrants' who come to our shores ARE immigrants.
White people are exiles?
It is a conundrum.
The Statue of Liberty in the US means NOTHING. Bring me...........
Agree.
Sounds like you are a pathetic Russian propagandist. Love the many dead innocent unarmed civilians in Ukraine do you? Murdered by the ICC indicated war mongering coward?
You need to read up on what this conflict is about. There is getting to be too many "pathetic Ukrainian propagandists" on Substack - absolutely not what this place is about. Send your comments to NYT.
Sure thing. Do you get paid for promoting russian aggressor propaganda? Are you happy with the1.5 million russians (mainly non Russian: Africans Indians Nepalese N Korean etc)and or primarily the russian poor and russian convicts presently dead missing or wounded over 3 yrs? And for what? Ask your billionaire ICC indicated war mongering coward.
Well, you eat me! You have the number right, but that number is Ukrainian losses, not Russian. Look at the body-exchange data. BTW, the ICJ has dropped the inappropriate charges against Russia and posted new ones against the Ukrainian nazi regime. NATO and the UK have had multiple times to end their proxy-war against Russia, and there was no excuse for "Cookies" Nuland to initiate the color-revolution regime-change operation in Ukraine, taking out the democratically-elected president and installing the MI6-trained actor Zelenskyy. I'm not making this up, you can easily find the proper history if you choose to exit your propaganda blanket.
Oh. Okay propagandist putrid muppet. Eat shit
Duh, you've been reported, so bye, bye!
Fuck off propagandist Muppet
All of the ICC indicted war mongering COWARDS online propagandist pigs must be sent to the front. To fight alongside the Korean and African muppets acting as cannon fodder. Long Live the president of Ukraine! Brave man. Fighting for honour against the ICC indicted billionaire war mongering coward and thug. Viva Ukraine
Sorry, Gaza made me immune to the propaganda that was used to sell the West on a terrible war. Diplomacy was possible after the Russians fled Kiev. We also have practically abandoned Ukraine, just like we do to everyone besides our Zionists who control foreign policy.
Not 'we'. The orange freak did, after all he's a treasonous corrupt vulgar thug and in the ICC's war mongering COWARDS pocket. Long live the Ukraine. And its brave president. FUCK off all Russian propagandist Muppets
Talk to Joe Biden about supporting the genocide in Gaza. It was the final nail in the coffin for Western moral superiority, and now we suffer the consequences. It was a bi partisan effort, and how many Ukrainians died because Israel got first priority on everything?
They got nothing on the White Russians of old.
What exactly are you talking about............we are intelligent people on this site. Explain or go away.
You don't know about the White Russians who fought the Soviets in the Russian Civil War? Millions fled after their defeat. They were another divided and incompetent diaspora group.
Your sentence in your comment was: "They got nothing on the White Russians of old."
Yes I do have a friend of mine whose mother is now dead was a white Russian but what does this have to do with anything now.
History repeats itself. The White Russian diaspora was fractious, filled with internal squabbling, and willing to support fascism to achieve their goals. Thats not every White Russian of course: I am discussing the similar diaspora political groups. Both also have a powerful monarchist bloc.
Russia and Iran both had total revolutions that changed almost everything about their countries. That makes the similarities even more obvious.
Machiavelli taught us to beware of the tales of exiles. He was in a position to know.
Remember Ahmad Chalabi?
A million dead Iraqi civilians later (and 6 to 9 trillion U.S. dollars later)
Yup, so the empire did it again in Libya, again in Syria, and is prepared to do the same to Iran.
Since the leaders pay no price, why should they care?
Yes. Dead *civilians* is the take home point. Military assholes slaughter civilians as non-combatant "collateral". The stupid fuckers have no idea who pays the carnage. Military minds are sick minds, period. All uniformed military personell, along with all administrators, should be shot on sight.
They are not stupid. They know full well the suffering they cause.
They do not care.
“Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” - Heinz Alfred Kissinger - (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023)
There is some dispute whether Kissinger in fact said this. Regardless, I'm not sure it negates what i wrote.
Right on, Caitlin. There are 2 kinds of people living outside "the West" who aspire to join it and "democratize" their societies after the US model:
1) Good, decent, moral people who have been propagandized and simply don't understand the complete rot and hollow materialism, greed, ruthlessness and narcissism that pervades and defines American "culture"; and
2) Bad, indecent, greedy, uncaring evil bastards who absolutely DO understand completely what this decadent Empire is like, and desperately desire to be an enthusiastic participant in, and beneficiary of, this deplorable system.
What exactly has Iran done to the EU and USA?
What has Cuba and Palestine done to the USA?
Until the propaganda machine is shut down there will be more to come.
Get out on the streets and don't let these stenographers go to work and tell lies.
Iran and Cuba both support Palestine. Venezuela also. Ask not what they have done to the USA but what their policies do to annoy Israel.
No, that's oversimplified. True, but there is more--Venezuela and Cuba are socialist countries which insisted on using their nations' wealth to benefit their own people, and succeeded in eliminating a lot of poverty, improving life expectancy etc., also true of Nicaragua. They must be crushed lest people take note of a good example. Iran successfully overthrew a puppet government and humiliated the US by holding 50 Americans hostage for a year. This reversed the senior Pahlavi's rule to which he was installed in a CIA coup in '53 after the elected leader Mossadegh nationalized Iran's oil. Some countries on the US shitlist have sold oil in denominations other than the US dollar, which is a threat to the US ability to keep operating under a load of debt that forces smaller countries into IMF Structural Adjustment Programs. So there are a number of reasons for US targeting of other countries, not just favors to Israel. Actual, legitimate threat to the US is not a factor in any case.
Thank you.
The zionist minority part of them does, but that minority was being paid from isreal.
Thats how unflushable turds stay afloat. With lobby money from global zionist finance.
The europeans hope that a quick easy victory in Iran will convince the Americans that Russia will be a pushover.
i feel like that's like giving the europeans too much credit. they're mindless. just a little feigned worry about the street of hormuz getting blocked, but for the rest they're all in on anything the us would do. it also seems correct that, like everyone in the world, they're convinced there would be no nuking whilst poking the bear.
They were demanding Iran to give up its missiles in the midst of the 12 day war. Kallas was rambling about it the entire time.
what else to expect, especially from kallas (iirc, she was surprised to learn that the ussr had anything to do with stopping nazism in ww2)? the entire european political class can be regarded as cia-assets, imo. most european 'intelligence'-services just repeat what their us-'colleagues' tell them.
Kallas is an idiot.
Europeans like being slaves.
As are Americans to Zionists!
No argument from me.
yet again, that might be crediting them with an awareness that doesn't seem to be present, imo.
If you are familiar with the "Looney Tunes" canon, you may recall the yappy little dog that follows Spike The Bulldog around, singing Spike's praises, getting slapped around by Spike, and getting Spike into stupid fights.
Europe is that little yappy dog.
As for the “hapless europoodles”, it’s rare to find Americans who recognise that that’s not how the european politicians see themselves. More that they hope to lever American military and economic power in pursuit of their own objectives. For most Americans it’s usual to regard the euros as the patsy. For the europeans, it’s always been the other way round.
Remember, european strategy since 1917 has been to get Americans to do their fighting for them.
Europeans, of course, are congenital wimps, unable to fight schoolgirls. They are, however skilled in the arts of the courtier, at whispering campaigns, prancing around in fruity pageants, in bending the ears of senile monarchs.
+100 likes. You totally nailed it.
americans don't really need european encouragement to pillage and plunder, afaik.
100% agree.
Well if they haven't learned yet they never will
In many ways our propaganda here in France is worse than in USA
In answer to your questions: These countries have OIL or other resources that need to be "liberated". Yo know? Liberated... Like South Africa. The Sudan. Libya. Iraq. Afghanistan. Ukraine. Kosovo and other former Soviet assets. You know? Liberated...
That is not an answer to my question.
Well... Yes it is. Iran sits on considerable amounts of oil resource and is a major shipping partner to non-NATO allied nations. The Swiss/Vatican/Black Nobility/Mafia have been in the business of resource theft for centuries... Iran will be no exception.
You left off a few-the Venezuelans for the latest alleged presidential non-entity, the Somocistas from Nicaragua, and there are more. Always telling me why my kid or stepkid should go to war for them.
You might find this interesting. There are thousands of Russians in NE Ohio, and not once have I ever heard one of them suggest the United States should wage war on their own country.
STFU
Cuban and Iranian dyspora.
But especially you Rubio
You be such a sleeze watching your Cuban islanders suffer and freeze and go hungry and die cause they see the world thru socialist eyes not capitalist ones
All militant diaspora folk should stfu instead of capturing the foreign policy of their host nation. The small militant Banderite Ukrainian diaspora have cost Canada $22billion since 2022. Prior meddling by them, with Neocon Nuland/Freeland+NATO leadership in Ukraine before 2014 brought on the Maidan Massacre and a civil war which, deny it or not, PROVOKED Russia's intervention.
There I've said it......PROVOKED!!!
Yes, and you are 100% correct
Rather than tell them to just stfu I think it’s important to explain why they’re wrong so they can understand and others can too.
The majority of Cubans who hate communism in the US came here because they were literal slave owners and Castro shut down their plantations. Tell them that. Tell these white colonizer Cubans that the only reason they think communism is so horrible is because they were forced to give up their slaves.
I can’t think of any Iranians who are in favor of the US invading and bombing them under the guise of liberation but if I saw any I would tell them to look up color revolutions. Although if after a 20 year occupational war in iraq and Afghanistan where over 10 million innocent civilians were killed and both countries were bombed back to the Stone Age they still haven’t figured out that were the bad guys you’re probably wasting your time.
As far as Venezuela anyone who supports Maduros kidnapping is a sellout empire cuck
These are people who are bought and paid for.
It is not necessarily a matter of being influenced or bought. They may genuinely despise their country's political system, which may reflect a lack of understanding that what causing their suffering is the Western hegemony forcing a regime change and installing puppet. The patriotic leaders to oppose the Western evil are eliminated one by one or are subject to sanctions. These dummies admire the West, which has contributed to their misery at home, and resent their homeland's government, which sought to protect their country's wealth for their own best. This is akin to the reaction of frogs leaping into water when it begins to rain.
That's a fair point.
I'm from the "Islamic" Republic of Pakistan where my Ahmadiyya Muslim community has been declared non Muslim by law since a 1974 constitutional ammendment. By state law we are forbidden from any overt expression of being a Muslim at the threat of monetary fine, jail, or even death penalty. Saying common, spontaneous, Islamic expressions like the greeting 'Assalamo alaikum', or 'in'sha'Allah' (God willing), or 'bismillah' (in the name of God) are considered blasphemy if uttered by us. To get government ID, passport, and now even a marriage certificate, one has to claim they consider the founder of my sect a liar and other statements (that are not part of Islamic declaration to be a Muslim), in order to check the box that they are Muslim.. and yes, one must declare one's faith in government docs. My community has been target killed there for years, mob lynched, imprisoned for the "crimes" of having copies of Qur'an, teaching the Qur'an, saying the shahada (declaration of being a Muslim), having Islamic inscriptions on wedding invitations which are commonly added for blessings etc. An Ahmadi mother of a few kids was imprisoned for putting money in a non-Ahmadi local mosque's fundraiser box offered to passersby on the street. Her kindheartedness was given the charge of blasphemy. They've long transitioned from overt expressions to punishing any covert/suspected expressions of faith to such a point of ridiculousness that for a few years now, before Eid-ul-Adha they've started confiscating goats from homes of Ahmadis lest they slaughter them for Eid sacrifice, which would've been done completely in privacy. If they suspect an animal has been slaughtered, they raid the fridges and confiscate the meat (which was meant to be distributed among the poor, the relatives, and a part for own consumption). They regularly vandalize our graves and our mosques, all in full police protection. If Ahmadis gather in their "place of worship" (not allowed to be called a mosque) or any building around time for Friday prayers, behind walls and closed doors, extremist mobs gather outside chanting death to them as they are "suspected" to be offering Friday prayers. It's funny, in previous decades, they would say, these people don't pray like us; now the charge is 'how dare they pray like us.' The legal charge is "pretending/acting to be Muslim". The blasphemy laws custom made for Ahmadis are now being used against other minorities to settle property disputes or petty fights, and recently have been extended to the mainstream Muslim population as they offer lucrative blackmail opportunity.
But, even while living there and for decades abroad, I don't know of any Ahmadi wishing a foreign nation to attack Pakistan. We feel the country is heading toward full on catastrophe but our prayers are for it to be averted and the nation to recover from the abyss it's falling in. Any expat who wishes foreigners to attack their country of birth and to cause havoc on that population has lost the right to claim any belonging to that country. The only emotions they have left seem to be hatred and selfishness and those do not deserve any consideration. So yes, fully agree.
I know they made your community illegal in the 1970s. Was it under Bhutto? I still cant believe they did that to you guys.
Yes Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto laid the foundation. He wasn’t even religious but wanted the religious clerics on his side. His was basically a declaration that for the purpose of the law Ahmadis are to be considered non Muslim. Zia ul Haq , the dictator that followed him added the blasphemy laws etc to criminalise our practice of faith and barring Ahmadis from higher government jobs and discrimination at every level. Since then if a politician doesn’t curse us and calls us non Muslim they don’t pass the purity test. Even western educated and otherwise secular politicians like benazir Bhutto and imran khan have done that. Rare to see someone with a backbone who doesn’t pander to religious extremists there. They get killed or are forced to live in exile. A very unfortunate nation.
That is horrific. Ahmadis are Muslim regardless of what the majority believes. You follow the five pillars of Islam and recognized Muhammad. Your religion isn't comparable to the Druze or the Baháʼí Faith, which began as Muslims and became something else entirely. Its a shame that your community is treated this way, and I hope that changes soon.
Free Imran Kahn
Just heard on Dimitri Lascaris’s podcast from Canada that 130,000 people marched in Toronto - Canada’s biggest city - to support war with Iran. Some were waving Israeli and US flags. Dimitri was disgusted, and wonders what happened to the anti-war movement. But I marched against the war with Iraq in Sydney - one of the largest marches ever. It had nil effect on any political leaders or policies, and we helped our terrorist ally as always.
They exaggerate the numbers. They never do wide photographs of pro regime change in Iran protests.
STFU: 2,000 year old advice that never goes out of style.
This kind of comment, which we all hear often, presupposes that everyone in country “X” is in agreement, which obviously can’t be true. It also presupposes that a culture is better understood from within, which is also a shaky assumption.
I remind them that Rubio was born in Florida, to parents who had fled Battista, not Castro, and had they stayed, might have reared a child who could be fighting today for the freedom of his people, rather than betraying them purely from amorphous hatred and ignorance.