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Video Views From ‘Round the World

By SusanUnPC on November 7, 2008 at 8:50 PM in Obama Administration, World News

As I was surfing around YouTube, I stumbled upon these videos from Al Jazeera English.

Hey, I dig it if not many people watch these and there aren’t many comments, but I find these glimpses at life around the world utterly fascinating. I am starved for news beyond our borders. It’s truly embarrassing to go to Canada and find out that Canadians know ALL about the United States, and then realize that almost none of us knows a thing about Canada, and doesn’t care.

I so wish that U.S. cable and satellite companies had the ba–s to add Al Jazeera to our line-ups. I promise I won’t become a “homicide bomber” if I watch Al Jazeera. Why, a rather conservative friend of mine, a true Federalist and contributor to THIS blog, subscribes to Al Jazeera’s e-mail news service so that he can get a truer worldwide perspective on the news. Speaking of which, what in the hell ever happened to that one blessed hour of CNN International News that I used to make a point of recording on my DVR? It got replaced by those braying, preachy pseudo-experts on the U.S. financial crisis. Ugh. That one hour of international news was the only must-see TV for me on CNN. Now, I never watch CNN. My only remaining favorite TV news shows are BBC World News America and Brit Hume’s Fox show, especially the pundit portion, which for reasons beyond me Fox News never makes available via video.)

This next video, about the very large population of African descendents living in Brazil, is touchingly sad. There’s so much hope, so much religious ritual and fervor. What’s sad is that our Congress probably won’t remove the trade barriers for sugar cane grown in Brazil, which is a vastly superior source of ethanol than is corn (which is needed, ahem, for food):

So what else is going on in the world?

  • Manu

    The world helped elect Barack through illegal contributions and “robocalling” Americans through Skype and other electronic means. Let’s face it, US presidential elections are no longer just for the USA. Not only do people in other countries have an opinion about the US elections, but they’re actively participating in them. I guess it’s only fair since the US has been influencing their elections for a long time. The sooner strategists come to terms with this novel development, the better.

    • WasLNbutNoBamaBotsKeepStealingMyName

      Man, I’m glad I wasn’t born any further into the future…but I sure fear for the future of my child who is only 10 years old.

      I’m going to go watch more of HBO’s John Adams courtesy of Netflix.

    • mary

      Reason Canadians know more about US is that Canada is blessed with a THIRD PARTY–the New Democrat Party. And its federal election recently boasted 5 party candidates. Democracy in action. This allows Canada to have (since 1965) Universal health care at a fraction of its US cost, and WOMEN’S EQUAL RIGHTS are in the Canadian Charter since 1982.

      Having a minority federal government with a third party pushing a progressive pro-women, pro-health agenda pays social dividends. Incidentally, accoridng to Int’l Monetary Fund, Canada’s standing in this financial mess is the best. Reason? Regulation of financial system, conservative Liberal values and a government that’s always being watched by the THIRD PARTIES!

      = Democracy in Action
      Hillary should have been Canadian! Her strong and wise pioneering stand on Universal health care is the smartest and closest to Canadian world-advmired standards.
      Nobody in Canada files bankruptcy due to medical bills or loses their home. And they’re still in the best of financial shapes–according to IMF and an army of economists who find Canada a conservative “liberal haven” of pragmatic and prudent management.

      Third Party means PUMAs should get their posteriors off the couch, quite commiserating and launch a NEW PARTY!

  • New Party

    I can barely stomach our own news these days, let alone Al Jazeera, but I agree that comprehensive world news should be available.

  • Tony

    You can get most of the major US networks in Canada, plus they are immersed in our pop culture. So much so that the Canadian government regulates that a certain amount of content broadcast must be Canadian. Most Canadians live fairly close to the US border, and can visit our country freely. It’s no wonder they know so much about us!

    I think the US is insular because we’re a large country, and alot happens here. It easily fills sour news. We produce most of the pop culture we consume, while many other countries import it. It would be nice if we were less insular, but I think that’s why we are.

  • http://www.wewillnotbesilenced2008.com AMERICA RIP

    Thank you Larry. Always great, interesting material.

  • Diana L. C.

    “The times, they are a-changin” that’s for sure. I can only hope that my two sons and their families can have as good a life in the U.S. as I have had. And I guess it’s time for the rest of the world to have some good times, too.

  • fluffy bunny

    Perhaps this is why Obama looked a wee bit peaked at his press conference today:

    http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jwlx77l1QU5vSq6RR-2BJ6IEIBhQD94A8F8G0

    EU leaders: World has 100 days to fix system
    By AOIFE WHITE – 8 hours ago

    BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — European Union leaders backed a 100-day deadline for world’s leading economies to decide urgent global finance reforms, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.

    Sarkozy, who chaired a special meeting of EU nations, said the financial crisis and economic downturn required a quick deal on an overhaul at a Nov. 15 summit in Washington bringing together leaders of the world’s 20 largest industrialized nations and emerging economies.

    “We are in an economic crisis. We have to take this into account,” Sarkozy said. “We have to react and we have no time to lose.”

    “I’m not going to take part in a summit where there is just talk for talk’s sake,” Sarkozy told reporters after talks between the heads of the EU’s 27 nations. “We want to change the rules of the game in the financial world.”

    The EU is calling for a second global summit next spring to flesh out changes to the way the world economy is governed. They want to see far more supervision of big financial companies and are urging governments to jointly monitor them.

    They want to prevent a repeat of the Wall Street excesses that caused havoc in markets worldwide — and are bringing emerging economies China, India and Brazil on board for talks on shaping a new world economic order.

    British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Washington talks should be a “decisive moment for the world economy.”

    A text agreed by EU leaders says they want an early warning system that would watch for financial bubbles and prevent “world imbalances” — such as the swelling U.S. trade deficit.

    They also suggest making the International Monetary Fund the world’s financial watchdog, giving it more power to curb financial crises, with more money to aid countries in trouble.

    The Europeans also want to close loopholes that allow some financial institutions to evade regulation, and ensure supervision for all major financial players, including ratings agencies or funds carrying high amounts of debt.

    The leaders in a declaration called for greater transparency in markets that would no longer omit “vast swathes of financial activity from auditable, certifiable accounts.” It also said “excessive risk-taking must be overhauled,” a reference to the sale of high-risk debt securities and executive pay that may reward risk-taking.

    George Soros won’t be pleased, will he?

    Of course, that money the IMF says it needs more of will come from US taxpayers. I surely wish somebody would tell them that you can’t get blood from a turnip, and the US is just one big turnip right now.

  • rw

    Very interesting in an academic way. The second video on Brazilians’ comments is indicative of how the US is still the leader culturally, despite the spent world goodwill courtesy of Bush. Brazil, with its huge population of African heritage has yet to have a black president, seems they are looking to the US for cultural direction.

    It is obvious that his (s)election will have a positive impact, if only racially, but should he and his handlers fail to combat the economic/financial crisis in the US, and by extension the world economies, or if he does not deliver and civil unrest ensues in the US, or he fumbles with world leaders….the impact will be sullied and a yes we can is in danger of becoming no we can’t.

  • TeakWoodKite

    I wish I could undestand to the Arabic language broadcasts of Al-Jazeera. A very different target audience. The video points out how BO says one thing to one group and something else to the next.

    There are two speaches that I will always remembered foundly. The first was a speech that Bill Clinton gave at the Kennedy Center shortly after leaving office and the other was Senator Clinton at the last AIPAC conference during the primaries.

    “…we have only his campaign rhetoric to go on”.” [from first video]

    This is such a dicey dodge to me. We do have more than that to go on. While the statement can’t be denied, it leaves out what many have observed BO DO, while spewing that “rhetoric”.

    The Aybss is what lies between these.

  • m Andrea

    I used to pore over this information years ago, but stopped after I realized this power hungry civilization cannot last for perpetuity. So my numbers are probably off but here’s some links — do the research for yourself.

    Gas is something 250:01 compared to either ethenal or sugarcane, which is like 4:1. Neither one of those is a realistic replacement for oil in any quantity.

    Please stop pushing unworkable alternatives without checking your facts.

    http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/052703_9_questions.html

    http://www.repp.org/bioenergy/index.html

  • LisaB

    I loved this post. The video was also great! Thanks!!!

  • heather

    Just wanted to comment on your assertion that Canadians know all about our politics. I think that they feel that they know so much, but alas, rely on the same media that committed fraud against the American people. And lest you believe that they are somehow a more politically evolved and involved nation, many Canadians show more interest in OUR politics than their own.
    I, for one, having Canadian family, am annoyed by it. I couldn’t even sleep last night after talking to my mother in law whose only interests appear to be the new Walmart being built in their very small town (they are wildly excited, apparently, for the death of their quaint resort downtown – they’re sick of the tourists anyway), and Barack Obama. She has lung cancer and actually got out of her sick bed to goad me on the success of Obama this week. When I told her that I was sad that he won because people really don’t know the real Obama, she replied that she had read his two books and they were VERY good, and no one was allowed to say anything bad about him in their house. My brother-in-law was piping in from the background “We love Obama!” They insist that they do so know about him because they watch CNN. BAH! They’re a marketer’s dream. They’re the types that bottled water and Gator-ade were made for — when was the last time you were dehydrated, and yet the concern of low electrolytes runs rampant — it’s marketing!

    I’m tired of the world voting on our president. What outrage would there be if we showed up to volunteer in THEIR elections, as I have seen time and again during these elections? What outrage would there be if there were allegations of Americans contributing to elections in foreign countries? What outrage would there be if OUR preference in their governmental decisions was plastered in every paper and reported on THEIR news?