Which of these countries do you have the highest opinion of? - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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Which of these countries do you have the highest opinion of?

Israel
10
30%
North Korea
1
3%
China, PR
11
33%
Russia
8
24%
Saudi Arabia
1
3%
Iran
2
6%
#15242363
That's not a sensible question; there is nothing there I would describe as acceptable, much less high. I would strongly suggest not going to any of them...

I liked Austria, Denmark, Italy. Pretty sure I'd like England, if I got the chance to go.

Pretty sure I'd like the Benelux countries, but I was only there for a few days, and a lot of that was stoned. The guy that does the NotJustBikes videos lives there, and loves it. I agree with him about a lot of things.
#15242364
late wrote:That's not a sensible question; there is nothing there I would describe as acceptable, much less high. I would strongly suggest not going to any of them...


"Highest" is not the same as "high".

I think a poll of "countries which are pleasant" is a less interesting conversation (at least a different one) but go ahead and make that poll if you wish.
#15242378
I picked Russia. Its a boring capitalist democracy. They effectively have abandoned the death penalty. They are also culturally closer than China and Iran.

They tried really hard to get into NATO and EU. They got rejected purely because the USA wants Russia to be an enemy.

China also has some amazing archievements, but they are still not democratic and they are culturally more distant than Russia. Its supposed to be a subjective question, so I prefered Russia in the end.

Iran is an interesting case. I dont like the idea of being ruled by priests. Priests, much like artists, are supposed to be idealists and dreamers, not practical people and shouldnt hold political power. Still, getting ruled by priests is still a superior option to getting ruled by the rich, as we are in the west.
#15242390
Rugoz wrote:Forgot the rules, eh?

Every poll must have an "Other" option.

:D


Ah, I did. But the "Other" option defeats the purpose of the poll, to be frank. It's about trying to see positives in countries you have knee-jerk negative reactions about. @Negotiator got the idea, while @late and @Rancid are being boring. :D

If I had to pick a non-China option from the poll, for example, my instinct would be Iran or Israel. Iran is semi-democratic but I don't like the idea of a theocratic oligarchy having a veto over everything. The regime tends to be rational in a way I can't say about North Korea or Russia, and less repulsive than the Saudis. They're caught on the wrong side of a geopolitical struggle, but I can't really blame them for it. Even a secular democracy in Iran would be a bogeyman of the West and its proxies in the region simply because it would have replaced the Shah and not been as loyal a stooge. I think if the US-led West could drop its pride, negotiate in good faith, and sever its relationship with Israel, Iran would probably be the next-best partner in the region, morally and ideologically. Barring that, I hope the EU steps forward and starts looking for non-US partnerships with Iran and China.

Israel is also fine, if, like Iran, captured by a conservative political oligarchy and a militant religious minority. And, unlike Iran, if you ignore the apartheid settler colonialism ongoing in Palestine. But generally fine and progressive. I dislike the tendancy among Western leftists to ignore that the Islamic fundamentalist reaction to Israel, which I understand, would also mean a step backward for most women and sexual minorities in the region should the infitada ever succeed. Sure, there are some progressive and left-wing actors within the Hamas-led coalition, but I expect they'd meet a fate similar that the left-wing and progressive allies of the Iranian ayatollah met once the Shah was out of the picture.
Last edited by Fasces on 09 Aug 2022 15:06, edited 1 time in total.
#15242398
late wrote:If that made the slightest bit of sense, it escapes me.

I'd have an opinion of Russia because they're not all out to kill you in a population density of 2,000 partisans a square meter. I did vote Russia. However, I've now qualified that to say we're all probably not refugeeing or having opinions of countries and we'll probably all have a traffic accident and I have a high opinion of all traffic laws.
#15242399
Fasces wrote:Of the countries listed, which do you have the highest opinion of and why?

I picked the PRC because it showed that despite its lack of democracy and its Marxist-socialist heritage of tyranny, poverty, stagnation, inefficiency and corruption, the geoist system Deng adopted from Hong Kong -- private ownership of producer goods, public ownership of natural resources, especially land -- would still result in the greatest economic miracle in the history of the world.

Israel is the only one that is a functioning democracy, so I gave it second place.
#15242400
Truth To Power wrote:I picked the PRC because it showed that despite its lack of democracy and its Marxist-socialist heritage of tyranny, poverty, stagnation, inefficiency and corruption, the geoist system Deng adopted from Hong Kong -- private ownership of producer goods, public ownership of natural resources, especially land -- would still result in the greatest economic miracle in the history of the world.

Israel is the only one that is a functioning democracy, so I gave it second place.

greatest economic miracle in the history of the world. Nixon shook hands with Mao in '72 so that means that trading with China and that means economy works that means hooray economic miracle, what... Or then what, you'd have had no opinion right?
Man with tank crosswalking? Besides... tianamen square. Tank Man, a protester who tried to stop Chinese tanks moving through Tiananmen Square.

Thats literally what you're saying. I bet a cheap product got worked through a sweatshop at minimal cost and had a price mark up that got counted BIG.
#15242401
They all suck.

I guess if I had to pick one to live in:
1. Israel
2. China
3. Russia
4. Iran
5. North Korea

Israel and China I can respect to some degree. The other 3 are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Negotiator wrote:I picked Russia. Its a boring capitalist democracy. They effectively have abandoned the death penalty.


The sheer delusion. :lol:
#15242407
Mike12 wrote:
I'd have an opinion of Russia because they're not all out to kill you in a population density of 2,000 partisans a square meter. I did vote Russia. However, I've now qualified that to say we're all probably not refugeeing or having opinions of countries and we'll probably all have a traffic accident and I have a high opinion of all traffic laws.



Again, that makes no sense.

As far as the goofy poll goes, my take is simple. Is there one I could go to without there being serious risk, or imminent danger. The answer is simple, and singular, Israel is a lot more civilised than the rest, as long as you're not Palestinian..

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