News from Around the Globe, August 29, 2012 It’s a pretty big world with a lot happening, but you would never know it if you never ventured beyond American media sources. I hope that you find some of these items from around the world interesting. Feel free to comment and let me know if there is a particular part of the world (or continent) you would like to see better represented in these posts.

Proving that other countries have clueless leaders, too, Syrian President Assad says: War takes time. In a rare public appearance Assad is interviewed by the pro-regime Syrian television station, Dunya, which is located in Damascus. Assad said, things are getting better but, hey, war takes times. He said he was not worried about defections, calling them a, “mechanism of self-cleansing of the nation”.

Lacking fear of being labeled biased, foreign journalists often provide more honest coverage of U.S. politics than our own journalists/newsreaders. The German newspaper, The Spiegel, provides a sharp critique of today’s Republican Party. This is a long article but I found myself agreeing with it and wishing that I could find articles like this in large American newspapers.

Everyone hates the immigrant. They dress strangely, they talk strangely, and worst of all, they eat strange food. My mother was always sure that anyone around her who was speaking a foreign language was probably saying something mean about her! Well, we’re in a grocery store, mom, and those two ladies speaking Spanish are looking at peaches, I’m pretty certain they are not talking about you. I just was never able to convince her. Anyway, the inappropriately named Progress Party wants immigrants to act more Norwegian, damn it!

Hey, did you know that Romney wants to sell Taiwan F-16s? Did you know that the Republican platform promises to defend Taiwan if attacked by China? Yeah, I didn’t either until I read it about in a Taiwanese newspaper. C’mon, American reporters. Ask some questions that matter, every now and then.

Ya boozing welfare free loaders, quit drinking all day and get a job! No, this wasn’t a statement from the 2012 Republican Party Platform. It was a pearl of wisdom offered by Australian Mining Magnate and Australia’s richest citizen and 1% Queen, Gina Rinehart. Now, one would think that anyone flame throwing that sort of rhetoric would be self made, sadly, no. Ms. Rinehart inherited her fortune. Ugh. Really? What a tool.