Japanese TV reports on Sarah Palin

I agree with Alex in that even though Biden has made some well-publicized erroneous statements (as I think all candidates from most every election are bound to make), many of Palin’s remarks are far beyond general slip-ups and factual misstatements. Her responses to many basic-knowledge questions tend to strongly imply that she has very little–if any–understanding of the subject. When the world is already heavily questioning your level of experience in matters relating to the presidency, answers of this nature are simply not acceptable.

Making claims of knowledge and expertise in the field of foreign affairs just because you can technically see the country across the ocean from one of your islands is outrageous. I can see downtown Los Angeles from my window right now but it doesn’t mean I know a damn thing about what goes on there. Anyone who makes such ridiculous assertions as those Palin has been making (be they Democrat or Republican) fully deserves the political flogging from the media and public.

And yes, it could be mildly humorous to have Palin around as something other than a high-ranking official but I think it would get old very quickly.

Who’s our alternative? Nader? No thanks.

The world cares because a tanking U.S. economy affects the global economy, particularly East Asian powers who rely on exports. It’s far from ideal, but it’s the way things are.

Take South Korea for example. 11% of its imports go directly to the U.S. About 25% of their exports go to China, but half of those are components for Chinese products that are then shipped to the U.S. So South Korea has a 20-25% reliance on the U.S. economy. If Americans aren’t spending cash, South Korea’s not making money.

In addition to being an economic super power, the USA is also a regular ol’ global super power, and their decisions have huge repercussions. I come from the UK, and we were one of the strong proponents against the war on Iraq (not that I, or a lot of the people in the country were actually in favour of it…). The US and the UK pretty much lead the charge. But what if the US hadn’t? What if Al Gore had been President instead of Bush and, perhaps, he didn’t call for war? Perhaps the UK wouldn’t have gone to war either. This is a big example, but there are plenty of little ones too.

One thing worth noting is that precedents are very important in government. Officials and politicians are always terrified to do something unknown, without facts or figures to support them. So, for instance, if the States became more left wing and tried more experimental medical trials or something, it would provide a precedent for the UK.

What annoys me is that the media doesn’t represent politics of other important areas properly. China is another global superpower, but we don’t hear nearly as much about them (except for the Olympics -_-). Worse still, America is gloriously uneducated in any world politics, which really annoys me when they have such a big influence on them.

As a side note, the prospect of Palin become VP or even President genuinely concerns me.