Originally posted by Davo:
Oh, and sitting at a university in Austria and criticizing the United States is ueber-cool. 
What is that supposed to mean? I mean I know it's cool but are you being sarcastic?  I am here to get an education Davo. Would you suggest that Americans who are interested in the international system not be such an international city? Most of the international community meets here in Europe or in the US, this is just as good a place as any to learn how to get things done on the international realm. Another note, I am taught by Americans and Austrians alike. The IR head who teaches is more conservative than most IR teachers I had in the US. It is healthy to be outside of the US for a bit. You can see why Europeans are so critical of the US and it's normally not always justified. I usually end up defending the US when talking to Europeans, but they are not all as liberal as you think. Also I go to Uni with several people from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and a few other places in the middle-east so I also get a little of their perspective. To Europeans and Arabs (from what I have gathered from them) what the US is doing seems like Colonialism, from this view you can understand why they are so critical. I mean it is using military power to occupy a country? Still, I believe it is much to early to know if good or bad is going to come out of this. I do not believe there has been a rash of democratization. Lebanon has been fighting for its freedom for decades and its newly found drive was in response to the killing of Rafik Hariri. But again I digress.
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