http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/asia/laos-obama-aid-package/

yeah I read about that, apparently there are 90 million bombs left, so $1 for each lol

This crappity smacking red diaper doper baby and son of a whore Obama is saying Americans are all lazy and that Americans need to look at Laos as our role model moving forward into the 21st century.

Lol when did he say that? And all this time I thought you just loved saying "crappity smacking." Just realized there's a filter here on the forums.

Update: I just found what you were talking about. I think he meant Americans are too lazy to care about the rest of the world.

Americans tend not to care about other countries but it's not because they're lazy, I think it just has to do with a combination of arrogance/ignorance and thinking one is on top. For all I care they don't have to care but there will always be the odd intellectual that shows an interest in global politics/events. Living on the West Coast of America I meet a lot of Asian Americans but most of them have a negative attitude towards anything Asian or not American and would rather just consider themselves American.

Unlike Obama, we as civilians are in the position where we can freely discuss and speak about our opinions. I agree most Americans are ignorant and arrogant and are often times overly nationalistic.

The leader of the US should not go in front of a crowd of foreigners and insult the American people. He also shouldn't bow to other leaders. Look at how Putin handles thing. He is a statesman that commands the respect of his people and from the world at large. Putin is a lion and he is regarded as such by his people. Here is the praise of one Russian political scientist:
""There are no more opponents of Putin's course and, if there are, they are mentally ill and need to be sent off for clinical examination. Putin is everywhere, Putin is everything, Putin is absolute, and Putin is indispensable""

In America, our leader is the son of a Marxist whore who posed for black pornographers. In his youth Obama was a Marxist who wrote homoerotic poetry for his university's paper.

Russia doesn't want to align itself with the Western "human rights Marxist progressive club." It's to be expected. What's this about Obama's mom posing for pornographers? I've seen some fake nudes of her but that's it

Really hate Obama but he's right about Americans' lack of understanding about the world.  Most people I know don't travel and don't even have a passport.

mitch wrote on 9^th Sep, 2016 at 12:54pm:

Really hate Obama but he's right about Americans' lack of understanding about the world.  Most people I know don't travel and don't even have a passport.

Obama is right but he's also a crappity smacking asshole. A lot of Americans don't have the $$$ to travel or have obligations that don't allow them to travel. Nobody should be judged for not having traveled. Nobody should be judged for not knowing about geography.  Most people in Laos are clueless about geography. It would be stupid to hold that against them.

Most importantly, Obama decided to speak in front of a crowd of foreigners and badmouths Americans. This is outrageous. 

@Mak Nad I'll try and find the source of the pornography claim earlier. It could be a hoax. But Barry from Honolulu did write homoerotic poetry when he was in university.

mitch wrote on 9^th Sep, 2016 at 12:54pm:

Most people in Laos are clueless about geography. It would be stupid to hold that against them.

Laos is a third world country so you can probably forgive most Laotians for their lack of knowledge about the world.

You don't need to travel to know what is the capital city of New Zealand or Australia for instance. Most Americans only just know there is a country called Laos in recent times, but may still struggle to know where it is located on the world map.

Compared to other English speaking western countries, Americans are the most uneducated about the world but they are good people and you can't really blame them because it's the education system and what they see on television (which usually focuses on news stories in America). They also love their entertainment and celebrity stories. I have relatives and friends living in America so I know.

America is a big country, many things are happening there and they learn more about their own country than other countries and what is happening around the world.

While it is true to say that America is the least educated country among the Anglophone countries, this only holds true because of differences in demographics betewen those countries.

From my experience, Australians and New Zealanders are much more ignorant about the world than Americans. The English are the most worldly but they have other problems like drinking themselves into oblivion.

Many Lao college graduates do not even possess even an elementary knowledge of geography. At many universities in Laos, it is more often that I saw students drinking beer than reading books and doing homework. Most Lao people have an excuse because they are poor and live in the countryside. Among the middle class there is no excuse. They just do not have any interest in learning much about the world. There is nothing wrong with having no interest in the world or in politics. I talked with a Lao college graduate who believed Canada was a small country located somewhere in the Eurasian landmass.

Good writeup, Saovaluck. You always seem to have the most restrained and neutral position/understanding of things. It is always interesting to hear your opinion.

It's become commonplace for Americans who are slightly cosmopolitan than the average Joe to make jokes about how dumb Americans are when traveling abroad. That was definitely unprofessional of Obama though.

I wouldn't say most Americans are dumb, they're mostly ignorant which is different. I've met a lot of Lao people who I wouldn't classify as dumb, but just very ignorant which can be just as bad to an extent. I've met worldly Lao people, but this is less common. Anyway, Americans with degrees in the liberal arts from good universities tend to be less ignorant, although the ones with BS degrees tend to be extremely ignorant about geography, but very knowledgeable about science. I'm somewhat of a geography buff and it turns me off when people are ignorant about geography.

I once met a Lao guy who listened to Burmese and Tai Lue music and was interested in that whole scene. I also met a tribal Lao guy who knew his language was part of the "Mon-Khmer" family and knew all about Mon-Khmer languages, which surprised me.

I also meet Mon-Khmer people in Thailand who know about it, but the Thai teenagers seem to be extremely anti-intellectual, even the older taxi drivers are smarter. Maybe that's just because they're young, hopefully as they get older they'll learn more, or maybe the population really just downgraded. I'm not sure.

I agree that Lao people are lazy and they don't like to study after school. More often than not, students will pass anyway, and shows how flawed the education system is in Laos.

That's why qualifications in Laos are not recognized in other countries. You can have three degrees in Laos but they mean nothing if you want to apply for a professional job in America.

America is a big country so they have the odd smart people, just like China is a big country so they have the odd tall people. I think the Aussies and Kiwis are generally smarter than Americans and know about the world, and world affairs.

Most Americans wouldn't know who Bill Shorten or Andrew Little is, but I'm pretty sure those from Oceania have heard of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

America is a different story in that it is a huge country that runs on a federal system.  Cultural differences between different corners of the country are huge, and that includes attitudes toward education and intellectualism. Because of that, there is a huge disparity in education quality.  On one hand, America has arguably the best universities in the world.  Indians and Chinese come here in droves to study at a US university. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are known worldwide.  But in poor states like Mississippi and West Virginia, education quality is terrible.  It's really not fair to compare the US to Finland, often cited as the top country in the world in terms of education.  Finland has roughly the population of the state of Minnesota and is much more ethnically homogeneous.  Geography education does remain an issue here in America though, and I think a lot of it has to do with the attitude of "America is so great, why would you want to go anywhere else?"

I disagree that Aussies and Kiwis are more knowledgeable overall.  They do travel more and so are more in touch with world affairs, but they aren't smarter overall.  Of course they would know about Clinton, Trump, and US affairs: American media and influence dominates the globe.  And this whole "ignorant American abroad" meme really needs to die.  Americans dress poorly and tend to be fat, true.  But by far the most obnoxious, arrogant, heavy drinking travelers I've met overseas were Brits and Aussies.  On a side note, it's also pretty amusing hearing their arguments in favor of gun control.

A big reason why Americans don't travel overseas as much is that you can barely any time off in this country. 2 weeks is considered normal, lol.

There's probably no need for Americans to travel overseas when they have a lot of places with fun entertainment to see in their own country, also international airfares is quite expensive. When Americans travel, they do tend to be more well-behaved than Aussies and Poms.

They have better quality clothing and shoes in America than you would find in other countries so I don't know why they would dress poorly.

A lot of Americans travel to Mexico, but that's just on the west coast. I wouldn't say America has a lot of entertainment, unless you're a very rich American and can afford it. If you live in a medium sized city there might be a few bars you can go to but that's it. America isn't a very fun place to live and they just want to work you to death.

A lot of the Americas who go to Southeast Asia just go there for sex, especially Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. It was reported somewhere that roughly 1/2 of Western males who visit the Philippines go purely for sex tourism. Laos isn't a big sex destination but there's a girly bar in every small town, I can tell you that. Even in small towns in Isaan you can find girls from Vientiane selling themselves.

Yes I heard America doesn't have many bars and clubs, but there are cinemas, theaters, concerts, beaches and you need money to visit Las Vegas and Disney. America is fun depending where you live in America I guess. It's a big country.

There are many girly bars in every small and large town in Laos. It's sad that Laos has become another version of Thailand in this day and age.

Yeah, it really does depend on where you live.  The call the midwest "flyover country" for a reason, friendly people but very little to do, and definitely not worth visiting as a tourist.

New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are great if you have money: plenty to do and check out.  But living in one of those cities and trying to grind out a living is just hell.  The US work culture is all about just working until you're dead, no time for yourself.

I actually live in one of those cities, won't say which though, and I've been to all of them. They have some nice restaurants and sights but that's about it. Nothing can come close to Thailand in terms of fun. Phuket, Pattaya, Bangkok, they all put Vegas to shame.

Lucky Laos. They got the compensation. They also got another compensation from Alternative Planting Project.

What is the third influx of money?

Every country always has not-well-educated people. That is it.

Who is Bill Shorten or Andrew Little?

I never been to USA,and the places I want to have a look is midwest and the Yellow Stone.

The worst tourist ranked by CNN I recall is from USA ;D ;D ;D Yet, surprisingly, I only met one american in my whole overseas tours. He is living in Netherland. ;)  Maybe they are at home watching Reality Show.

It is said that the Chinese are the #1 worst tourists. Bravo China  :applause

Although I personally like Chinese tourists.

peterpan wrote on 11^th Sep, 2016 at 10:25am:

Lucky Laos. They got the compensation. They also got another compensation from Alternative Planting Project. What is the third influx of money?

What did he mean by this?

Probably lost in translation, he's a Chinese speaker. Anyway this donation won't mean anything, the Lao government will probably spend it all on nice cars or build themselves fancy new houses.

mitch wrote on 11^th Sep, 2016 at 3:06pm:

[quote author=4A5F4E5F484A5B54595253545B3A0 link=1473166180/19#19 date=1473589518]Lucky Laos. They got the compensation. They also got another compensation from Alternative Planting Project. USA left 90 million bombs in Laos and gave 90 Million USD for compensation. It is not a big money even for Laos. Financial aids were poured in for opium eradication plan million years ago as UNDP called it as Alternative Planting Project. I thought you all know that UNDP aids, so I put it in short.  or Flyover Aids? hahaha ;D What did he mean by this?

For better understanding of the Flyover money, I am directed to ...... and convey...... 8-)

http://www.newmandala.org/the-social-impacts-of-opium-eradication/

http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/news/2015/03/sec-150327-voa01.htm

TexasCowboy wrote on 9^th Sep, 2016 at 12:12am:

This crappity smacking red diaper doper baby and son of a whore Obama is saying Americans are all lazy and that Americans need to look at Laos as our role model moving forward into the 21st century.

I think all Americans need to look at Trump as role model to stop it roll back! ;D

all that money gonna go to their swiss account

Such is life with the commies. It's not enough to clear the bombs anyway, and the money will disappear like you said.

It should be remembered that the USA offered to fund the bulk of the UXO clearing in Laos several years ago but the Lao government rejected the offer. Why did they reject it? Who knows, but it is fair to assume that the USA's proposal was going to include management of the clearance and NOT just a payment into the government's coffers. Under such an agreement, the government leaders could not lay their hands on the money and channel it into their own accounts. I cannot think of any other reason why they would reject such a generous offer. VN

Thanks for the info, Vongvichit. Few people contribute here and that was a very insightful post. I appreciate it.

I would add more asphalt to 50 miles of the National Road with that $90 million.