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Who's currently the Leader of the Free World?

A

AcademicSaucer

Member
What the fuck is the "Free world"? I always read/hear US people talking in almost masturbatory ways about that "Leader of the free world" shit, during the cold war it made sense as propaganda but I cant for the life of me understand what the fuck it means nowadays.
 
R

RustyNails

Member
perfectchaos007 said:
Until the US slips down the ladder economically, yes he/she is. GAFers lately have been pretending that the US is an irrelevant joke that no other country takes seriously now with Trump in power, but thats just not based in reality. The US has a higher GDP than the European Union and every other country in the world. Until that changes, yeah the PotUS is the leader of the free world and really the entire world, since money rules.
Click to expand...
You can be the richest country in the world and be completely protectionist, as how USA was before the World War. You can have the highest GDP in the world and completely fuck the Climate agreement because of a vapid media "win" of doing something for your base of supporters. That's not leading. It's telling every country to do whatever the fuck they want. Invade other countries, blockade each other, tear each others agreements. Trump dont care.
 
L

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
IdreamofHIME said:
Donald Trump


No matter how much GAF hates it. He's the man other leaders want and come to see.
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I will repeat myself:

No, he isn't, he doesn't want to. His official policy is "America first, fuck the rest!". Where is he leading the (free) world to? Is he pressuring for a new accord to replace Paris were everyone uses more coal? As a Mexican, what is he asking us to do other than pay him for the stupid wall?

The only international movements he machinated and supported so far is the Qatar blockade and China "tried" something with North Korea, but those doesn't count, as all the main participants are authoritarian regimes. He seems far more comfortable dealing with authoritarians than the actual free world, that often openly challenge him, and even mock him.

Heck, even his own admin contradicts him on the Qatar issue.
 
I

Imperfected

Member
Bonen no Max'd said:
Obviously Merkel is superior to Trump, but it's still baffling to me to see liberals looooove an anti same-sex marriage politician that uses ethnic stereotypes to justify brutal austerity. Ostensibly they're opposed to that!
Click to expand...

I won't lie: it's not great, but American politics is pretty much mired into selection between compromise candidates due to the demographics and arcane election procedures of the country. Prior to Trump, there was sort of an understanding between the parties that we present for President options our own party isn't entirely happy with but that the opposing party can at least somewhat stomach. Merkel would be a solid compromise candidate by that reckoning.

Unfortunately, it seems we've now gone full pants-on-head and everyone's just going to dig deeper into both trenches until the very idea of compromise is insane.
 
A

azyless

Member
Don't think I ever heard anyone that wasn't american use the term "leader of the free world". We don't care about this as much as you seem to think.
 
I

IdreamofHIME

Member
Lonely1 said:
I will repeat myself:

No, he isn't, he doesn't want to. His official policy is "America first, fuck the rest!". Where is he leading the (free) world to? Is he pressuring for a new accord to replace Paris were everyone uses more coal? As a Mexican, what is he asking us to do other than pay him for the stupid wall?

The only international movements he machinated and supported so far is the Qatar blockade and China "tried" something with North Korea, but those doesn't count, as all the main participants are authoritarian regimes. He seems far more comfortable dealing with authoritarians than the actual free world, that often openly challenge him, and even mock him.

Heck, even his own admin contradicts him on the Qatar issue.
Click to expand...


..yet he pushed a world leader out the way to be at the front of a photo.

You guys are blind as fuck.
 
H

hobblygobbly

Member
Always disliked this imperialist-like thinking of having a "leader" of the free world, let alone the world.

I don't intend any offence to Americans but it's only Americans I ever see use this term or have this line of thinking.

This was a creation by Americans as a result of American exceptionalism, which is also just a rebranded form of a combination of jingoism and nationalism.

It's a coordinated group effort, no single country has been the (self-proclaimed) leader since the days of imperialism.

During the Cold War it was used for all countries that were not socialist or communist, lest we forget that the U.S declared an ideological war against leftism in general during the Cold War, not just socialism or communism.

I among many other people have never seen the U.S as any sort of leader, there's issues like climate change that the U.S cared very little about even before Trump.
 
R

RustyNails

Member
IdreamofHIME said:
..yet he pushed a world leader out the way to be at the front of a photo.

You guys are blind as fuck.
Click to expand...

8Dm1Mcb.gif
 
IaN_GAF

IaN_GAF

Member
If you think it's Trump I'm afraid you may be underestimating the consequences of his actions. He is barely the leader of America.
 
M

Metroxed

Member
No one. Such title does not exist, it was invented by Americans to feed their massive ego. I've never seen it used in other countries and I've never heard European politicians using that term to refer to the US president or to anyone in general.

In fact, I've only seen that term being used in American films and by Americans on the Internet.
 
I

ISOM

Member
Definitely not Trump. He shits on international agreements, he questions military aliances and hardly any other country is following his lead. Trump is not leader of the free world no matter how much nationalistic Americans want it to be so. It's Merkel with Runner up Macron.
 
T

Teren_Kanan

Member
Depends on what you mean by leader.

Ultimately whoever controls America's Military has the final say, whether they should/deserve to or not.
 
A

Azzanadra

Member
Bonen no Max'd said:
Obviously Merkel is superior to Trump, but it's still baffling to me to see liberals looooove an anti same-sex marriage politician that uses ethnic stereotypes to justify brutal austerity. Ostensibly they're opposed to that!
Click to expand...

Yeah it's weird, funnily enough Trump might actually be more liberal than Merkel on some things like LGBTQ.
 
P

PdotMichael

Banned
It's an American term which many Americans don't realize has a negative implication because it implies ownership of other states outside of the own boarders.
It's a little bit like when British people are shocked that people in the world don't share a boner for the Empire like it is still common in the UK.
 
A

azyless

Member
Outtrigger888 said:
Trump, America still has a ton a freedoms that no country offers.
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Propaganda has worked well on you if you seriously believe that.
In fact I can think of a bunch of things that have been standard in other OECD countries for decades that the USA isn't even close to offering.
 
P

PdotMichael

Banned
MaddenNFL64 said:
No one respects him on the world stage, so no. No one is following his lead.

Merkel at the moment is my guess.
Click to expand...

He is quite the example how stupid the idea of a leader of the free world is.

There are so many people, even on GAF, who thinks that the USA is so powerful that they dictates what the rest of the world does.
But in reality world politics is a complex case of negotiating and finding compromises with countless parties and interests that there is no place for a leader.
 
N

Nexus Zero

Member
Obviously Merkel. Trump is a wannabe tinpot dictator and Canada is a fraction of any leading EU power.

Also Leader of the Free World is a term I've heard a lot in the U.K. Media at least and I think it's an important concept. There's a bubble, probably not one with enough air in it right now, but one that respects or pretends to respect the sovereignty of the individual. And there will always be a de facto leader of it.
 
P

Pluto

Member
Outtrigger888 said:
Trump, America still has a ton a freedoms that no country offers.
Click to expand...
You don't know much about other countries then. America doesn't offer anything other countries don't offer as well, some americans may find it hard to believe but america is just not that special.
 
N

nephilimdj

Member
USA is still the leader, EU follows it and not the other way around.

USA was the one who sanctioned EU using WTO only a few years ago. EU was the one who begged USA to levy Chinese industries that competed with Germany. USA has the market power and trade agreement/military agreements that give them that power. Hating Trump or idolising Macron doesnt change that.
 
G

Game-Biz

Member
Would it be too cheesy to say the American people?

If so, I'd say there is no clear leader. There are good leaders around the globe, but that is a different question.
 
K

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
There is no more leader of the free world. With both the US and UK stepping down from the global scene in the recent year, the rest of the western world are left to rule through cooperation. This really is the start of something great. We still have the best things from the US/UK but we still have the best of ours as well, unlike them.
 
P

PdotMichael

Banned
kinoki said:
There is no more leader of the free world. With both the US and UK stepping down from the global scene in the recent year, the rest of the western world are left to rule through cooperation. This really is the start of something great. We still have the best things from the US/UK but we still have the best of ours as well, unlike them.
Click to expand...

UK...

That post cracks me up.
 
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