What makes people in different countries and of different sexes laugh? According to this article on global humor by Macha Sery of France’s Le Monde newspaper, a recent study on the subject concluded: “All countries, or almost all, have made a specialty of mocking their leaders and their neighbors, territories or populations. … The best customers for jokes, whatever their nature, are the Germans, followed by the French, Danish and British. The Irish, British, Australians and New-Zealanders...

A resolution passed by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe equating Stalinism with Nazism has Russians fuming – and lashing out at the the U.S. and Britian for what the Kremlin implies were war crimes that the allies were never punished for. The director general of Russia’s Agency of Political and Economic Communications warns that reopening this ‘Pandora’s Box’ could have dangerous unintended consequences, and expresses Russian aggravation by highlighting...

What is the significance of Microsoft’s recent deal to create an alliance with Yahoo and its search-based confrontation with Google? While using an Internet search engine is simple and most of us think little of it, access to this technology is profoundly changing our world. According to Andrian Kreve of Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung: “Google is a corporation that monopolizes questions. And in the digital economy of the 21st century, questions are a raw material worth more...

According to this op-ed from Mexico’s La Cronica de Hoy, the hosts of this year’s annual summit of North American leaders are not at all pleased with the summit’s agenda – or its likely outcome. For La Cronica de Hoy, Carlos Ferreyra laments having to host the two ‘imperial visitors’ – Barack Obama and Stephen Harper – and be forced to come under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Offering a flavor of his mood, Ferreyra writes: “Those attending the...

President Clinton is receiving some extraordinary praise from Iraq – and that nation’s government an equal portion of criticism. After watching President Clinton’s mercy mission to North Korea, Iraqi columnist Mahdi Qasim laments his nation’s lack of leaders like Clinton, who ‘value the lives, the dignity and freedom of their citizens more than anything else, and exert all of their efforts and energy to protect them from the dangers of bloodshed, abuse and death …’ Writing...

Is it incumbent on the West to ‘help’ Russia overcome its past of self destructive behavior and global domination? According to André Fontaine of France’s Le Monde, if President Obama’s vision of a ‘strong, peaceful and prosperous Russia,’ occupying ‘its rightful place as a great power’ were to come to pass without that – we’re all in trouble. In this warning directed in large part at the United States, Fontaine writes: “Brave,...

While the United States is having some success targeting militants in Pakistan with drone aircraft, winning over the local population on the ground is another story. According to this angry editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post – a newspaper located along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border that often has a militant flavor to it – American disrespect for the locals and plans to expand the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad have undermined the Pakistan government’s standing in the eyes...

Although it didn’t make much of an impact in the United States, Vice President Joe Biden’s recent interview with the Wall Street Journal has gotten tongues wagging in Russia’s media as well as the Kremlin. It’s fair to say that the vice president has hit a Russian nerve. In this article from Russia’s Izvestia newspaper, political scientist Georgiy Bovt exhorts his countrymen not to give a damn about what Biden, Hillary Clinton, or anyone else says, about Russia. For...

Is the deadly rioting in China’s western-most provinces driving a public relations policy change in Beijing? According to this article from the state-run China Daily, just as in America, Chinese society is due for an open discussion on prejudice. Using the recent American controversy between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and a White police officer as a jumping off point, the China Daily‘s Alexis Hooi warns readers that as China develops, it will have to shake off some bad habits....

It’s ‘Victory Day’ again in North Korea – or to be precise, the ‘Day of Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War,’ over the United States and United Nations. For those who have wondered how Pyongyang has come to call the 50-year standoff a ‘victory,’ South Korea’s Daily North Korea, staffed by people who have escaped the land of Kim Jong-il and work to alert the outside world to what’s going on there, offer this explanation. For the...

Like people the world over, the Russians are puzzling over how much attention to pay to the utterances of our own vice president, Joe Biden. Days ago, Vice President Biden gave what was, from a Russian perspective, an insulting if not alarming interview with the Wall Street Journal, during which he said that Russia is so weak that it would ‘bend’ to America’s will. This article from Russia’s Moskovskij Komsomolets looks at his comments – and Hillary Clinton’s...

There is something about Texan Lance Armstrong that tweaks French nerves like nothing else can. The seven-time Tour de France winner, after a three year retirement, returned to the ‘Great Loop’ this year, finishing third. Begrudgingly – and with more than a hint of suspicion that the Tour is somehow soiled by Armstrong – Mustapha Kessous of France’s Le Monde reaches the surprising conclusion that, ‘To exist, Lance Armstrong and the Great Loop depend on one another.’ And...

In seeking to return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zalaya to office, is the United States doing the right thing? The Honduran Congress and military, who ousted Zalaya for violating that nation’s constitution by seeking another term, certainly have tremendous support. And according to columnist Gloria Leticia Pineda from La Prensa of Honduras, those who support the new government have a bone to pick with the Obama Administration. For La Prensa, Pineda writes in part: “We have several...

Would the United States government deport a confirmed Nazi murderer to Austria, only to see him live out his life in a luxury apartment with 24-hour a day care? Those of you who answered yes win the prize. Hot on the heels of the case of John Demjanjuk, a former Nazi collaborator and naturalized American from Cleveland now standing trial as an accomplice to 27,900 murders, comes the case of Josias Kumpf. Kumpf, a former Nazi concentration camp guard, emigrated to the United States in 1956 and became...

Unfortunately for Iran’s Christians, post-election protesting and riots over vote fraud have resulted in increased suspicion and persecution. According to this article by Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, writing for Germany’s Rheinischer Merkur newspaper, efforts are afoot in Iran’s parliament to alter the nation’s legal code to impose the death penalty on people who convert to Christianity. Of the plight of Iran’s Christians, Dr. Wahdat-Hagh writes in part: “Up to now,...

Once again it’s nice to report that the free press in Russia is still alive and kicking. Days ago the Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, one of Russia’s boldest opposition newspapers, published this broadside against Russia’s ‘self-decieving, self-deluded’ official media and the Kremlin for how they continue to interpret the world. This article examines the visit of Vice President Biden to Ukraine and Georgia, deriding the Kremlin for thinking he came to ‘remove,’ ‘dismiss’...

It’s a question that has been asked since manned spaceflight began: With all the problems down on earth, is it really worth the billions it takes to send human beings into space? At least as far as the editorial board of the NRC Handelsblad is concerned, the answer is an emphatic ‘yes.’ This editorial from the Dutch newspaper says in part: “Human spaceflight is a worthy end in itself. In a far distant future, humanity will risk journeying to nearby planets and perhaps beyond....

King Mohammed VI of Morocco One of the things we try to do at WORLDMEETS.US is bring to the attention of the American people stories and news sources rarely touched on by U.S. media – but that involve our nation. The situation in the Western Sahara is one such story, demonstrating once again that in all kinds of situations, what an American president says and does results in major repercussions. This article from Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran highlights a conflict that has been going...

As any any news-obsessed individual knows by now, a war of words has broken out between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and North Korea – after the secretary likened the Hermit Kingdom’s regime to small children desperate for attention. In response, the maniacally state-controlled Korean Central News Agency issued this retort from that nation’s foreign ministry, which says in part: “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has taken all necessary measures to protect...

Is President Obama more aligned with Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin than Bush was? And is Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, a better advocate for the Russian opposition that President Obama? According to this intriguing article By Alexei Victorovich Chadayev for Russia’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the answer to both questions is yes. In fact, he writes, that the reason Obama-mania hasn’t broken out in Russia is that Russians see little difference...

America has extradited alleged Nazi guard John Demjanjuk to stand trial in a Munich court as an accomplice to 27,900 murders. So how do Germans feel about what is likely to be the last great Nazi trial? Columnist Kathrin Werner, showing little concern for 90-year-old Demjanjuk’s advanced age, writes for the Financial Times Deutschland, in part: “The trial of alleged concentration camp warden John Demjanjuk is an opportunity for the German state. It can show its citizens that it’s...

Polish Foreign Minister Adam D. Rotfeld After agreeing to the installation of an American missile shield on their territories, Poland and the Czech Republic are a bit jittery watching the Obama Administration ‘reset’ relations with the Kremlin. And after Moscow’s attack on Georgia last year and the setting aside of NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine, the rest of East Europe is similarly affected. Which is why last week, 22 of East Europe’s most prominent present and...

When looking for articles about the United States in the foreign press, one often finds columnists quoting the founding fathers and preaching to their readers about the glories of America and its legacy. This article from Romania’s Cotidianul newspaper gives us both a peak into Romania and a sense of the esteem many people abroad hold our nation. Citing the election of President Obama as proof of a restoration of America ideals, Cristian Pirvulescu, dean of Romania’s National School...

Walter Cronkite: 1916-2009 Walter Cronkite, who died today at age 92, left a tremendous imprint on the lives of millions of Americans and generations of journalists, including myself. He stood for being the people’s tribune, he stood for a dispassionate accounting of the facts, he stood for all of the ideals that today’s journalists consider articles of faith, chief of these being reporting the news without fear or favor to those in positions of political or financial power. For practicing...

Blaming Iranian political reformers and the West for yesterday’s horrific air crash in northwest Iran, this article by columnist Kian Mokhtari of Iran’s state-controlled Kayhan lashes out at former President Khatami for seeking to replace Iran’s passenger fleet with Western aircraft – and the West for not selling them to him. On the other hand, he also blames the bad reputation of Russian aircraft on Western propaganda. Arguing that the West cares for protester lives but...