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So I'm opening this thread to know more about other countries. This include culture, history, current trends, polictics, and much more. If have any questions about any country, ask away.

If you ever lived in a country and wish to answer a persons question, then do so. Though you don't have to live in that exact place to answer the question. You just need to have bit a knowledge.

I'm from Puerto Rico. So if you want to know anything from here, you're more then welcome to ask.(Though I bet no one gonna ask.)

So I'll begin with a couple of questions myself:

Is the politics in America as bad as everyone say it is? Whenever I go see News, usually in the politics side, there's always something bad going on. Is this true?

Why can puerlto licans pronounce their R's?

Is it nice in Puerto Rico?

its 32c in Canada right now its its been like that for days now

Seriously though, if anyone has any questions about Russian history, I can try to answer them.

Regarding politics in America:

It's not good, but we don't have people trying to kill each other in the legislature, which I believe is a feature in other countries. The problem comes from the two party system. The two major parties, the Democrats (left of center) and the Republicans (right of center), hold all the seats in both congressional houses, and I believe a smaller party hasn't held any seats since the Populists in the 1890s. Because of this, there are always two sides to every issue, and the two sides will never agree with each other upon principle. That's why President Obama had such a hard time trying to be bipartisan near the beginning of his term; the right wouldn't hear him.

Another problem comes from the media, specifically the 24-hour channels such as CNN (left of center), MSNBC (far left) and Fox News (far right, Republican Party financiers). Now, there are some controversial opinions regarding the latter, so I'll be brief. These three channels have to find some way to fill their programming schedules, so once they get the news, it gets filtered over to dozens of pundits and editorial shows, from Bill O'Reilly to Lawrence O'Donnell, to Rush Limbaugh, to John Stewart and Steven Colbert, who make fun of all the rest, and so on, until the issue is beaten into the ground, dead as a duck. So it goes.

With all these opinions, a guy can't really get the straight dope, so to speak. At least, that's how I see it. I hear it's even worse in Britain, where every single press outlet is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

I'm actually on vacation in New Jersey right now, first time in USA. It's like Canada but warm.

>MFW I live in Vancouver and people are bitching that it's 25°C

It's pretty nice. We have our ups and downs like any country. It's also hot as hell since this is a tropical island but you'll get used to it. If you're gonna come in live here then I recommend you learn a bit of Spanish before coming. But this isn't an entire Spanish speaking island, you can still speak English here.

@Dac

I have a question for you, Russian Fedora.

I would like to know more of Vladimir Putin. Since I've been hearing a lot about him lately, I liked to know more about him and his current state of presidencies.

You going to edc in puerto Rico?

@Dac

Do you mean the Electric Daisy Carnival?

@Russian Fedora

Please continue. I'm very interested to know more.

Yes, you going or not?

Relevant to the last post I made in here:

14 reasons why this is the worst congress ever

I can't! Currently, I'm not old enough to go to the event. Damn, it really seem like a lot a fun….

No problem. And I have plenty of time to tell you about Russia now if you want, but I'll be away from the computer for about three days starting tomorrow. What era do you want to know about?

Well, even if I don't have to, the answer is no. I think Putin is constantly stuck with that facial expression.

@Russian Fedora

Hmmmm……

Did anything important happen in Russia before World 1 and 2? Was there any actions that they did that affected other countries?

Many. The Crimean War is one even that comes from the top of my head, and I guess the transiberian railway updates were also important for international trade.

@Russian Fedora

Okay, I'll do my research on those subjects. Thanks.

Do you like calle 13?

Not every single one…I hope. The Guardian among others like The Independent are too good of papers to possibly be owned by Rupert Murdoch, haha

Oh boy…..

I'm gonna be honest and say no. There are some songs that are good but most songs are stupid and don't really make a lot of sense. I mean literally, there are songs that don't make sense. Look for the lyrics of one of there songs and translate it, and write back here.

Hey, Mex. What's your opinion(s) on Britain?

I'm originally from Latin america, I speak spanish. Though I've lived in the USA almost all my life so my English is by far my dominant language and you would never guess I was anything but American.
About calle 13, I love their nonsensical lyrics. It's funny as shit.

@Quantum Meme

I'm kidding. I really don't have much of an opinion on Britain, mostly because I never paid much attention to it. So giving my opinion without having current knowledge of the country would be stupid.

Hey, me too. Well, mine is a special case, though. I was born and raised here in Puerto Rico but my mom was English teacher, I went to an English-Spansih private school, and I watched a lot of english TV. So English is by far my dominant language and i'm always made of my lack of Spanish here.

About Calle 13, Yeah I guess it is pretty funny.

While I'm sure Russian Fedora can explain everything (also I am not Russian) but I'll help him out:

That kind of condenses Russian early history for you :)

I'm not Russian either.

And I'm not Mexican.
(But I wish to know more about the country)

BUT UR FROM THEM COUNTREES DOWN BAH SOUTH AMURKCA, AIN'T THEY ALL THE SAME?

You have no idea how much my jimmies get rustled when people say all of south america is the same.

^Raging inside.

Well, that's refreshing to hear. I always thought the BBC was the last bastion of centrism in the British press.

Anyone have any questions about Miami?

Mind telling how everything is going over there? Is it hot as hell down there?

I don't pay much attention to American politics, because Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I won't be living here in a few years.

@Teh Brawler

Where ya going?

No hotter than the other 49 states. I'm pretty sure the rest of the country is hotter than we are at the moment. When the temperature hovers around 88°F year-round, you get used to it. It's a blessing and a curse though; since it's always so hot, everyone starts wearing heavy winter coats whenever it gets below 69°.

@Fridge Logic

We don't wear coats over here when it's winter, of course. But we do wear jackets though because it can get cold at times. Nonetheless it's not bad. We don't have to worry about shoveling snow, removing the cold ice from our car and all the other stuff people worry about when the snow arrives. Though we still get a lot rain….

Seriously? No Canada questions?

Though I probably know more about US History because I always found it to be a whole lot more interesting than Canadian History. The history of Newfoundland, however, is another matter.

As far as I'm concerned, Newfoundland shouldn't even be part of Canada. The New York Times actually did a piece on this whole issue just a few days ago. Why people would voluntarily give up their right to become a sovereign country and join with, of all the places, Canada, I will never know. Damn Newfies back then didn't know what the hell they were doing.

@Twins

I guess I would like to know more about Canada…

Just curious, do Canadians have any close relations with the US? I mean the 2 countries a literally close together. You guys must get a lot of American tourist up there, no?

Actually I currently reside in and am going to a university in California. But I can try and field your questions anyway, although you'd probably be better off asking either a real Canadian like opspe.

Canada having close relations with the US? You bet your ass we do. Hell, sometimes it feels like Canada (or at least the rest of it) is almost like an extension of the United States, and judging from the current situation, it practically is. I don't like it, and neither do most Canadians, but I guess that's the way it works when your neighbouring country has the largest economy in the world, as well as the greatest general global influence.

It's not that bad though. The US-Canada trade relations are among the best in the world, being mutually beneficial to both, and the two countries have had a rich cultural and historical relationship ever since they existed on the map. I can't think of any other two nations that had had such stable and positive relations with each other in the history of forever.

Really, us Canadians like to complain, but at the end of the day, I doubt Canada would be as awesome as it is today without the US being right down there below us (both figuratively and literally).

As for tourism, it's quite a big industry up in Newfoundland, although I haven't seen too many Americans, as most tourists are other Canadians. The general Canadian stereotype of Newfoundland is that it's a third world country, probably due to its horrendous economy in the 90s. But I can assure you that Newfoundland is not a third world country and is actually a really awesome place, being a good 20% cooler than the rest of Canada, and you should all come and visit and spend a lot of money and etc etc etc.

Remember, if you have one place to go this summer, make it Newfoundland. /shamelesselfpromotion

Raised in Mormon family. Ask me any question.

I suppose if anyone has questions regarding life in New Zealand or its neighbors, you can ask me.

First of all, before anybody says it; no we do not have sex with sheep and yes it's our fault that Marmite exists

A summary:

Jokes aside, Canada really is a very nice place. My father was born and raised in Montreal, and we went up there in 2005 for a visit. It was very tranquil. That was also the first and only time I've been out of the country.

What college do you go to?

I'm from Mexico… so… well… yeah.

Japan.

Hopefully Hokkaido.

Japan seems to be well-off economically and quality-of-living-wise, but the culture and people can be soul-crushingly depressing. That's the main reason I'm averted from going there. Have you considered Belgium?

I really do think that opspe would be the best to speak of American and Canadian cultures. He's spent significant time in both.

Both countries are pretty big, so just like the West of the United States is far different from the Southeast US in regards to just about anything, the different provinces in Canada are different from each other as well.

In regards to what I know about, Canada is more progressive on matters regarding health. Since we are so close geographically and we both are generally English-speaking, developed world countries, the US can draw comparisons about how some policies and implementations might work out in practice. There probably isn't another country quite like that in terms of testing out unproven implementations for us understanding how health services can be provided here.

The United Kingdom and US share a common history to a certain extent, but that part is in direct opposition with each other. I feel like going to a city like London would offer more of a culture shock (Earl Grey lolwut) than cities like Vancouver and Toronto. I think those similarities work pretty well when either country is trying to pull a policy from the other.

I prefer Vegemite.

YOU MAD MATE?