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There is a thread floating around here about wether one nation is the 'greatest', It got me thinking as to what does everybody consider their nation's greatest and worst achievement is. Feel free to post your thoughts.

for belgium...

Greatest...

Uhm... Beer, choclate and waffles?

Also we had Congo as a colony (Well not really a colony, more like private property of our king)

Worst...

This is happening right now.... We still don't have a goverment (more then one year and counting)

Greatest:
-Everything

Worst:
-America never does anything wrong.

Malaysia:
Greatest:
-Food. Maaaaan, the food.
-The culture. People are generally friendly and accommodating.

Worst:
-Government. Quite a few people dislike them for many good reasons.
-The weather. We're a tropical country, so it either rains all day or boils our eyeballs.

coolyo294 wrote:Greatest:
-Everything

Worst:
-America never does anything wrong.

*Cough*free healthcare*cough*

sillyboy wrote:

coolyo294 wrote:Greatest:
-Everything

Worst:
-America never does anything wrong.

*Cough*free healthcare*cough*

You get what you pay for of course. We don't need free health care because our health care system is the best in the world. A politician said that so I know it is true.

sillyboy wrote:

coolyo294 wrote:Greatest:
-Everything

Worst:
-America never does anything wrong.

*Cough*free healthcare*cough*

I love how you want to take the piss out the Americans over healthcare, yet you placed the Belgian Congo as one of Belgium's greatest achievements!

It's widely acknowledged as one of the most brutal and barbaric colonial regimes of all time. I mean, 50% percent of the population died, according to most reliable estimates...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, yeah. Almost forgot:

Worst
Irish famine, Indian Famines... though in truth they were not the sole fault of the British Empire.

Best
I think the fact that I don't really know where to start when listing British achievements, is an achievement in itself on the part of the United Kingdom. Too many to list.

america:

best:
-won its freedom.
-is a democracy.
-strongest world power.

worst:
-stupidly large debt.
-loosing power.
-thinks it needs to be friendly to everyone.

It does, because it has stupidly large debt and is losing power....

It didn't take long for this thread to turn into a backbiting session.

lord commissar klimino wrote:america:

best:
-won its freedom.
-is a democracy.
-strongest world power.

-And?
-So it can join the 78 other demcratic countries...
-Argueably. China has a stronger economy and a far bigger military.
Honestly, these are no-where near Americas greatest achievements. Inventing the car, for example, would be much better here...

worst:
-stupidly large debt.
-loosing power.
-thinks it needs to be friendly to everyone.

-True.
-True.
-It kinda does, you know. If history teaches us anything, it's that pissing people off=bad.

Great Britain:

-Founding North America
-Largest empire in history
-All those inventions & contributions to science, the train, the lightbulb...Actually, here's the Wiki article.
Just look at the scroll bar.

Worst:
-As above

USA

Hmmm

Best:

-The production/assembly line. We may not have invented the car, but damn did we make it affordable. Eli Whitney and Henry Ford have earned their place as key figures in the evolution of modern industry. Really, modern industry may be the result of effort on the part of many people and nations, but the US definitely takes a top spot in the list.
-Putting a man on the moon. So what if other nations could have done it, and so what if it was achieved with a lot of help from non-Americans? We gathered the money and the resources needed to get the job done. We did it *waves US flag*
-The US probably contributed more the development of modern computing and the internet than anyone else.
-The US is arguably one of the most important driving nations for modern globalization.
-Massive contributions to the concepts of logistics and force projection. Some people probably don't care, but I'm a military historian. I do care

Worst:

-A per capita leader of the world for douche bags (imo). Not even France, as much as I dislike them, tops us.
-A per capita leader of the world for arrogance (Let's face it, we can't let France beat us. Ever).
-The above

The Empire, to both ends.

Best:

Sushi
Christianity
Gunpowder

Worst:

Democrats
Liberals
Immigrants*

*This entire post is supposed to be a joke. A send up of American stereotypes. Calm down.

Monster Rain wrote:

Best:

Sushi
Christianity
Gunpowder

Worst:

Democrats
Liberals
Immigrants*

*This entire post is supposed to be a joke. A send up of American stereotypes. Calm down.

Best:
-Trudeaumania
-Rush
-telephone
-duct tape
-universal healthcare
-Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Constitution Act, 1982)
-Ice Hockey
-Insulin
-War of 1812
-Trailer Park Boys
-Leslie Nielsen
-Maple Syrup
-Red Green Show
-Canadian women
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_inventions

Worst:
-European and Native relations
-Brian Mulroney
-Justin Beiber
-Celine Dion

Edited: Forgot Bieber, on the worst list. And Celine Dion.

Best:
Danger Mouse.

Worst:
Dale Winton.

Cheesecat wrote:Worst:
-European and Native relations
-Brian Mulroney

Not to be rude, but seriously. You didn't list Justin Beiber? I blame you guys for unleashing this horror on the world. We know Hannah Montana is bad. We admit it. Time to step up Canada

Beiber?

I'm still waiting for an apology for Celine Dion....

Mr Mystery wrote:Beiber?

I'm still waiting for an apology for Celine Dion....

And Bryan Adams.

And Loverboy.

Though this makes up for it, IMHO.



I love her.

Nice points LordofHats and Cheesecat, oh and Monster Rain I dont really see how Christianity is an achievement- well not for the U.S.A at least, as you can't take credit for creating it but only having a 'following' as such, and wether that is a good, bad or simply 'meh' achievement truely depends on the eye of the beholder.....
Suprised no-one has gone for the English language, or an equivalent. Firstly it shows that English culture is engrained in quite a few other nations, U.S.A., alot of Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc.

Hmmm. I dunno.
The Republic is a pretty small nation, and for most of it's existence where it wasn't a third world backwater it has been getting a helluva lot of help from Europe.

Let's see...
Greatest Achievements:
-The Peace Process is pretty good, really. I mean, it's reasonably successful.
-Free University Education is a big deal, though it may not last long.
It's hard to think of much else we've done of note since independance.

Worst Achievements:
-Voting Fianna Fáil in consistently since they were formed, bar a couple of bumps.
-Current financial situation.
-Sanctimonious stances about neutrality which are in reality nothing more than cowardice.

Da Boss wrote:Hmmm. I dunno.
The Republic is a pretty small nation, and for most of it's existence where it wasn't a third world backwater it has been getting a helluva lot of help from Europe.

Let's see...
Greatest Achievements:
-The Peace Process is pretty good, really. I mean, it's reasonably successful.
-Free University Education is a big deal, though it may not last long.
It's hard to think of much else we've done of note since independance.

Worst Achievements:
-Voting Fianna Fáil in consistently since they were formed, bar a couple of bumps.
-Current financial situation.
-Sanctimonious stances about neutrality which are in reality nothing more than cowardice.

What about Thin Lizzy?

model collector wrote:Nice points LordofHats and Cheesecat, oh and Monster Rain I dont really see how Christianity is an achievement- well not for the U.S.A at least, as you can't take credit for creating it but only having a 'following' as such, and wether that is a good, bad or simply 'meh' achievement truely depends on the eye of the beholder.....

You'll be beholding hell with that attitude!

*takes off British hat and puts on Irish hat*


I would say that the massive cultural influence that Ireland has had, and continues to have, is a fairly amazing achievement. There would be no rock 'n' roll, for example without Irish traditional music. No blues, no gospel, no modern folk music, no John Lennon, no Paul McCartney.... and that's just pop music. What about literature? Acting?

What about Guinness?!??

Hmmm, well, I was trying to steer away from the achievements of individual irish people, because I see those as THEIR achievements, and trying to look more at the achievements of the Irish State. I was also only looking at the achievments of ireland from independance, because before that it's all too interlinked with the UK to be "ours".
I agree, we punch above our weight considerably with regard to international visibility, largely due to emigration. And our music has travelled well. And we seem to have a knack for getting the literature prize (with a small population).
Guinness though? Pah! A bland stout at best. Acceptable when there's nothing else around, but the world would thank us much more if we'd exported Wrassler's XXXX to them

U.S.A. of course

Best:
Has done much for exploring nuclear *stuff*
Lax gun laws(I like my durned ol' guns)
Cultural Demographics
First modern Democratic Republic
Various freedoms of speech
Great Military

Worst:
Well we did drop the first A-bomb
Polarizing media
Political correctness
Too much government control (almost everything a person interacts with has a bureau attached to its use)
Debt out the
Getting involved in too many wars imo (seriously fething libya and yemen, yet we didn't do jack in Iran)
Current outlook on our allies(Isreal and Turkey are the only true allies we have in the region imho)

Cheesecat wrote:Best:
-Trudeaumania
-Rush
-telephone
-duct tape
-universal healthcare
-Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Constitution Act, 1982)
-Ice Hockey
-Insulin
-War of 1812
-Trailer Park Boys
-Leslie Nielsen
-Maple Syrup
-Red Green Show
-Canadian women
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_inventions

Worst:
-European and Native relations
-Brian Mulroney
-Justin Beiber
-Celine Dion

Edited: Forgot Bieber, on the worst list. And Celine Dion.

That's an okay list, but you did forget one of the greatest Canadian accomplishments of all time...

LordofHats wrote:

Cheesecat wrote:Worst:
-European and Native relations
-Brian Mulroney

Not to be rude, but seriously. You didn't list Justin Beiber? I blame you guys for unleashing this horror on the world. We know Hannah Montana is bad. We admit it. Time to step up Canada

Coming from the country which unleashed the nasally, ear-bleeding horror that is Rebecca Black? Jeezus America, you guy's should start to pick it up. Again...

I want to laud Ireland's achievements to the stars...

but then tourists would go there in droves, and gak everything up.

The United States, eh?

Best:
The Internet.
The Interstate System.
Louisiana Purchase.

Worst:
Segregation.
Japanese Interment.
Indian Removal.
Vietnam.
Intervention in Nicaragua.

Ambiguous:
Israel-Palestine mediation.
The tendency to support authoritarian regimes.