Russell Coker wrote:
On Saturday, 17 March 2018 4:08:46 PM AEDT Trent W. Buck via luv-talk wrote:
Russell Coker wrote:
So 72.7% of Australians can't follow politics in non-English countries easily. That's like saying most Mexicans can't follow US politics because USA is an English-speaking country, and they only speak Spanish.
Mexicans who don't speak English will find it difficult to follow US politics.
Even though there's a huge Spanish-speaking minority in USA? :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language_in_the_United_States "United States [is] the third-largest Hispanophone country in the world, after Mexico and Colombia." I think it's easier for a Mexican to follow the politics of USA than the politics of Spain. My point was to poke holes in your (apparent) implication that because Australia is an English-majority country, we can only understand and hang out with other English-majority countries, and (therefore) that Mexico and USA can't understand one another because USA is English-majority and Mexico is Spanish-majority.
Of course there will be significant interest in US politics given how much US politics matters to them, compared to Spain for example where they can easily follow the news but it won't matter much to them.
Why do you think it's at all controversial that the US has a major influence on Australia?
That was not my intention. You initially started talking about the US, and when I asked why, you said (paraphrasing) they're a shit anglophone country, and when I asked why you focused on anglos, you said (paraphrasing) they're the only ones we have a relationship with. So I was like: "hang on, yes, we interact with the US, but not ONLY them. China drives our economic policies and Indonesia drives our military policies".
Having a PM elected by parliament instead of an elected president makes a significant difference to politics.
Er, if you mean here in Australia, AFAIK the way it works is this: 1. party X elects a leader Y (i.e. only party X members vote) 2. party X gets a majority of seats 3. party X goes to the Queen (via GG) and says Dear Queenie, We'd like to form a government, with Y as your PM, is that OK? 4. The Queen (via GG) rubber-stamps it (unless she's REALLY REALLY REALLY angry). In this system, if the ALP has a majority, other elected MPs (e.g. from the Greens or Nationals) have no say in who the PM is.