Germany won a “Popularity Poll” in a vote: but it’s always important, WHO was asked and WHAT he was asked – and who conducted the survey. The survey was conducted by GlobeScan for the BBC and asked over 26,000 randomly selected people from 25 countries to rate 16 countries. Read more at :time newsfeed: Germany wins a popularity poll – Japan lost the first position …
Maybe in Germany they try honestly to develop the idea of democracy with persistence. Sad that the European parliament is not strong enough to block actually the racism in Hungary. But on the other hand, the latest development in Turkey, fighting for a fair democracy via street protesters, criticizing their autocratically leader Erdogan’s style: maybe a result of the close connection to Germany … – so I’m missing: what’s about Turkey – or Syria …
P.S.:
The 16 countries were: Germany, Canada, the U.K., Japan, France, Brazil, the U.S., China, South Korea, South Africa, India, Russia, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and Iran
read more at
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/05/28/germany-wins-a-popularity-poll
Flickr Comments 
It’s funny. I lived in Hamburg for two years back in the late 90s and I distinctly remember reading polls that among just Europeans Germans were the least liked group of people. I couldn’t agree more with your observation about the WHOs and the WHATs, although I’d add in the WHEREs too.
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if they would ask only in Greece and Cyprus, then our permanently criticizing ministers would bring us to the worst position of ranking in Europe …
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Always asking WHO and WHAT are important. Never trust statistics or polls 😉
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Congratulations to Germany and all Germans! I think the position is well deserved.I could never be accused of being a pro-German fan, but rationally and honesty I would have voted the same. The question is not whether a country is democratic or not; it’s not whether we like their lifestyle or culture; and it’s not whether we can (not) forgive them for beating us at football. The question is simple but needs to be reiterated: did a country have a positive or negative impact on the world? I cannot think of a single negative impact in recent times, and there’s quite a lot of positive.
As to Turkey, events there make me very sad and concerned. I have many friends there, travel frequently and spend long enough to love the country. Seeing it sink into a totalitarian (and potentially fundamentalist) state doesn’t fill me with joy. The Turkey that was an example for a fast maturing nation on a path to democracy? The Turkey that was an example to the Muslim world of a tolerant, pluralist model, where all races, religions and cultures coexisted in enviable peace – is it still there? Is it going to last? With an obsessed and arrogant leader bent on changing the constitution to overstay his mandate in power, with excessive use of force in oppressing dissent, and with imposing single-sided cultural preferences through draconian laws – the picture doesn’t look too promising…
I hope Western powers (US in the first place, but many others) which supported the Turkish regime seeing it as a barrier to radical and fundamentalist trends will wake up to the fact that it is no longer a barrier and may become a powerful promoter of such trends. But most of all I hope that Turkey’s own people will find their unity and strength to resist evil, and will bring back tolerance and peace – among themselves first, then for the region and the world.
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“…With an obsessed and arrogant leader bent on changing the constitution to overstay his mandate in power, with excessive use of force in oppressing dissent, and with imposing single-sided cultural preferences through draconian laws…”
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frizz-comment: I hope Turkey’s youth will have the power to change things – though Erdogan says, he doesn’t like twitter or facebook …
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thank you Vladimir for your statement, you know, what you are talking about, you visited both countries very often!
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I haven’t been to Germany but would love to becasue my daughter said it was great. As for people, I believe that all are inherently good and I love to meet as many as I can.
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