Sorry Marv ... had footy yesterday (two games to go to) so only just got back on this morning ... washing jumpers today too ...
Yes I am from Australia.
The poms here pick it up straight away because of my lack of respect for their Queen ... and the Yanks because of my sense of humour.
Aussies are a cheeky lot but we are almost always well intentioned.
If you read any of my posts and are offended then you need to realise our language is a bit different.
For instance often when we say "GTFOOH" we actually mean ... "Surely you jest?".
AMDFangirl is technically a Kiwi but we are reprogramming her.
randomizer and Pyree are also Aussies.
We all do a lot to keep the forums clean of spam, and try to curb abusive behaviour etc.
Regarding Obama and Putin I think you will find the US / Russian relationship will improve slightly, then erode during the next US elections ... in much the same way it did when the Russian elections were being held ... more "posturing" to try to improve election chances I imagine.
Frankly a strong US / Russian alliance is important for world stability.
Strong ties between Russia and China are a concern ... though the recent Chinese offer to assist with the Euro problems have been warmly received as a bit of an olive branch I imagine.
olmangamers information regarding GM's ties with China are something that is a bit of a concern.
OMG finds a lot of interesting stuff in this regard.