Posted on 01/23/2007 11:43:43 AM PST by lizol
'Listen more' is world's message to US
A BBC international opinion poll suggests there is widespread disquiet about the United States' role in Iraq and its other foreign policy priorities. The BBC's Jonathan Marcus analyses the results.
The Bush administration's toppling of Saddam Hussein has had several profound and unintended consequences.
One has been the way in which the destruction of both the Taleban regime in Afghanistan, and of Iraq's military machine, have opened the way for the rise of Iran as a major regional player.
Another crucial but less tangible problem - as this opinion poll commissioned by the BBC World Service indicates - is that the US's image around the world is being seriously damaged by the chaos in Iraq.
And if that was not bad enough, it suggests that America's image problems are only getting worse.
The global image of the US has significantly deteriorated over the past 12 months, as the chaos in Iraq has deepened. And in 18 of the countries that were involved in previous polls, the slide in America's standing has steepened.
Anti-Americanism rising
Overall, this new opinion poll sampled the views of 26,000 people in 25 countries.
Three in every four of those questioned disapproved of how the US government was dealing with the crisis in Iraq.
The poll did not just deal with Iraq. It also asked questions about the US handling of Guantanamo detainees; the Israel-Hezbollah war; Iran's nuclear programme; global warming; and North Korea's nuclear programme.
In every case, a majority of those questioned disapproved of America's handling of the issue concerned.
This poll underscores conclusions drawn from several other surveys - that anti-Americanism is on the rise, and the more the US flexes its hard power - the more it deploys troops abroad or talks tough diplomatically - the more it seems to weaken its ability to influence the world.
Maybe Washington will bounce back. America's image improved markedly in the post-Vietnam era.
But then there was still the Cold War to keep America's allies on-side.
What is striking in this survey is how negatively the US is seen across a range of diverse countries. Indeed the same policies are, in many cases, even unpopular in the US itself.
This, then, raises an obvious question. Is it simply the Bush administration's foreign policy or the whole image of America that is unpopular?
Comparable surveys suggest that there is still strong support around the world for the values enshrined in US society. But it looks as though America itself is seen to be living up to those values less and less.
As a result, America's soft power - its ability to influence people in other countries by the force of example and by the perceived legitimacy of its policies - is weakening.
And in a turbulent, globalising world, where the US - rightly or wrongly - is associated by many with the disruptive effects of globalisation, soft power matters more than ever. It is a resource that once squandered is very difficult to build-up again.
Complex issues
At root is the problem of legitimacy.
Iraq may have dented the utility of America's military machine. But the US remains the world's only superpower in an international system that shows few of the familiar landmarks we have come to associate with the past 50-or-so years of international diplomacy.
Opinion polls, by their very nature, are a snap-shot. They ask very particular questions and they need to be interpreted with caution.
Asking, as this survey does, about the participants' opinion of the US government's handling of, say, Iran's nuclear programme, provokes strong levels of disapproval.
But what does this really mean? Is there any constituency at all for getting tough with Iran? How far is Iran's nuclear programme perceived as being a problem at all?
Other opinion polls, asking different questions, suggest that ordinary people in many of America's allies are indeed worried by the suggestion that Iran might acquire nuclear weapons.
It is the Bush administration's handling of the issue that is reflected in this BBC poll; not the policy options themselves. These are complex. They depend upon often unavailable intelligence and uncertain assessments of what the Iranian authorities are really about.
Opinion polls are not terribly useful then in charting specific policy options.
Graphic showing how US influence is perceived But they do capture a mood and that mood should worry anyone in policy-making circles in Washington DC.
The US undoubtedly has an "image-problem", and there are worrying signs that this is having an impact upon the administration's ability to get the policy outcomes that it wants.
One of the wisest writers on these issues is Joseph S Nye, now Dean of the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is in many ways "Mr Soft Power", having written and theorised about the phenomenon for many years.
He has long-argued that Americans need to better understand how their policies appear to others.
"To communicate effectively," he has written, "Americans must first learn to listen."
This opinion poll, then, represents a powerful argument for those seeking to make the case that Washington should listen more and try to win over its friends as much by persuasion and force of example as by firm actions and tough rhetoric.
Al Gator to all the idiots in the EU poll:
BITE ME!
And I HOPE you DON'T LIKE IT!
Now, pay us back the loans from the Marshall plan, and I MIGHT listen to you a little. (not!)
U.S. to the world: "Talk to the hand."
U.S. message to the world: "Open your eyes!"
"Get with the program/do more" is USA's message to world.
Ditto
Does listen more really mean - Do what I want you to do, don't do what you want to do.
Listen to what,"Death to America" as if that should be accompanied by some moderating debate?
The Beeb gleefully reporting the results of its own hate America campaign. Take it with a bucket of salt.
How about "Listen more and Keep Your Money"!
This American's concern... waning!!!
The worlds real message to the US...
"We hate you, unless we need something from you and we will still hate you if we don't get it.......not mention we will go back to hating you once we get what we want and don't need you anymore"
FU to the EU.
But the world isn't listening to Al Qaeda.
"We hate you but we love your money."
They didn't say "please."
US Reply.......Drain your own weak swamps, handle your own security, even if attacked, and get your own pathetically weak houses in order. After you do all of that, you can criticise and maybe we might listen.
But they are whistling past the graveyard if we actually disengaged from trying to maintain order and security around the world.
The world is filled with sulking teenagers. ;)
"FU to the EU."
Man of few words.
I like it.
"listen" is dummie for obey.
America to World: Blow me.
Why should an American give a flying F- what a bunch of jagoffs from another country think?
Do you think someone from The Netherlands cares what someone from Uzbekestan thinks?
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
Guess which finger I'm holding up?
Please Euroweenies, when you have your own defenses intact without relying 80% on our protection and you can get your economies over a 1% growth rate and your muslim populations stop rioting and blowing you all up....give us a call, maybe then we'll care about what your opinion is. Until then how about you STFU!
Dear World: too bad. I did not see you helping with one major disaster that we have faced, I do not see you wanting to respect the sovereignty of our borders, our culture and our traditions. So, what we should do - instead of listening - IS CUT OF FUNDING TO EVERY FREAKING ONE OF YOU!
You've been heard - no go back to whatever cave you crawled out of.
Well, don't you know, the only problem with the Maginot line was, it wasn't long enough!
French politicians have such great ideas!!
" The Bush administration's toppling of Saddam Hussein has had several profound and unintended consequences. "
As if it wasn't worth it.
" Is it simply the Bush administration's foreign policy or the whole image of America that is unpopular? "
Image; jealousy.
Hey, world. Listen to this: ‹^› ‹(•¿•)› ‹^›
We need the Carrot and stick appproach.
If you cooperate in doing the right thing, you can chew the carrot.
If not, chew the stick.
DONT TREAD ON ME: U.S. MESSAGE TO THE WORLD!
Perfect answer! LOL!
We have listened to this kind of idiocy for years, and that is essentally the problem: we have a political party now regaining power, determined to adopt the agenda of America's most implacable enemies... in the spirit of and for the sake of "International Opinon". The utter idiocy and total lack of substance that this article represents will doom us to Europe's fate if we heed this bilge.
U.S message to the world: "Get your head out of your ass!"
Maybe all the idiot weasels in the world who want to appease and/or ignore the rise of rabid murerous Islamo-fascism are the ones who ought to start listening to those of us who can see the threat!
In the 1930s Winston Churchill stood in much more lonely company warning of the rise of fascism and the grave dangers posed by Hitler's Germany..... in those days the same kind of appeasers and whiners mocked Churchill, said he was charging windmills, etc.
My only concern is that the USA is not being tough enough, not killing enough Islamo-fascists wherever we can find them. The whiners should just get with the program or STFU.
Doesn't seem to be exactly a representative sample to me.
We will in another 20 months. Until then we are going to do our worst. To Iran's nuclear ambitions. Get use to it. Heck I imagine our leadership is fine with a nice lady putting on the happy face for the world after we do what has to be done. And she'll turn into an iron byotch as soon as the first suicider goes off in the USA. Politics will demand it.
"Open your eyes" & your wallet
We show others what cowards they are; they hate us because
we show them who they are/aren't.
Never take the advice of those that have your detriment in their hearts.
Hey BBC, listen to this! (Insert fart noise)
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, lets see now, give me a hint, is it on the right hand or left hand?
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