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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FaultLine who wrote (60014)	12/5/2002 12:58:42 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

Blind man's brinksmanship globalsecurity.org

To: FaultLine who wrote (60014)	12/5/2002 1:14:29 PM
From: paul_philp	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Thank you, Paul, for your comments. And you too. began with Lindy Bill's 'Analysis of the Extreme Left in the US'-type post I have no background in political science and being Canadian I probably don't know the Extreme Left very well so I am a sure that I over simplified my reading of Bill's post. I understood the post to be saying that one source of the anti-American urge is the idea that: "America is prosperous and I have problems so America must be exploiting me with their power and posperity. If America was less prosperous and less powerful I would have fewer problems. However, it is the nature of America to be prosperous and powerful so it is not enough that America act differently but America must change it's very nature before I have less problem and more opportunity. In order to make for less problems in people's lives and the world in general we must attack America at it's core." I don't know if this is left wing or Marxist thinking but I do think it is a prevaling attitude, especially in Europe. I think there is a fantasy about a 'benevolent power' fueling much of the current anti-Americanism. I also think that it is becoming paradigmatic in much of the world - it certainly is in Canada. I may be way off in my interpretation of that article however. Paul

To: FaultLine who wrote (60014)	12/5/2002 1:25:17 PM
From: jcky	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Ken, "how the world views America" is central and is just fine with me but let's try to emphasize 'world'. The proof is in the pudding. Here is the Pew Research Center's poll: What the World Thinks in 2002 How Global Publics View: Their Lives, Their Countries, The World, America people-press.org I think paul, JohnM, and you make some excellent points on this topic. On the one hand, simply bringing up this topic to bash the Left as anti-American is just plain silly. On the other hand, there is a genuine concern of growing anti-American sentiment growing around the world and how that may affect our future foreign policy tool box. What I find most disturbing about the results of the Pew's poll is not the hostility among Arab and Muslim nations, but the growing divergence between citizens of countries who have always been traditionally sympathetic to our cause: Britain, Canada, South Korea, etc., and I ignore the French. Another interesting take on the Pew's poll is the question of whether the democratization of Arab/Muslim nations is in the best interest of the United States (ignoring the basic question of whether it is even realistically possible to project democracy in the Mideast). For example, the governments of Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan have been relatively friendly and cooperative with our war against terror but a great majority of people in these countries dislike our "culture." How would free elections in these countries translate into governance and representation of their constituents' desire? Are Americans able to accept the realization that even if democracy can be enabled in the Mideast, there is a distinct possibility that we may find ourselves dealing with a nation of people that don't really like us, don't really want our influence, and don't really want our presence in their part of the world?