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

To: jcky who wrote (60018)	12/5/2002 3:04:06 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

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. I seem to recall in the poll offered in that panel discussion between Chris Patten and Richard Perle that a goodly number respondents distinguished between criticisms of the Bush administration policies and the American government, etc. If that's true, I think it would be much more accurate to call some large amount of this as against the Bush administration.

To: jcky who wrote (60018)	12/5/2002 3:31:50 PM
From: FaultLine	Respond to of 281500

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. I completely agree. Thanks for expressing your thoughts on these matters. --fl

To: jcky who wrote (60018)	12/5/2002 5:49:48 PM
From: LLLefty	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

>>>>the Pew Research Center's poll<<<< "I wonder," (Harry Truman) once said, "how far Moses would have gone if he'd taken a poll in Egypt.... It isn't polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It's right and wrong." From biographer David McCullouch And his erudite Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, asked about the value of polls in making foreign policy,is said to have replied, "There's no such thing as public opinion." From second-hand. And they didn't do a bad job of it. Of course, that was during blessed eras before CNN, political consultants, Limbaugh, and Monica. But I do like a portable phone around the house.

To: jcky who wrote (60018)	12/5/2002 6:51:06 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

I think you have misread part of the poll when you say, 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." It is not American "culture" that is disliked, but American policy: America is nearly universally admired for its technological achievements and people in most countries say they enjoy U.S. movies, music and television programs. Yet in general, the spread of U.S. ideas and customs is disliked by majorities in almost every country included in this survey. This sentiment is prevalent in friendly nations such as Canada (54%) and Britain (50%), and even more so in countries where America is broadly disliked, such as Argentina (73%) and Pakistan (81%). In the Arab countries, American policy is liked or disliked in inverse proportion to how friendly America is with the local government. That's because the Arabs all hate their own governments.