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Oct. 17, 2004 A good friend of mine send me a link to a very interesting news item from AP. A series of identical polls were run by leading newspapers in ten countries in September/October. They got some very interesting results. On the simple issues of whether it was right to invade Iraq, and whether the world was a more dangerous place as a result of the invasion there was a very clear majority of people saying the invasion was wrong. And a similar majority felt the world was now a more dangerous place as a result. A majority felt their opinion of America had worsened over the past 2 to 3 years. Mr Bush has a very bad image and a huge majority of foreigners are hoping for a Kerry victory. There are two countries where support swings towards Mr Bush: Israel (which is busy trying to secure its control over Palestinian lands), and Russia (which is busy trying to secure its hold over the Caucasus). Both of these rely on unequivocal support from a new Bush administration. You could write off the opinions above as normal knee-jerk anti-Americanism, but you would be wrong. The respondents seem to have a reacted thoughtfully to questions about their opinions of Americans. They resoundingly LIKE Americans, by a mammoth majority. It seems to be American foreign policy that they dislike so intensely, not American people. I guess Mr Bush does not care one way or the other. He prides himself on making his own decisions whether they are popular overseas or not. Which is perfectly correct; his job is to make decisions in America's interest only, and never mind anyone else's opinion. Just fine - as long as he is taking the correct decisions. But what if those decisions are having unintended consequences, or are just plain wrong? What if Mr Bush's assertion that the world is a safer place because of his actions is countered by a majority of foreigners putting their hands up to say 'It might look like that over there, but believe, from here the world is getting unsafer by the day'? That's when ignoring everyone else and insisting 'I know what's best for the world' starts to look arrogant. And what is worse - it's dangerous. And not just for Americans. ------------ About the author: Eric lives in tropical Queensland and writes books - some naughty, some nice - that can be found through Renaissance eBooks (renebooks.com) He reads widely and when he is not thinking about lunch, worries about the state of the world. Email: ericge@westnet.com.au Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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