America Watches Its Stars Wane and Its Stripes Fade
By Philippe Grangereau
Libération via Truthout.com
The Afghan and Iraqi conflicts have contributed to tarnishing the image of Washington, which begins to worry about that fact.
The American athletes came back very shook-up from Brazil, where they had participated in the Pan-American Games, last week's Chicago Tribune noted gravely. They suffered boos and catcalls during the opening ceremony, "USA Go to Hell" during a volleyball match with the Cuban team, and, to top it all off, enthusiastic applause from the crowd when an American gymnast had the misfortune of falling ... This episode is not the last manifestation of an ever more caustic anti-Americanism.
Decadence
A study entitled "Global Malaise" the Pew Research Center completed in 47 countries in June emphasizes that "for the last five years, the image of the United States has been tarnished in most countries in the world - and has significantly deteriorated among the United States's traditional allies in the Americas, the Middle East and elsewhere." Turkey established a record, with an 83% disapproval level. In France, 76% of the people polled disapprove of "American ideas of democracy," according to Pew, which polled 45,000 people in total. Nearly similar scores were registered in Germany, Spain and Pakistan. Black Africa alone has an overall positive vision of the United States and there are few countries that do not revel in the humiliation the superpower has undergone in Iraq.
This distrust of the United States and its president worries Americans themselves. Especially in the Democratic Party, which has continued to talk about it the last few weeks. Barack Obama, candidate for the 2008 presidential candidacy, deplores that the American ideal of freedom should be "tragically associated by many around the world with war, torture, and regime change by force." "Not so long ago, Venezuelan and Indonesian farmers put pictures of John F. Kennedy up on the walls of their houses," he laments, assuring that "that kind of America is once again" possible. "Not everyone can love us, but we also can't have everyone in the world hating us either," candidate Hillary Clinton reminded a supporter who made the point that the United States "is no longer the global power it once was."
(Continued here.)
Libération via Truthout.com
The Afghan and Iraqi conflicts have contributed to tarnishing the image of Washington, which begins to worry about that fact.
The American athletes came back very shook-up from Brazil, where they had participated in the Pan-American Games, last week's Chicago Tribune noted gravely. They suffered boos and catcalls during the opening ceremony, "USA Go to Hell" during a volleyball match with the Cuban team, and, to top it all off, enthusiastic applause from the crowd when an American gymnast had the misfortune of falling ... This episode is not the last manifestation of an ever more caustic anti-Americanism.
Decadence
A study entitled "Global Malaise" the Pew Research Center completed in 47 countries in June emphasizes that "for the last five years, the image of the United States has been tarnished in most countries in the world - and has significantly deteriorated among the United States's traditional allies in the Americas, the Middle East and elsewhere." Turkey established a record, with an 83% disapproval level. In France, 76% of the people polled disapprove of "American ideas of democracy," according to Pew, which polled 45,000 people in total. Nearly similar scores were registered in Germany, Spain and Pakistan. Black Africa alone has an overall positive vision of the United States and there are few countries that do not revel in the humiliation the superpower has undergone in Iraq.
This distrust of the United States and its president worries Americans themselves. Especially in the Democratic Party, which has continued to talk about it the last few weeks. Barack Obama, candidate for the 2008 presidential candidacy, deplores that the American ideal of freedom should be "tragically associated by many around the world with war, torture, and regime change by force." "Not so long ago, Venezuelan and Indonesian farmers put pictures of John F. Kennedy up on the walls of their houses," he laments, assuring that "that kind of America is once again" possible. "Not everyone can love us, but we also can't have everyone in the world hating us either," candidate Hillary Clinton reminded a supporter who made the point that the United States "is no longer the global power it once was."
(Continued here.)
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