(no subject)

[dlgood]

Comments re:Anti-American sentiment and US diplomacy by Stephen Holmes of NYU Law. Emphasis mine.

We should not assume, without looking into it, that anti-Americanism will necessarily affect our national interests. Indeed, hatred of the U.S. should concern our national-security community only if it galvanizes individuals and groups with the capacity to harm us, either positively, by inflicting grave injuries, or negatively, by withholding the cooperation on which we depend to solve our most urgent problems. The latter method of inflicting damage merits special emphasis. WMD proliferation and offshore plotting by terrorist cells may or may not require active sponsorship by rogue states. But they can both benefit decisively from slovenly oversight by disorganized, distracted and incompetent states. Public officials around the world can inflict the most serious imaginable damage on the U.S. by simply being negligent. And negligence, it so happens, comes effortlessly to most human beings.

Man. Is that last sentence, not the most beautiful line. Negligence comes effortlessly. Yeah. It sure does.

Comments

[ladyoneill.livejournal.com]

While I can't say that I felt any anti-American sentiments addressed to me during my recent visit to England, Bush and the war are not popular over there at all--which reflected in the elections that cost Labour hundreds of council positions. I can see the above happening, though. We are not making friends and we're losing the ones we have. It will be all too easy for a disgruntled country to turn a blind eye to activity against the US. Too many people already believe we deserve whatever happens because of our hubris.

It's really sad. I do believe that every American tourist can help, though, by not acting beligerant and demanding, being respectful of the country and culture they're visiting, and by being obvious in the enjoyment of that country and its people. The American guy in the Heathrow Hilton who got all pissy because his beer wasn't chilled enough is the perfect example of how not to behave.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Very true.

Even if you believe the US ought to have its way and do whatever it wants - reality is that you can achieve that far better if you play along a bit more, are inclusive, and co-opt people rather than bullying them. International pissy-ness does us no favors. To this point, I think most people seperate didain for American policy with Americans as a whole. I just worry that it will shift more.

[klast.livejournal.com]

How do you explain the lack of support for Chirac and Schroeder who were against the war? They also lost support. I do not believe the war had anyhting much to do with Labour losses in the elections. It was the anti-Europeans, the anti-EU Constitution movement that drew votes from Labour. In fact the party that gained (UKIP)has Kilroy-Silk, a noted supporter of the war, as its most prominent spokesperson.