Why the world hates America

A problem for US State Department of State think about

It is an open secret that anti-American attitudes are gaining steam all over the world. They are quite evidently caused by Washington's pushy foreign policy.

The world, probably except for radical Islamic extremists, felt sympathetic toward the USA after the Sept. 11 tragedy. As a result of this sympathy, the White House won incredible support for its plans for a "war on terrorism." This made for such a rapid offensive against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Due to Washington's universal support, countries neighboring Afghanistan agreed to accept contingents of the USA and its NATO allies on their territories. Ruling regimes of these countries expected to receive assistance from the USA and support in their struggle against local radicals, which pose a great threat to the ruling regimes. In fact, the US Army given strong support to authoritarian regimes in the countries neighboring Afghanistan.

As the USA proceeds with its anti-terrorism struggle, anti-American attitudes are ever gaining steam. Attempts of Washington to deal with disagreeable countries under the guise of a war against bin Laden and al-Qaeda have caused a strong wave of criticism toward America's policies. Such attitudes are strong, not only in "pariah" countries (this definition is very insulting by the way), but even among America's allies in NATO. The White House often tries to settle its political and economic problems under the guise of "fighting terrorism." The situation in Iraq can serve an example in this case: Iraq is off limits for US companies seeking Iraqi oil. If Hussein is overthrown, the situation is likely to change drastically. However, oil producing companies from other countries will have to leave Iraq in this case (Russia).

The rest of the world dislikes the fact that the USA enjoys the status of the world's sole superpower and makes decisions contradicting the norms of international law. Even the opinions of the America's allies are often ignored at that; they are just presented with a fait accompli. However, the White House and the US State Department criticize domestic policies of other countries and become angry when the same is done towards the USA. What is strange is that the US media, which are bragging so much about their "freedom," support the same line as the White House and the US State Department. Popular American TV channels will hardly show unbiased videos about victims of bombings in Afghanistan. Even if some of this footage is shown, the number of the Sept. 11 tragedy victims is sure to be mentioned as well. This is nonsense! Are American pilots who bomb peaceful Afghan settlements better than al-Qaeda terrorists who bring down skyscrapers? Innocent people are victims in both cases.

The US government is perfectly aware of the anti-American attitudes or the world, and the problem is being considered. Can Washington solve this problem?

A special conference with participation of American and international experts is to be held by the US State Department in Washington on September 5-6. The conference is being organized on the initiative of the US government and will touch upon the causes of anti-Americanism all over the world. Twenty leading experts from the USA and foreign countries and about 50 officials from US governmental institutions will take part in the conference.

In Boucher’s words, the US State Department has already investigated the causes of the anti-American attitudes in Europe, Russia, and Muslim countries. The upcoming conference is to be a culmination of the project. The manifestations and causes of anti-American attitudes in the world are to be studied at the conference. This is to be a closed conference; the list of participants won't be published.

It is hard to predict what conclusions the conference will come to and whether or not effective methods to stop the increase of the anti-American attitudes will be discovered. The results of the conference will be seen within the several next years. Washington won’t be able to settle the problem by financing regimes loyal to it and cranking out propaganda only. It is time for Washington to understand that there is not only the USA but also other countries, and they shouldn’t be judged by American standards.

Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

Photo from BBC archives

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/29/46374.html

Related links: