Global poll shows wide distrust of U.S.

By MEG BORTIN

A new Pew survey indicates that majorities in many countries, including close U.S. allies, reject America's foreign policy and its brand of democracy.

Global poll shows wide distrust of U.S.
By Meg Bortin
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

PARIS: Distrust of the United States has intensified across the world, but overall views of America remain very or somewhat favorable among majorities in 25 of 47 countries surveyed in a major international opinion poll, the Pew Research Center reported Wednesday.

"Anti-Americanism since 2002 has deepened, but it hasn't really widened," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Global Attitudes Project. "It has worsened among America's European allies and is very, very bad in the Muslim world. But there is still a favorable view of the United States in many African countries, as well as in 'New Europe' and the Far East."

Nonetheless, majorities in many countries reject the main planks of current U.S. foreign policy and express distaste for American-style democracy, the survey found.

Respondents worldwide not only want Washington to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq "as soon as possible," but also seek a rapid end to the American and NATO military intervention in Afghanistan, now in its sixth year.

The poll found growing wariness toward other major powers as well. Concerns over China's economic and military might have tarnished its image in many nations, Pew found, and confidence in President Vladimir Putin of Russia has dropped sharply.

The survey, conducted in April and May, is by far the largest Pew has carried out since 2002, covering 47 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, and assessing the opinions of more than 45,000 people. It found that concern about global warming has increased dramatically in the last five years.

"Most of the citizens in the global survey agree the environment is in trouble and most blame the United States and, to a much more limited degree, China," Pew said.

Negative views of Iran have intensified, including in some Muslim countries, Pew found, and respondents in almost all countries surveyed expressed overwhelming opposition to Tehran's acquiring nuclear weapons.

While the survey covered a broad range of issues, it focused intensively on the world's image of the United States, which was largely positive in 2002 - reflecting global sympathy for Americans after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington - but has declined steeply since 2003, when the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq.

Over the last five years, favorable ratings of the United States have decreased "in 26 of the 33 countries for which trends are available," Pew said.

Confidence in President George W. Bush, which was already sagging, has dropped further in most countries over the past year, as the Iraqi quagmire has deepened and the world's reprobation has increased.

"Global distrust of American leadership is reflected in increasing disapproval of the cornerstones of U.S. foreign policy," Pew said in its report on the findings.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, co-chair of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, linked this development directly to the Iraq war. "I think Iraq will go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy," she said.

The poll found that:

Majorities in 43 of the 47 countries surveyed want a quick U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. In the United States, 56 percent express this opinion. The exceptions are Ghana, Israel, Kenya and Nigeria.

Majorities or pluralities in 40 countries also want U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. This view, strongest in the Muslim world, was also held in many NATO member countries, notably Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Turkey.

Support for America's so-called war on terrorism has plummeted since 2002, especially in Europe, where U.S. practices against inmates at the Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons have been harshly condemned.

There is a widespread perception that the United States acts unilaterally in making international policy decisions. This view is especially powerful in Europe, shared by 90 percent in Sweden, 89 percent in France, and 70 percent or more in Britain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Russia, Slovakia and Spain. A full 83 percent of Canadians believe that their neighbor to the south ignores their interests. Middle Easterners overwhelmingly share this view, as do many Asians, including South Koreans and Japanese.

Majorities in most every country believe that the United States promotes democracy mostly where it serves American interests. Only in Nigeria did many say they believe that the United States "promotes democracy wherever it can."

This, according to Pew, helps explain why American ideas about democracy are rejected by vast numbers around the globe. The exception is sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority approves of American-style democracy in all countries polled except Tanzania.

But elsewhere, majorities or pluralities in all but four survey countries excluding the United States itself - China, Israel, South Korea and Japan - say they dislike American ideas about democracy.

The country where America's image is worst is Turkey, a NATO ally, where only 9 percent now have a favorable view, down from 52 percent before the United States went into Afghanistan in late 2001.

In Germany, traditionally one of the closest U.S. allies, only 30 percent now have a positive view, down from 78 percent before Bush took office in January 2001.

There has been serious slippage as well in Britain, America's most reliable ally and its chief partner in the war in Iraq. A slim majority of Britons - 51 percent - now hold favorable views of the United States, down from 75 percent in 2002, before the Iraq invasion.

The picture is more complex with China, which is viewed favorably in more than half of the survey countries, particularly in Africa - where the Chinese have been investing heavily - and in Asia, excluding Japan.

At the same time, the Pew report said, "China's expanding economic and military power is triggering considerable anxiety."

Russia wins mixed reviews, with West Europeans largely unfavorable while opinions are split in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, and generally positive in Africa, Canada and the United States.

With Putin's grip tightening over pipelines to the West, dependence on Russia for energy supplies is worrying many Europeans, Pew found, with majorities expressing concern in Britain, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Confidence in Putin's leadership has plummeted in Europe since 2003, as has confidence in Bush. In contrast, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany enjoys high levels of confidence in Europe, although Middle Easterners - including Israelis and Palestinians - do not trust her on foreign affairs.

Asked about the crisis in the Middle East, Western publics were generally optimistic that a solution can be found that accommodates the needs of both Israelis and Palestinians, and Israelis also took that view. But Arabs in the region were pessimistic, with more than 70 percent in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and the Palestinian territories believing that "the rights and needs of the Palestinian people cannot be taken care of as long as the state of Israel exists."



Global survey shows rejection of U.S. idea of democracy
By Meg Bortin
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

PARIS: Americans have historically held out democracy to the world as a value they cherish and a model of how to create a great nation.

But now the world has sent back an unflattering message. Asked by the Pew Global Attitudes Survey whether they liked or disliked American ideas about democracy, respondents in many countries replied in the negative, sometimes overwhelmingly so.

The result appeared to indicate that people in other nations are superimposing U.S. behavior abroad on the concept of democracy, tarnishing one of America's bedrock values, analysts said.

The question asked by Pew left plenty of room for interpretation: "And which of these comes closer to your view? I like American ideas about democracy, OR I dislike American ideas about democracy?"

In only 6 of the 38 nations or territories questioned previously did respondents indicate a more favorable view of American democracy, notably Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

Majorities or pluralities in 33 of 47 countries surveyed expressed dislike.

Senior statesmen and commentators in several key countries, asked about the result, said the findings mainly reflected discontent with U.S. foreign policy under President George W. Bush.

"I think that for people across the world today it is totally impossible to distinguish between America's ideas about democracy, the Bush administration's foreign policy, and Iraq," said Hubert Védrine, former foreign minister of France, where 76 percent of respondents expressed dislike for American-style democracy - more than in any country except Turkey.

"If you say 'American democracy,' that means the American idea that you can export democracy by force,' Védrine said. "People are against this."

For the world's image of American democracy to improve, he added, "I think it requires a new presidency. It is impossible with Bush."

In Pakistan, another U.S. ally, 72 percent of respondents professed dislike of American democracy and only 6 percent expressed support - the least of any of the 47 survey countries.

"I think it would be wrong to say that people in Pakistan don't like American ideas about democracy," said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general and analyst of political and military affairs.

"In fact, the majority have idealized American ideas about democracy. It's rather the selective way America is trying to impose its values of democracy in different countries. This is of great concern, and goes against the basic tenets of democracy.

"Like for instance in Pakistan, it is promoting a military dictator, whereas the people are yearning for democracy," he said, referring to the Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf.

"And it is seeking a favorable-result-oriented democracy. That means it wants people of its choice to be elected," Masood added. "It's extraordinary: The United States promotes democracy, but it is not prepared to accept the results of democracy."

In Egypt, where 56 percent of respondents answered the question in the negative, people "are not inspired with American ideas about democracy because they are refusing to accept democracy as a means to America's strategic ends," said Salama Ahmad Salama, a senior columnist for the newspaper Al Ahram. "There is the feeling that democracy has been promoted by the Americans just to serve certain political aims in the Middle East."

"On the other hand," Salama said, "other real democratic processes came out in places like Gaza, when Hamas won. The Americans didn't accept the results and started strangling and encircling and boycotting Hamas and its government.

"Egyptians were very disappointed and drew the conclusion that Americans were not sincere about their democratic agenda in the region."

Madeleine Albright, who was secretary of state under former President Bill Clinton and who co-chairs the Pew Global Attitude Project, linked the poll's findings to the war in Iraq.

"I think - this is my personal opinion - the problem is that democracy has been militarized in Iraq," she said. "Democracy looks like it is being imposed militarily."

Albright said that the Iraq war had damaged the reputation of the United States in many ways, and notably "our moral authority."

Elections, which were held in Iraq in 2005, "are necessary but not sufficient for democracy," she said. "You need to have the rule of law, a free press, the institutional structure, parliaments that work, participation. I happen to believe that political parties are important."

Even in Canada, America's neighbor and close ally, a majority - 51 percent - disavowed American ideas about democracy.

Jeffrey Simpson, national affairs columnist for the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail and a specialist on U.S.-Canadian matters, attributed the result to Bush's unpopularity there.

"The nature of the present administration and present incumbent colors views of the United States," Simpson said.

"Anything that has George Bush's name attached to it is going to evoke a negative response."

Asked how long it might take to improve the Canadian view of American democracy, Simpson noted that former President Bill Clinton had been "extremely popular" and said: "There is no reason to suggest that a change of government isn't going to change perceptions in this country."