The Lovely American
Is anti-Americanism surging around the world in response to the Bush Administration's aggressive pursuit of the war on terror?</br></br>Judging from the headlines about the latest Pew Research Center survey on global attitudes, you'd think so. But while the poll, based on 38,000 interviews in 44 countries earlier this year, does show U.S. favorability ratings slipping slightly in a number of countries, the real story is the overwhelming level of support that America still enjoys.</br></br>Consider Kenya, where a drop of 14 points since 1999/2000 still leaves the U.S. with 80% approval. Or France, where favorability has actually risen one point to 63%. And remember all those worries about NATO expansion and the Administration's scrapping of the ABM Treaty? Support in Russia is up 24 points to 61%.</br></br>Nor does the U.S. rate poorly in the Muslim world as a whole. The U.S. gets high favorable marks in Indonesia (61%), Nigeria (77%) and Uzbekistan (85%). The one immediate cause for concern is Turkey, where support has fallen 22 points since 1999/2000 to just 30%.</br></br>This is surely due in part to Turkey's economic crisis, which many blame on the International Monetary Fund (and by extension the U.S.). Repeated rebuffs to Turkey from the European Union probably haven't helped encourage pro-Western sentiments either. While recent U.S. lobbying of Europe on Turkey's behalf is a good start at a fix, the U.S. will have to give on something (such as textile tariffs) too.