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Europe, US Publics Diverge Drastically On Foreign Policy

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  • Europe, US Publics Diverge Drastically On Foreign Policy

    The German Marshall Fund did an interesting survey of public attitudes in Europe and the US regarding foreign policy. Here are the results.



    Here is a quote showing that Europe is increasingly full of pacifists, while the martial spirit is alive and well in the US...

    The poll found that Europeans and Americans shared similar views in identifying the biggest threats to global security: international terrorism, North Korea's and Iran's access to weapons of mass destruction , Islamic fundamentalism and the Arab-Israeli conflict. But they sharply disagreed over the use of military force to deal with global threats. About 84 percent of Americans said war may be used to achieve justice, while only 48 percent of Europeans agreed.
    Here's the money shot...

    Craig Kennedy, president of the German Marshall Fund, said the results suggested that European anger, while focused on the Bush administration, went deeper. "There is a Bush style that really does drive Europeans up a wall," Kennedy said. "But would it go away if a Democrat took over the White House tomorrow? Frankly I don't think so. The poll suggests that Bush's policies are pretty well in sync with American public opinion. If you had a Democrat, they would still have to work basically within those kinds of public constraints. The policies that annoy most Europeans would still be there."
    And here's a funny one. While the US has been accused by some on Apolyton as wanting to be a superpower on the cheap (you know who you are), Europe is riven with an even larger contradiction on this score...

    The poll reported that Europeans want to see the European Union become a superpower but said they wanted it to cooperate with, rather than compete against, the United States. At the same time, a sizeable majority of Europeans do not want the EU to drastically increase defense spending.
    And those Germans can never be trusted with power.

    The biggest internal change from last year's survey occurred in Germany, the poll found. A year ago Germans seemed uncertain about their global role and about whether Europe or the United States was their natural partner. That ambiguity has faded, with 82 percent of those surveyed saying that Germany must play an active part in world affairs, and 70 percent believing that the EU should become a superpower -- sizeable increases in both figures.
    Let the games begin!
    Last edited by DanS; September 4, 2003, 00:19.
    I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

  • #2
    "But would it go away if a Democrat took over the White House tomorrow? Frankly I don't think so. The poll suggests that Bush's policies are pretty well in sync with American public opinion. If you had a Democrat, they would still have to work basically within those kinds of public constraints. The policies that annoy most Europeans would still be there."


    The phrase "Its not what you say, its the way that you say it" springs to mind. Bush lacks the eloquence to persuade Europeans. Find a new Pres who is of the same mind, but a sweet talker, and things would be different I'm sure.
    One day Canada will rule the world, and then we'll all be sorry.

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    • #3
      We need a European Superpower (a democratic superpower to rival the US), however I highly doubt we'll ever get one.

      It'll probably be China, however the word "democratic" does not come to mind.
      Eventis is the only refuge of the spammer. Join us now.
      Long live teh paranoia smiley!

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      • #4
        It is easier for Americans to sit at home and talk of war than it is for most people who happen to have much better first hand knowledge of what political violence actually does. I would guess that worldwide (since the US and western europe account for what, 12-15% of humanity?)the numbers would come closer to Europe's than the US's. And 9/11 did not change this much.
        If you don't like reality, change it! me
        "Oh no! I am bested!" Drake
        "it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong" Voltaire
        "Patriotism is a pernecious, psychopathic form of idiocy" George Bernard Shaw

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        • #5
          As usual, Europeans do not seem to realize that American leaders are quite naturally, destined to rule the world.

          Great Britain doesn't even realize the reality that it's a colony of the United States, for instance.
          A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by MrFun
            Great Britain doesn't even realize the reality that it's a colony of the United States, for instance.
            Protectorate, not a colony.
            One day Canada will rule the world, and then we'll all be sorry.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Big Crunch


              Protectorate, not a colony.
              If that makes you feel better . . . .

              A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

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              • #8
                I agree that Europe will have to get over its pacifism if it truly wants to be a superpower. Today, it can influence events primarily by being obstuctionists at the UN. If they had real power, they could take a leadership role in solving the worlds problems, such as terrorism. I believe a superpower EU would have been there with us in Iraq because it would not have felt the need to be obstructionist.
                http://tools.wikimedia.de/~gmaxwell/jorbis/JOrbisPlayer.php?path=John+Williams+The+Imperial+M arch+from+The+Empire+Strikes+Back.ogg&wiki=en

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                • #9
                  A European superpower. riiight

                  The time of the superpowers is rapidly passing - and the most important thing assaulting it are the multinational corporation structures, based mostly in the US. Europe should look to preserving its own economic viability, and that is a hell of task, because US can bring resourses and labor from all over the world.

                  No offense to Euro's but you might be in for some tough times, mates
                  Napoleon I

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                  • #10
                    Europe's future looks peachy. A succesfully operating socio-economic block that nobody pays much attention to. It'll be great.
                    One day Canada will rule the world, and then we'll all be sorry.

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                    • #11
                      By then, I'll live in Logan, Utah Province, Sino American Autonomous Region (SAAR), China.

                      .....*
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                      Eventis is the only refuge of the spammer. Join us now.
                      Long live teh paranoia smiley!

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                      • #12
                        "About 84 percent of Americans said war may be used to achieve justice, while only 48 percent of Europeans agreed."

                        "War" and "Justice" have each quite a different meaning for us than for you.
                        “Now we declare… that the law-making power or the first and real effective source of law is the people or the body of citizens or the prevailing part of the people according to its election or its will expressed in general convention by vote, commanding or deciding that something be done or omitted in regard to human civil acts under penalty or temporal punishment….” (Marsilius of Padua, „Defensor Pacis“, AD 1324)

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                        • #13
                          That's cause you guys like killing each other for fun.
                          We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. - Abraham Lincoln

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                          • #14
                            Put that in the past tense, and you have a point.
                            “Now we declare… that the law-making power or the first and real effective source of law is the people or the body of citizens or the prevailing part of the people according to its election or its will expressed in general convention by vote, commanding or deciding that something be done or omitted in regard to human civil acts under penalty or temporal punishment….” (Marsilius of Padua, „Defensor Pacis“, AD 1324)

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                            • #15
                              Not really

                              The Balkans are pretty much always up to no good unless someone is putting the smackdown on them. Then there is Chechnya.
                              We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. - Abraham Lincoln

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