can America get its rep back

Great Debates
21

It would have helped if the USA had understood what was going on in the USSR and why Afghanistan was so critical for the Russians.

At the same time (1979) it would have helped if the USA understood what was going on in Iran.

That ditsy little scrap we had in the Falklands would have been a lot easier if the USA had told Galtieri to get back in his litter tray.

Star Bores and Reagan did not finish the Russians - they just gave up on the Russian Empire concept when they realized that Islamicists were ungovernable.

Personally I would measure the success of Foreign Policy using foreign opinion polls, or is USA Foreign Policy just for domestic consumption ?

22

Our constitution and our freedoms have been well known. The fundimental freedoms that we used to have a right to were envied by many other countries. They hoped that they could get them.Our international transgressions are pretty well shielded from the American people. I believe that while other nations were aware of some of them , no one was onto the scope of what we were doing. Who we professed to be was an ideal for many nations. Who we really are is less known. The beacon of freedom was real. Many came here to get freedoms their countries did not want to cede.We have always been great at handling publicity and manipulating opinion.
Nevertheless ,we were the place to go and for many still are. This administration has shown no honor for the past or the values we pretended to have. I think many are looking at us differently. I wonder if any respect from the globe is possible anymore.

23

[QUOTE=gonzomax]
This administration has shown no honor for the past or the values we pretended to have. I think many are looking at us differently. I wonder if any respect from the globe is possible anymore.
[/QUOTE]

A week is a long time in politics.

24

[QUOTE=FRDE]
A week is a long time in politics.
[/QUOTE]

Then 8 years is an eternity.

25

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
There’s nothing to worry about getting back because we never lost anything. Those who run the other countries, the countries that matter anyway, know what we did after 9/11 was inevitable and right, even if they can’t always come out and say it.
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No, it was foolish and self defeating. Not to mention evil. I seriously doubt that most world leaders look at it any other way, and the populous at large never supported the war outside of America.

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Hell, they know that if it had been their country attacked they probably would have gone a lot further (i.e. some serious internal security, absolutely no arab immigration, detention centers etc.)
[/quote]
Why ?

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Big anti-US protests don’t mean shit. They existed before 9/11 & Bush and will continue to.
[/quote]
They mean quite a bit, and lets not pretend that anti-American feelings are some sort of constant that never changes. Our actions have made neutral people into hostile ones, and turned hostile ones into fanatics. And in countries with anything like democracy it does matter if the population despises us.

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Reagan was protested everywhere he went (especially Europe) as an evil warmongerer. Yet he stayed the course and won the cold war, immensely benefiting those same people who protested him.
[/quote]
He was an evil warmonger; a monster responsible for immense amounts of death and suffering. And he didn’t win the Cold War; he just happened to be in office when the USSR collapsed. Not only did he not cause that, I doubt he could have stopped it if he had been so inclined. Reagan was scum, and his election was part of America’s descent into the vile, decaying country it is today.

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
America is still the most prosperous and generous country than all others combined and regardless of wars, politics etc.
[/quote]
We’re pretty much at the bottom as far as generosity is concerned; we just look generous because we are rich enough as a nation that the relative pittance we give looks impressive. As for prosperity, define your terms; we are wealthy as a nation, but most of that wealth is in the hands of the rich.

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
You know the phrase about not making policy based on opinion polls? Well you absolutely never, ever, EVER make foreign policy based on foreign opinion polls.
[/QUOTE]
An excellent means of losing allies, and making enemies. Of course, enemies are all we deserve.

26

[QUOTE=gonzomax]
Can we ever get respect back from the world. ?
[/quote]

Sure; have Bush and Cheney tried before an international tribunal for war crimes.

27

First of all, it is true that demonstrations, etc. , mean very little. the USA is still seen as a bastion of freedom and opportunity-that is why so many people WANt to come here. What does “friendship” with a nation like Saudi Arabia mean, anyway? It really amounts to a recognition of mutual self-interest. Most of the inhabitants view the USA as corrupt and evil. To tem, women walking around unclothed is evil, and the rights we have are regarded as abominations. Now, with western nations ( that we share cultural values with) its a differnet story. I’m quite sure that most of Western Europe doesn’t like our adventure in Iraq-but they have no love for islamic extremism, either (just ask a Dane!).

28

[QUOTE=ralph124c]
I think we ought to stop meddling in other countire’s affairs. Like maybe, realize WWII is OVER-and get our troops out of korea, japan, Korea, etc.
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What does korea or Korea have to do with WWII? They are there because of the Korean War, which technically never ended.

29

[QUOTE=ralph124c]
First of all, it is true that demonstrations, etc. , mean very little. the USA is still seen as a bastion of freedom and opportunity-that is why so many people WANt to come here.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, from economic and political messes like Mexico. You’ll note that Canadians aren’t beating down our doors to immigrate. I’ve noticed that when Americans want to pat themselves on the back about how they are the Shining Beacon of Hope for the world they prefer to compare America to Mexico or Yugoslavia or Rwanda.

30

[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
Yes, from economic and political messes like Mexico. You’ll note that Canadians aren’t beating down our doors to immigrate. I’ve noticed that when Americans want to pat themselves on the back about how they are the Shining Beacon of Hope for the world they prefer to compare America to Mexico or Yugoslavia or Rwanda.
[/QUOTE]

Where I live (Waltham MA), about 20% of the population is french-Canadian

31

I would hope that we’re starting to rebuild our rep now, from our recent display of democracy and the unmistakable evidence that we’re getting our rogue administration contained. Certainly the world is entitled to skepticism, though.

32

[QUOTE=ralph124c]
Where I live (Waltham MA), about 20% of the population is french-Canadian
[/QUOTE]
Most of the French-Canadian population in New England that I’m aware of is descended from economic refugees from the Depression, which apparently hit eastern Canada especially hard. IOW they’re Americans just like you.

33

Hey! My grandma came from the Maritimes during the Depression! She became a citizen in 1946. And to this day when I visit her relatives you’d be hard-pressed to find one who hasn’t come down to the States for work or school even if just for a while. There’s still a sense you have come down here if you want to make it really big.

Now that the usual American suspects have checked in, I’d like to ask the OP again–exactly which part of the world do you mean when you say you’re worried about their opinions? As soon as one bunch of them stops the hatin’, another bunch starts it up.

34

Gee, your liberal guilt is showing…

No, the collapse of the USSR didn’t just happen. That’s an incredibly ignorant statement. Regardless of what you think of Reagan he did win the cold war. The Soviet Union fall apart economically trying to keep up with the arms race. If we’d just continued détente the USSR wouldn’t have collapsed (not then anyway).

That’s exactly what they are, pretty much constant. Besides right after WWII, name me one time when the rest of the world went out of its way to praise the US? Name me one country that ever held pro-America rallies? Name me one European country that doesn’t hold regular anti-America protests whenever we do anything?

War is the most selfish thing any country ever does. And that exactly how it should be. No citizen should ever be asked to risk their life for anything other than their country’s own vital self-interests.

35

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Gee, your liberal guilt is showing…
[/quote]
Guilt ? About what ?

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
No, the collapse of the USSR didn’t just happen. That’s an incredibly ignorant statement. Regardless of what you think of Reagan he did win the cold war. The Soviet Union fall apart economically trying to keep up with the arms race. If we’d just continued détente the USSR wouldn’t have collapsed (not then anyway).
[/quote]
Like I said, they destroyed themselves; we didn’t destroy them. Even if I buy your argument ( and I don’t ), that’s still a self inflicted wound; they had no need to try to keep up with the arms race; they had nukes, and plenty of them.

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Name me one country that ever held pro-America rallies?
[/quote]
Iran, after 9-11. Until we threw away all that goodwill and did our best to convince the world that we deserved it.

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
War is the most selfish thing any country ever does. And that exactly how it should be. No citizen should ever be asked to risk their life for anything other than their country’s own vital self-interests.
[/QUOTE]
Which is another way of saying that we are the villains in this, and that people who support the war are amoral scum, at best.

36

[QUOTE=ralph124c]
the USA is still seen as a bastion of freedom and opportunity
[/QUOTE]
This is simply not true, and it’s a myth that you really need to dispel. The US is no more seen as a bastion of freedom and opportunity than any other Western democracy. Sure, people from fucked-up poor dictatorships want to come there, just like they want to come to Western European countries.

As for the original question: Sure you can. The American reputation is probably not at an all-time low (in the sixties and seventies there were violent anti-US protests here, but as I look out the window now I see nothing of the sort), but it’s been better, and you can get back there.

37

Well, that’s a way of saying that people who are against the war are simply self-loathing Americans who already believe that America did deserve 9/11 for its role in creating all the evil in the world.

In other words, like I said, your liberal guilt doth runth over…

38

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Well, that’s a way of saying that people who are against the war are simply self-loathing Americans who already believe that America did deserve 9/11 for its role in creating all the evil in the world.

In other words, like I said, your liberal guilt doth runth over…
[/QUOTE]
What liberal guilt ? What do I have to feel guilty over ? What are you babbling about ?

39

[QUOTE=rjung]
Sure; have Bush and Cheney tried before an international tribunal for war crimes.
[/QUOTE]

That’s the best answer of all. Seriously.

40

[QUOTE=Johanna]
That’s the best answer of all. Seriously.
[/QUOTE]

I don’t agree with ‘international war crimes’

  • better let them drift off with lousy reputations