Think this only showed on US television?
Unfortunately, American practices versus American PR campaigns over the years make the difference. We haven’t especially worked at defending anyone from dictatorship since World War 2 – especially when the dictator or monarch replacing early attempts at democracy postwar have been enabled with US connivance.
The whole world was able to watch beating and police-state tactics employed to suppress everything from voter rights to political struggles for peace – the wonderful world of television. The whole world has been able to draw their own conclusions about parallels between populist Tea Party tactics and ideology – and their own sad memories of fascist movements in Europe and Asia – helped by the Wonderful Worldwide Web.
And just as the average copper clubbing an Occupy demonstrator thinks his protestations of “they attacked, first!” means anything on YouTube – liars like Romney and Ryan, Panetta or John Edwards don’t get it that there are video recordings accessible everywhere showing the whole world which lies they told and when.
American influence on the world stage is being sapped by widespread distrust of US intentions, not just in the Middle East and south Asia but also among traditional European allies, according to a survey of global opinions.
Suspicion of America outweighed faith in its good intentions by large margins in the Arab world and Pakistan, and even its heavyweight European ally Germany was more sceptical than trusting, a YouGov survey found. British and French opinion was more positive but still deeply divided.
Perhaps just as worrying for Washington is the lukewarm support among western European allies. More Germans questioned in the YouGov survey voiced misgivings than trust in the US. Perhaps surprisingly, in view of past wariness, French opinion was somewhat warmer: just over half of the French poll respondents trusted America, against 40% who did not.
The so-called special relationship between the US and Britain emerged from the survey as distinctly lopsided. There was widespread American affection for its close ally, but the sentiment was only partly requited, reflecting deep British ambivalence about America’s powerful role in world affairs…
When asked to select a word they associated with America, a striking 40% of the British respondents chose “bullying”, a greater proportion than in any other country or region covered by the survey. Only 12% thought the US was defined by its respect for human rights…
The case for democracy is coming perilously close to being lost around the world, the poll reveals. In Pakistan and to a lesser extent across the Middle East and north Africa, respondents told YouGov that they thought a strong economy was more important than a system of government based on democracy. In Pakistan, the prioritising of growth over democracy was emphatic, by 71% to 22%. In a cross-border Middle Eastern sample of the online population – including Egypt, Tunisia and Libya – economic strength trumped democratic governance by 44% to 41%.
Perhaps more surprising is the nonchalant attitude towards democracy shown in some of the states that have enjoyed it for longest. Both France and the US were split down the middle on whether the economy or democracy should come first, with a 41%-41% divide in both nations. Britain’s enthusiasm for its democracy was a little more emphatic: it was seen as the priority by 46%, against 38% who would put the economy first.
Only Germany was resolute in prioritising the political system. By 52% to 35%, German voters told YouGov that democracy had to come first.
