US 'biggest global peace threat'

Started by Sportsdude, Jun 13 06 09:53

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Sportsdude

 [DIV class=headline]US 'biggest global peace threat' [/DIV]People in European and Muslim countries see US policy in Iraq as a bigger threat to world peace than Iran's nuclear programme, a survey has shown. The survey by the Pew Research Group also found support for US President George W Bush and his "war on terror" had dropped dramatically worldwide.   Goodwill created by US aid for nations hit by the 2004 tsunami had also faded since last year, the survey found.   The survey questioned 17,000 people in 15 countries, including the US.   [DIV class=bo] The latest in a series of annual polls by the Pew Global Attitudes Project interviewed respondents between 31 March and 14 May 2006.   Its release coincides with a surprise visit by President George W Bush to Baghdad in an effort to shore up support for US policy in the region.   'Fading goodwill' The latest survey shows the worldwide reputation of the US continues to suffer over its prosecution of the "war on terror".   Sharp declines in the public perception of the US were particularly apparent in India, Spain and Turkey.   Goodwill towards the US had fallen from 71% to 56% in India, from 41% to 23% in Spain and from 23% to 12% in Turkey.   A majority of people in 10 of the 14 countries outside the US surveyed said the war in Iraq had made the world a more dangerous place.   Some 60% of people in the UK, which is the US biggest ally, felt the Iraq war had made the world less secure, while some 30% said it had made the world safer.   According to the survey:    [UL] [LI]Worldwide support for the "war on terror" has remained the same or declined   [LI]European confidence in Mr Bush has sunk even lower than it was last year   [LI]A majority of people in most countries feel the US will not achieve its goals in the "war on terror" [/LI][/UL] The survey also found little remaining evidence of the goodwill the US had earned over its aid for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.   In Indonesia, a major recipient of US tsunami aid, favourable opinions of the US had fallen from 38% in 2005 to 30% this year.   "Last year we saw some good news in countries like Russia and India," Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Centre, told the Associated Press news agency.   "That good news being wiped away is a measure of how difficult a problem this is for the United States."   Muslim differences According to the survey, people in the US and Europe have grown increasingly concerned in the last year over Iran's nuclear programme.   The US has accused Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb - but Iran says its nuclear programme has a purely civilian objective.   Almost half of the Americans surveyed, 46%, viewed the current government in Iran as a "great danger" to stability in the Middle East and to world peace - a figure that has risen from 26% in 2003.   In Germany, Spain, France and the UK, the percentage of people who regard Iran as a great danger is roughly three times greater than it was three years ago.   However, the poll showed public opinion in predominantly Muslim countries was far less troubled by Tehran's nuclear programme.   Muslim people also appeared less concerned than Europeans and Americans by the victory of the Hamas militant group in Palestinian elections earlier this year.   The survey found concern over bird flu was largely confined to Asia, while two-thirds of people surveyed in each country said they were worried by global warming.   Concern over the greenhouse effect was highest in India and Japan and lowest in the US and China.   The survey interviewed people in China, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the US.   Its margin of error was two to six percentage points.              

 [img height=152 alt="US soldier in Mosul" hspace=0 src="vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41762000/jpg/_41762820_girlmosul_ap203b.jpg" width=203 border=0]   [DIV class=cap]The Iraq war continues to damage the US image, the survey says[/DIV][/DIV]

 
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

Gopher

Good will can neither be bought nor imposed.

Does anyone know how many wars the US has been involved in since WW2?  
A fool's paradise is better than none.

Sportsdude

Off the top of my head

Korean

Vietnam

Cuba

Afghanistan in the eighties

Iraq-Iran war (gave saddam chemical weapons)

Grenada

Gulf War 1

Bosnia

Kosovo

Afghanistan

Gulf War II


Future Wars:

Iran - inevitable

North Korea - inevitable

China - inevitable (half the country despises China even thou most of the products here are made here)

Somalia - Muslim extremists just took over the country again

Chad - Muslim extremists tried to have an uprising.

Saudi Arabia - if something ever happens to the royal family the U.S. will come to the rescue.

  Out of all these wars I only approved of 5 which all happend to be under Nato. Kosovo, Bosnia, Korea, Afghanistan (now), and the first Gulf War.

The reason why the Afghanistan mission (now) is going to fail because the U.S. pulled troops out to invade Iraq and the Taliban is having a resurgence because they learned how to do suicide bombers from Iraq because today's military is not trained under that kind of war tatics.  We also had Bin Laden cornered but we retreated.  Afghanistan could have worked brilliantly but its f*cked up so much now because of neglect I don't think it could ever be reversed. Opium trade is booming again and Karzai is only PM of Kabul not Afghanistan where it still is ruled by war lords.  
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

Trollio

  Gopher wrote:
[div style="font-style: italic;"]Good will can neither be bought nor imposed.[/div] [div style="font-style: italic;"]Does anyone know how many wars the US has been involved in since WW2?[/div]
 Sit down.
 
 
 China (lost to Mao)
 Yugoslavia (settled on Tito)
 Italy (post-war unrest, CIA took the election away from the Communists)
 Greece (civil war)
 Korea (civil war)
 Cuba (obvious)
 Iran (1953. Yes, friends. That's partly -- but not completely -- how we got where we are today.)
 Guatemala (Overthrew Arbenz with a radio broadcast and a few pickup trucks full of hired thugs)
 Dominican Republic (numerous times)
 Vietnam (began in the 50s)
 Congo (CIA had Lumumba assassinated and put Mobutu in power)
 Philippines (supported Marcos against coup)
 Chile (facilitated coup in 1973)
 Angola (civil war)
 Liberia (numerous times)
 Afghanistan I (supported and armed Osama Bin Laden against the USSR)
 El Salvador (civil war)
 Nicaragua (civil war)
 Grenada (overthrew sovereign government)
 
 then the ones SD mentioned... and that's off the top of my head.
 
 But that said, I think that survey is rubbish. It's easy to shit on the US. However, it is not politically correct to shit on Muslim nations, because that, God forbid, is "islamophobic". People respond to polls and surveys on that basis, and don't tell you everything they're thinking.
 
 Read Irshad Manji.
   
one must be intelligent to get intelligent answers.
— bebu

Sportsdude

Don't forget Haiti and Ho Chi Min and Vietnam. Back in the twenties Ho wanted to bring democracy to Vietnam through an uprising and admired the U.S. But he tried to get in touch with president Wilson who was a racist towards anybody who wasn't white and was told to 'f*ck off'.  This caused Ho to look elsewhere eventually landing on communism.
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

Dissident

 Huh?  Wilson wasn't President in the 20s.  You mean Harding?  That would fit.    
fenec rawks!

Sportsdude

Screwed up my bad ment he talked to Wilson after WW1 but was ignored by the racist.
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

CK

I am pretty sure they will attack Canada soon. Fortunately, the US army probably couldn't find Canada on a map, so, not too worried from north of the border.

Dissident

 Sportsdude wrote:
Screwed up my bad ment he talked to Wilson after WW1 but was ignored by the racist.

 Wilson was from the South, after all.  

But to give him some credit--he was dealing with so much resistance from different European countries in the establishment of the League of Nations that he probably didn't take Asian issues very seriously--especially as Vietnam was a French colony and he was trying to get France to back off on the punitive terms they wanted to put on Germany.  He rightly assumed that it would lead to the outbreak of another war.  

I read a book about his post-War Presidency last year (I'm a bit of a history nerd)--and his failures in getting the League of Nations off to the right start, plus domestic resistance to American membership literally ruined his health.  His wife essentially served as President during his final year in office after suffering a stroke while on a rail tour of the US to try to get popular support for his peace initiatives, as Congress was proving obstructive.  

After he became ill practically no one was allowed access to him because they were trying to hide the seriousness of his condition.  Imagine getting away with something like that now.

With all that on his plate, I wouldn't be surprised if affairs in Asia weren't exactly on his radar.  Too bad.
 
fenec rawks!

Dissident

CK wrote:
I am pretty sure they will attack Canada soon. Fortunately, the US army probably couldn't find Canada on a map, so, not too worried from north of the border.

Oh, please . . . can't you guys give that kind of mindless xenophobia a rest for a change?  Especially on an American-based forum.  It's no longer funny, and serves no real purpose.
 
fenec rawks!

Sportsdude

Attack who? Who does the attacking? The only attacking I see is america taking over Alberta's oil supply. Greedy bastards.
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."