Team Europe, countries want US to get the hell out of the driver's seat

[G_j]

GOODBYE UNCLE SAM, HELLO TEAM EUROPE
John Feffer, AlterNet

Not only does the world hate us, a new poll shows that for
the first time most countries want us to get the hell out
of the driver's seat.

http://www.alternet.org/story/21753/

Over a curry dinner in Geneva, a South Korean friend confessed to being not entirely thrilled with her European experience. Sure, she had a well-paying job for one of the many international organizations that keep Geneva prosperous, bustling, and awash in dull conferences, but it all lacked a certain something. Europeans no longer believe in anything, she complained -- not like the Americans, who have the oomph and the moral clarity to "get the job done."

What "job" was she talking about? We most definitely were not getting the job done in Iraq, I pointed out. In recent years, it's Europe not the United States that's been on the right side of the major foreign policy issues of our time, be it Europe's objections to the Iraq War or its diplomatic approach toward resolving the conflicts with Iran and North Korea -- an approach that is far more likely to succeed than American military oomph. As for taking care of their own people, the social system in Europe -- the kind that ensured the job security, high-quality education, crime-free streets, and comparative lack of poverty that friend so clearly admired in Switzerland -- was clearly superior to anything the average American could hope for.

The truth is that the world would likely be a better place if Team Europe and not Team America was in charge. And more and more people around the world are reaching that conclusion.

A new poll conducted by GlobeScan and the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) reveals that citizens in twenty out of twenty-three countries would like to see Europe become more influential than the United States in world affairs. The survey tested attitudes toward the five permanent members of Security Council and Europe as a whole. The majority of citizens in only six countries (including my friend's South Korea) view the U.S. role in the world as mainly positive -- a dismal popularity rating comparable only to that of Russia. Here's how bad it is: even China rated higher than the United States in popular assessments of its global conduct. The United States also took the top prize as the country most widely viewed as having a negative influence on the world (in 15 countries), with Russia coming a close second (14 countries). And this in a poll that did not include countries in the Middle East, who would have likely put us way ahead of Russia.

..more..

[seabeyond]

1. the irony with this writer

saying other countries want u.s. out of the drivers seat, yet starts with a a South Korean friend ....... who is saying u.s. is the better

that is like contradictive to his whole piece as he tells this friend from another country why she is wrong

anyway, just thought a funny, not challenging the actual premise

[Stockholm]

2. opps I did not know that Kagan is a neo-con

Horrifying when I know they use his work over at the Swedish Foreign Ministry...

[RethugAssKicker]

3. IMO

It appears as Europe has learned its lesson from its violent past.
Generally speaking, their policies are very progressive. Their religious inclinations has dwindled to very small numbers. Rationality seems to rule there rather than religious fanatic hallucinations.

Although they still seem to have racial problems, they are more accepting of others than America.

ALthough I've only vacationed in many countries in Europe, I have always felt safe pretty much everywhere I went. What amazes me is that people actually walk downtown late at night with their baby carriages and seem to be happy and carefree....

I believe their collective consciousness has been liberated from the aryan religious militaristic ways of their long history.

I am seriously considering of moving there.