Tuesday, January 23, 2007

"Listen More": the world's message to the US?

Ken Jarboe flagged the results of a BBC story with the above title (I paraphrased) here. A key statement from the BBC story is "The global image of the US has significantly deteriorated over the past 12 months..."

The BBC story further says that "surveys suggest that there is still strong support around the world for the values enshrined in US society. But it looks as though America itself is seen to be living up to those values less and less."

The opinion of any non-American with regard to the US is based on the self interest of that individual, which is influenced by their home country's national interests, their religion, their educational experience, and many other factors.

I think that the USA should not formulate its foreign policies based on the public opinion of the rest of the world. Our foreign policy should seek to advance the national interest of our country. That is a fundamental principle of statesmanship. If the elected leaders of the US pursue policies that American citizens decide are in their own best interests and people in other countries do not understand or disagree with those policies, so be it.

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