(updated below)
Glenn Greenwald
I've written numerous times over the last year about rapidly worsening perceptions of the U.S. in the Muslim world, including a Pew poll from April finding that Egyptians view the U.S. more unfavorably now than they did during the Bush presidency. A new poll released today of six Arab nations -- Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco -- contains even worse news on this front:
The hope that the Arab world had not long ago put in the United States and President Obama has all but evaporated.
Two and a half years after Obama came to office, raising expectations for change among many in the Arab world, favorable ratings of the United States have plummeted in the Middle East, according to a new poll conducted by Zogby International for the Arab American Institute Foundation.
In most countries surveyed, favorable attitudes toward the United States dropped to levels lower than they were during the last year of the Bush administration . . . Pollsters began their work shortly after a major speech Obama gave on the Middle East . . . Fewer than 10 percent of respondents described themselves as having a favorable view of Obama.
What's striking is that none of these is among the growing list of countries we're occupying and bombing. Indeed, several are considered among the more moderate and U.S.-friendly nations in that region, at least relatively speaking. Yet even in this group of nations, anti-U.S. sentiment is at dangerously (even unprecedentedly) high levels.
snip* 3 somewhat related items:
(1) I recorded a BloggingheadsTV session yesterday with Law Professor Ilya Somin, discussing the illegality of the war in Libya, the debt ceiling drama, and the Drug War. That can be viewed on the recorder below (specific segments can be selected here):
(2) I was recently given a copy of a book of essays by the playwright and actor Wallace Shawn which I can't recommend highly enough (given to me, coincidentally, by Shawn himself). The first half of the book examines multiple political topics, while the second half contains more personal reflections, but it all has an amazing thematic coherence. It's short and easy to read, but incredibly thought-provoking and novel in its own subtle, idiosyncratic way. It can be purchased from Amazon at a discounted price, or a more noble means of acquring it is directly from the independent publisher at a slightly increased price. I don't often recommend books, but this one is definitely worth your time and attention.
(3) Col. Lawrence Wilkerson -- the former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell and one of the most vocal critics of Bush/Cheney Terrorism and foreign policy (who supported Obama in 2008) -- was on Keith Olbermann's program last night discussing Obama's foreign policy as well as the treatment of Bradley Manning; it's highly worth watching, as Wilkerson discusses why these actions have caused him to re-consider his support for the President:
snip* The only thing more reliable than deaths and taxes is that the NYT will take the side of the U.S. Government in how it "reports" on any foreign conflict. And is there anything more predictable than the fact that the faction backed by the U.S. in a civil war turns out to be guilty of many of the same atrocities that "justified" the commencement of the war in the first place? Bask in the glow of humanitarianism.
in full:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/07/13/arabs/index.html
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