No wonder al-Jazeera loves this idiot.
Bruce http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2E9C1F31-BAD2-4B3D-8869-F966ED02A1D3. htm Western Europe united against Bush By Dag Herbjornsrud Wednesday 10 November 2004, 17:49 Makka Time, 14:49 GMT I probably live in the most Bush-sceptical country in the world. That should give Muslims and non-Muslims hope, because we do not face a clash of civilizations. Our challenge is rather huge political clashes inside our own nations. No other country in the world is so keen as mine to see George Bush lose the coming presidential election. And where do I live? In Indonesia? In an Islamic country? No. I live in Oslo, Norway. Norway is a Nato-member country, a declared Christian nation in the far north of Europe. And yet, hardly any Muslim population that has been surveyed expresses such strongly negative views of Bush as mine. People in several Muslim countries generally have a more diverse and pragmatic view of the US than that of the Norwegians. Is this a surprise for you? Or do you think that this cannot be correct? Anyhow, you are not alone. My claims are controversial. But they are still based on the latest and most reliable sources we have. Let me explain: In September, Globe Scan and the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) published the results of their Global Public Opinion. "More recently, American policy took down the Soviet Union without firing a shot. While we are taking a stand against Muslim Terrorist you are still complaining about us" William Campbell, US More <http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/075EF96B-CCF6-48C1-94F4-4667520FD191 .htm> comments... Nearly 34,000 people in 35 countries on five continents were asked about their views on US foreign policy. The main outcome was that the majority in 32 of the 35 countries surveyed preferred senator John Kerry to George Bush. Only Nigeria, the Philippines and Poland had populations which preferred to see Bush re-elected. But if we take a closer look at the results, some really interesting patterns emerge. In Norway, as much as 74% of the population favours Kerry. Only 7% support the incumbent president. No other population surveyed displays such a wide margin between Kerry and Bush. Positive Indonesians Norwegians are even more in favour of Kerry than the French (Kerry leads by 64% to 5%) and more anti-Bush than the Germans (74% to 10%). "No other country in the world is so keen as mine to see George Bush lose the coming presidential election" More interesting is that the people in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country with some 220 million citizens, are more positive towards Bush than any of the 10 European countries surveyed. Thirty-four per cent of Indonesians prefer the incumbent US president. If we are to believe the poll, this represents some 70 million Bush-supporting Muslim people in Indonesia - many more than in the 10 European countries combined. Kerry is also popular in Indonesia, though, where he is favoured by 57% - but, except for Poland, no European country can match a ratio where Kerry leads over Bush by less than two to one. Now, we should take into consideration that Indonesia is a country in Asia, the continent whose citizens are the least critical towards the current US administration: "This region was also the one in which Bush won his strongest support," as PIPE concludes. In India, the two candidates are neck and neck in popular support. Interestingly, the two other Muslim countries surveyed, Turkey and Kazakhstan, are also rather split. In Turkey, 25% of the population prefers Bush, 40% Kerry. In Kazakhstan Kerry leads by 40% to 12%, which is comparable with the views in the United Kingdom. "The difference is between individuals who like Bush and the present War on Terror - and they are more likely to be Muslim Indonesians than Christian Europeans - and individuals who do not" We may also note that a quarter of both Turks and Kazakhs say that the choice makes no difference for them. Some might interpret this to mean that these Muslims despise the Americans so much that they do not care who has power in the White House. But a more balanced view of the two candidates would rather suggest that a large percentage of Turks and Kazakhs are not too concerned who the president is on the other side of the ocean. And that is a rather different situation from where I live. Eighty-one per cent of Norwegians have made up their mind about the US election, whereas only 74% of us voted in our own election in 2001. Norwegians are more obsessed with American politics than with the actions of their own politicians. And that is not necessarily for the better. What do you think the answer was when PIPA asked: "On balance, has the foreign policy of President George Bush made you feel better or worse about the United States?" Well, only 3% of Norwegians answered better, 74% said worse. The majority of Norwegians might have a "correct" feeling, of course; but none the less, no other country displays such a negative view of the current US-led War on Terror. Feelings are not much more positive in the rest of Europe, though. The Poles show the least animosity of all Europeans with 15% answering "better" and 41% "worse". But again, we can spot a more nuanced view when we look at the answers from the three Muslim countries. Forty-four per cent of Indonesians answer that they feel "better" about the US because of Bush's foreign policy, while 49% have a more negative view. The Turks are more positive than anyone else in Europe, and the Kazakhs returned more or less the same answer as the British. "May the best candidate for the world win the US presidential election next month" Some might think that these relatively limited negative feelings toward the US only account for these Muslim countries, of which the democracies of Indonesia and Turkey must be said to be central. But an Asian Foundation poll all over Afghanistan this spring confirms that 64% of Afghans think that the country is going in the right direction, and just as many say they are favourable towards the US military and the US. Americans prefer neutrality Now, other polls conclude that the American foreign policy has been rejected by the majority of the population in several Arab countries. But first of all, let us not forget that their image was much better before September 11, which means that it can hopefully be repaired with a different policy. Second, we should all remember that there is a deep mistrust of the US among Western Europeans. And this is a mistrust that concerns both culture and politics. Actually, leading European philosophers, politicians and writers have rejected American culture, values, and the American way of life for the past 200 years. Seventy-one per cent of the French think that the spread of American ideas and customs is "bad", only 25% answer "good" - according to Pew Research's global poll. The people of Lebanon and Uzbekistan answered more favourably. Third, a PIPA poll, published in October, shows that the American people do not view the world so differently from the rest of us. Actually, a clear majority of the Americans "showed strong support for multilateralism". Seventy-four per cent oppose the US taking Israel's side with regard to the conflict in Palestine - they want their country to be neutral. Why then the current Israel-friendly policies of the US government? One answer from PIPA's conclusion: "The study found American leaders misperceive the public position on these issues, especially when it comes to multilateral initiatives ... most Americans mistakenly believe that Congress as a whole and their own representatives vote consistently with their preferences." So, is contemporary world politics based on an enormous misunderstanding? At least, all these polls seem to confirm that people from different cultures do not differ too much on the world's most important questions. There is no clash of civilizations, as Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington have propagated for more than 10 years. The great schism of today is not between cultures, religions or civilisations. Rather, the huge differences can be spotted inside our own cultures and religions. The difference is between individuals who like Bush and the present War on Terror - and they are more likely to be Muslim Indonesians than Christian Europeans - and individuals who do not. We humans agree because of what we as independent individuals think inside, not because of what skin colour we have on the outside. I am not implying that we, therefore, face less trouble in the future. Rather the opposite - our own neighbour might be a bigger threat to our common global civilisation than the average Joe or Abd Allah of a different religion on the other side of the ocean. We need to fight our inner demons, not the myth of a threat from alien civilisations. May the best candidate for the world win the US presidential election next month. Dag Herbjornsrud is a Norwegian author and journalist. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. 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