Americanism

Globalization and Anti Americanism

I'm not selling anything but plain oldfashioned Americanism.

Some Americanism. So we're all a bunch of suckers, eh?

Ideological rigidity alone, however, does not explain Iran s often gratuitous anti Americanism.

In addition, France has long had a strand of cultural anti Americanism.

Putin regards anti Americanism as an effective tool for short circuiting domestic discontent.

After all, anti Americanism is among the main features of our Islamic state.

The result is that anti Americanism has grown in both reach and intensity.

In the 1960 s, both Socialists and Centrists denounced de Gaulle s anti Americanism.

The result has been a dramatic increase in anti Americanism in Turkish politics.

Anti Americanism, they say, will persist because some people see America as a cultural threat.

Their old school anti Americanism has been tempered by years of exile, realism, and resignation.

And, since Barack Obama s election, anti Americanism is no longer a viable way to garner support.

Anti Americanism and an aggressive foreign policy are, of course, part of the allure of men like Nasrullah.

Anti Americanism is not new in Europe, but views of America have generally been more positive in the past.

He told a Washington audience that anti Americanism was an elite indulgence not shared by the French at large.

Though the current level of anti Americanism in Russia s official media seems unprecedented, the regime is most worried about internal problems.

This is reflected in Sarkozy s openly pro American stance an act of political courage in a France where anti Americanism is running high.

Much as some may hate to admit it, anti Americanism is a sentiment that has been fed and nurtured during the Bush years.

As a political model, Chavism is strongly based on nationalism, so that, Bush or no Bush, its legitimacy requires a growing anti Americanism.

America s elites turned a blind eye to these developments, rejecting all criticism, together with the crude anti Americanism with which it was often expressed.

Wariness of America was, to be sure, not just a leftist pose many Gaullists over the decades have been tinged with anti Americanism, too.

And what about the Third Way? In the aftermath of the collapse of communism, Chávez s mix of anti Americanism and state activism seemed merely eccentric.

He has revived pan Americanism, and Venezuela has become a member of Mercosur, the regional grouping whose other members include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

Expressions of anti Americanism will provide no protection or immunity to governments or individuals who for good reason are not prepared to endorse the terrorists radical agendas.

Rising anti Americanism around the world threatens to deprive the US of the soft or attractive power that it needs to succeed in the struggle against terrorism.

In a continent where anti Americanism remains both very popular and an effective way to consolidate national cohesion and political power, Chávez s attacks found a ready audience.

European leaders also must do more to stem rising anti Americanism, so that they remain able to work with the US when they judge it to be desirable.

The structural anti Americanism arising from the global distribution of power was evident well before the Iraq war, in the opposition to American led globalization during the Clinton years.

Much as some may hate to admit it, anti Americanism is a sentiment that has been fed and nurtured during the Bush years. Yet the world still needs American leadership.

Even Venezuela s Hugo Chávez, who built his power on populist anti Americanism, must be praying for the success of US President Barack Obama s stimulus package to lift his falling oil revenues.

But, instead of celebrating an agreement that has helped stabilize East Asia for a half century, the treaty is now at serious risk, as much from indecision as from kneejerk anti Americanism.

The Islamist governments that have emerged from the downfall of America s puppet regimes are no friends of an Iranian nuclear empire. But, in their struggle to survive, they must channel popular anti Americanism.

But nothing that Obama, or anyone else, says can answer the question now occupying the attention of senior US officials Will the coming of popular sovereignty to Egypt inevitably lead to anti Americanism?

People have finally come to understand that anti Americanism, born on the extreme right and fed, in Germany, for example, by the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and his acolytes, is a fixture of fascism.

Their policies are remarkably similar to those of their predecessors their respect for democracy is full fledged and sincere. Their old school anti Americanism has been tempered by years of exile, realism, and resignation.

Some were concerned with more abstract, ideological enemies, such as Communism and Americanism, while there were also voices highlighting the menace of the white race (including Japan s allies, Germany and Italy) against the yellow race.

In the aftermath of the collapse of communism, Chávez s mix of anti Americanism and state activism seemed merely eccentric. There could be no alternative to free markets and the neoliberal Washington Consensus or so it appeared.

Today, amid a rising tide of anti Americanism, US policy on Pakistan is rapidly unraveling. Yet Pakistan, with one of the world s lowest tax to GDP ratios, has become more dependent than ever on US aid.

Terrorists who have tasted success in Iraq will increasingly turn on others. Expressions of anti Americanism will provide no protection or immunity to governments or individuals who for good reason are not prepared to endorse the terrorists radical agendas.

If the EU accepts a merely cosmetic change in US policy, not only will it fail to contribute to resolving the crisis, but its actions and image will also be contaminated by the anti Americanism that dominates the region.

Even if the left wing of the European left like the most liberal of America s Democrats voices concerns that Obama has selected a far too centrist cabinet, a classical form of anti Americanism is bound to recede in Europe.

When I wrote about the end of history almost twenty years ago, one thing that I did not anticipate was the degree to which American behavior and misjudgments would make anti Americanism one of the chief fault lines of global politics.

Far from being realistic, and in keeping with its ideological interpretation of international relations and growing approximation to the positions of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the attitude taken by President Néstor Kirchner s government links anti Americanism with the Bush Administration.