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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 12/16/09

America's Disconnect with the World

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In an article on the French site dedefensa entitled, "The Exhaustion of Despair" (L'à ©puisement du dà ©sespoir), they show a recent Pew Research Center poll suggesting that Americans are becoming more and more uncomfortable with their hegemonic foreign policy role in the world. It also points to a growing gap between the elite in American policy making and the public with regard to current events in the world and America's role in them. The poll, which covered international topics among two groups, the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) and Americans in general, was released by the PewResearchCenter on December 3, 2009, and shows a marked shift in American sentiment towards a return to a more isolated world position.

Dedefensa points to two statements in particular that bring this to the fore. In the poll, two isolationist statements were presented to the general public, "The US should go its own way and not worry about what other countries say," and "The US should mind its own business and let others get along on their own." The results, 44% agreeing with the first statement and 49% with the second, are both huge increases over the results from 2002, where only 25% agreed with the first and 30% agreed with the second, and demonstrate an even greater isolationist trend when compared with the very first poll results of these questions in 1964 when only 19% of Americans agreed with the first statement and 18% with the second.

Clearly there is a general malaise growing across the country that is causing Americans heightened disgust and despair over its foreign policy especially in light of the recent debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan and the growing quagmire that is our War on Terror. America's views and actions with regard to terrorism on the world's stage is becoming more and more divergent from the rest of the world and the shift, even if it's not readily apparent in the MSM in the US, is nevertheless acutely felt by all those who monitor world affairs.

The opinion of Americans that the US plays a less important role in world affairs than they did 10 years ago also highlights this trend. For the first time since the Carter administration, Americans now feel that the US role has diminished over the past ten years, 41%, versus those who think its role has increased, 25%. Just five years ago, at the height of the Bush administrations military offensives in Iraq and Afghanistan, only 20% thought our role had diminished while 44% of Americans saw its role as more important. It appears that the longer our troops languish in Iraq and Afghanistan under uncertain and ill-conceived occupational plans, the greater will become the overall sentiment to leave the problems of the world to others to sort out.

Citing the same study, Voltairenet.org,, another French media site, contrasts the great disparity between the CFR's view on American foreign relations and the American public's view. In What the U.S. Elite Really Thinks About Israel, by Jeffrey Blankfort, he states, "The CFR members do not perceive Israel as an ally nor they consider Iran as an enemy, whereas the public essentially adheres to the neo-conservatist and AIPAC mindset."

The article goes on to point out that over two-thirds of the CFR members believe that the US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict over the years has been too much in favor of Israel while less than a third of the general public believes so. Blankfort cites the great media imbalance in the US for such a disparity. He correctly notes that CFR members have greater access to and understanding of the situation in the Middle East and are less influenced by media jingoisms and propaganda.

He goes on to show how only one in four members of the CFR side with Israel while over half of the US public is pro-Israeli. Further, more than 4 out of 10 CFR members view both sides equally, but only one in 25 Americans agree with that. With such disparities between the vaunted institution of the CFR and the public it is plain to see that AIPAC and other major pro-Israeli lobbyists are exerting a tremendous influence on the US government to back Israel in spite of the caution and disagreement among its elite policy making groups.

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66 year old Californian-born and bred male - I've lived in four different countries, USA, Switzerland, Mexico, Venezuela, and currently live in the Dominican Republic - speak three languages fluently, English, French, Spanish - have worked as a (more...)
 

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