US is neither feared nor respected anymore

The US is neither feared nor respected anymore
By Rami G. Khouri
Commentary by
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I'm not sure if it's mere serendipity or anything more challenging, but every time I have come to Jordan recently my trip has coincided with the visit of a senior American official. Three weeks ago I was in Amman at the same time as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and this week my fellow visitor to Jordan's capital was US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Visits from Washington seem less significant these days in many ways, due to a drop in global perceptions of the United States. Over a decade and a half since the Cold War ended, we are hearing less from American academics, polemicists, and entertainers offering theories to explain the new grand order of the world. Most of those theories have tended to see the world from the American perspective, which is a perfectly normal sort of temporary self-infatuation, given the power of the US globally.

We may be able, conversely, to identify new trends that reflect how the rest of the world looks at the US. I can think of three principal criteria by which we can gauge how the world perceives American values (positively) and foreign policy (negatively): public opinion, as measured by numerous credible opinion polls; the policies of foreign governments; and the manner in which senior American officials are treated by their hosts, the public and the media in countries they visit.

On all three counts, the US is slipping in the eyes of the world. But I suspect we're seeing something far more significant than just a normal upward curve of anti-American sentiment, in response to America's robust use of power around the world. Several related trends seem to be converging and are most visible in the Middle East.

The first is the fact that most countries around the world - especially those Washington tries to bully - have lost both fear and respect for the US, an unusual state of affairs. This is reflected in the spirit of defiance and resistance that some countries display when confronted with American pressures, threats or active boycotts. Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela are the most common examples, though the behavior of giants like China and Russia also indicates that a growing number of important countries are prepared to go against American wishes.

This mirrors a second important point, which is the increasingly clear lack of practical options the US and allies can use in pressuring smaller countries to toe the line and comply with American dictates. North Korean and Iranian nuclear developments reflect this point most sharply.

Active boycotts led by the US also appear to have limited impact. The latest example of this fraying American clout is the boycott of the Hamas-Fatah national unity government in Palestine. Norway, Turkey, the Arab states and many others have engaged the new Palestinian government. According to the Palestinian information minister, China and Switzerland have said they would work normally with the unity government. Many other countries will follow suit. This is partly because if you're an impartial bystander and are asked to join either the global political morality of the US and the United Kingdom on one side or the Norwegians, Chinese and Swiss on the other, the Anglo-Americans will lose before the contest starts - given their badly dented perception.

Another trend that may be emerging is the possible broad polarization of two camps in the Middle East and the West, very loosely defined. Many in the Middle East see the US, Israel and many European states as a single political grouping, based for example on their common policies toward Iran's nuclear industry, the Lebanon war last summer, last year's controversy surrounding the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad published in a Danish newspaper, and the boycott of the Palestinian government. Consequently, large swaths of Arab, Iranian and Turkish public opinion - and many governments - are turning hostile to the US in particular, and even to "the West" more generally. For Washington to simultaneously alienate Arabs, Iranians and Turks is no easy feat. It will go down in history as another negative consequence of misguided Bush administration policies inordinately driven by neoconservative zealots, pro-Israeli partisans, right-wing American Christian fanatics and other oddballs in a remarkably permissive American political culture.

When I visit Amman, I chat with my mother, my friends and many colleagues in media, politics, academia, the government and civil society. Maybe senior American officials who visit the Middle East regularly should make an effort to expand their circle of conversation in order to connect better with the core of Arab and Middle Eastern public opinion that seeks cordial ties with the US. That would be better than simply alienating larger and larger portions of it throughout the region.

Rami G. Khouri writes a twice-weekly commentary for THE DAILY STAR.