Our new nightmare: the United States of America (Australian survey)

[Minstrel Boy]

Our new nightmare: the United States of America

Sydney Morning Herald, March 29, 2005

Australians are just as concerned about United States foreign policy as Islamic extremism and regard the US as more dangerous than a rising China, according to a new poll.

The Australians Speak: 2005 survey, commissioned by the Lowy Institute for International Policy, found 57 per cent of Australians were "very worried" or "fairly worried" about the external threat posed by both US foreign policy and Islamic extremism.

"We asked about a series of threats from the outside," said the institute's executive director, Allan Gyngell. "Most startling of all was the precise equivalence of Islamic fundamentalism and US foreign policy as a source of concern."

...

Mr Gyngell said he was also very surprised that China rated so positively. Only 35 per cent of respondents had concerns about China's growing power. "It's not that I thought Australians had a particularly bellicose view on China, but people see opportunities in China, both economically and strategically."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Our-new-nightmare-the-United-States-of-America/2005/03/28/1111862327556.html?oneclick=true

[acmavm]

1. Isn't that lovely? We are now a pariah nation.

Don't it make you proud Mr. bush**?

[chlamor]

2. The damage caused by Islamic fundamentalism pales in comparison

to Free-Market fundamentalism. Slightly over 24,000 people will die each day due to hunger related disease. Most of this hunger comes from institutional deprivation designed by the US controlled IMF and World Bank with the US military as its muscle. The rest of the world knows this despite the extraordinary PR campaigns by various Gov'ts in the West.

The number of deaths attributed to "terrorist activities" as defined by the State is apprx. 26,000 total in the last 6 years.



If we could possibly get the real tally on the number of deaths caused by neo-liberal economic policy or more deeply "the Western Habit of Mind" it would boggle the mind. How many deaths from homelessness e.g.? And then on another level if we polled the non-human creatures I suspect they would be infinitely more terrified of the Western Industrial-Capital creation than The Islamic Fundamentalist.

Now the big question is how do we wake up denizens of the world to the fact that the gravest threat to their well being is the military junta in DC?

[HB3]

6. what's that poster?

hey chlamor, I have an original of that poster you posted there, but I don't know anything about it or where it came from -- just that it looks very old. do you have any information about it?

grazie.

[chlamor]

7. From The Industrial Worker

If you have an original would you consider making a copy and mailing it to me? I put things like this in my car windows for others to see. I'll bear the costs.

[VegasWolf]

3. They would be correct! n/t

[Desertrose]

4. Yeah, its my nightmare, too

What a bizarre world we now live in.....

Just makes ya wanna :hide: or :cry: or maybe both...

[Megahurtz]

5. They are right.

And it's every American's nightmare too.

[ozone_man]

8. Thank you Australia

and Canada. A refreshing dose of sanity.

[lovuian]

9. And Australia is our buddy!!!

We like a coalition of fools to go along with us!!!

[Robbien]

10. The New York Times is now carrying this story

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/international/asia/29australia.html

SYDNEY, March 28 - As the point person in the Bush administration's campaign to improve America's image in the world, Karen Hughes may face a more difficult challenge than she imagined and discover that she will have to travel far beyond the Middle East. A poll released Monday in Australia, long known for friendly relations with Americans, found that only 58 percent of the population had a positive view of the United States.

That put the United States behind China (69 percent positive), and not even in the overall Top 10 countries, regions or groups that Australians respect. They have a more positive opinion of France (66 percent) and the United Nations (65 percent), according to the poll, which was commissioned by the Lowy Institute for International Policy, a research institute with a generally center-right orientation.

The survey indicated that Australians think their leaders have been too willing to sign on with America's foreign policy ventures and should listen to the United Nations more, and are evenly divided over whether the greatest threat to the world today comes from American foreign policy or Islamic fundamentalism.