Reader Tokyo Tom comments:
Gaijinbiker, you've done all your American readers a service by bringing to our attention the Japanese Newsweek version of Andrew Moravcsik's "Dream on America" article. It is frankly appalling that Newsweek wilted from the challenge of presenting an important reality-check piece such as this from the US edition — to protect our global interests we need to know how others around the world perceive us. May I suggest you do your readers an even greater service by adding a link to the English version, so they can get past the Japanese cover you present to see what the article is all about?If you'd like to read the article that Newsweek left out of its January 31 American edition, it's available on the MSNBC-Newsweek International website here.
People should keep in mind that the article is at its core simply a report of the perception of the declining importance of the US in the world; it is unfortunate but undeniable that this perception is well-supported by many statistics showing an accelerating decline in the relative standing of the US in many important areas that affect our global power. We need to pull our heads out of the sand and start asking difficult questions about what we are doing wrong and what we should do to get back on track, for our own sake (whether the rest of the world looks up to us is another point).
I've read it, and there's a lot that could be said in response, which might make a good post later on. But for now, there it is.
FOLLOW-UP:
Pixy Misa administers a sound fisking.
14 comments:
Thanks for the information.
Posted by Gecko
Someone should tell Tokyo Tom that a lot of us in America really don't give a shit what the world thinks of us anymore. After all, they take our money, then spit in our face, we send our best and brightest to die on their soil for their freedom. The graves of our soldiers are scattered on every continent, and not only do they not thank us, they insult us instead?
Maybe somebody should be asking why many American's don't give a shit about the rest of the world any more. The rest of the world sucks us dry and we're supposed to be introspective?
Screw them all.
Posted by antimedia
Thank you, Gaijinbiker.
Antimedia, I understand your exasperation. There was a commenter at May 25, 2005 04:27 AM feeling much the same way as you in the 7th recent Newsweek thread at wizbang this morning. See my reasoning right after his, as to why it's important to keep exposing the MSM and those behind them who want to cause exactly this response in people with their lies. (First they incite others against us, then they make us think "the world" hates us, then they want us to hate back, and there we go again.)
Posted by BR
Antimedia opines: ``Screw them all.''
Yo Ant, check the numbers again. We're not showering money on the world. The word, rather, is rapidly buying up the U.S., thanks in no small part to C+ Augustus George W. Bush's borrow and spend profligacy. It's Uncle Sam who's doing the sucking here, as I've previously pointed out on this blog. So Ant, are you trapped in low-yield investments? I've got a bridge in Baghdad you may be interested in. ``Darn good'' intelligence tells me it's a steal...
Posted by BUNKERBUSTER
Correction: second sentence should read: The world, rather, is rapidly buying up the U.S. apologies
The reference is to the fact that Japan owns a third of all outstanding U.S. government debt and China almost that much. The implications of that are not all bad, of course, but it does show rather dramatically that we haven't even begun to actually start paying, in financial terms, for the fatal festivities in Iraq....
Posted by BUNKERBUSTER
Well, Bunkerbuster, we could cut all foreign aid and let the Europeans deal with things like Bosnia and save quite a bit of money, couldn't we?
We could close all our European bases and save quite a bit more.
But then the world would bitch that we were being miserly, wouldn't they?
As far as the Chinese and Japanese owning our debt - let's see them try to collect it.
Posted by antimedia
To Antimedia - yes, reality bites, but anger at reality will not make it go away.
There are very few corners in the world that were people can live a traditional life unaffected by concerns about the consequences of interconnected world on jobs, cultural changes, security and the environment. The serious and unsettling nature of these changes are the driving factors for the increased polarization and fundamentalism now evident in many societies, the US included. But nostaligia and resentment can’t turn back the clock. For better or worse, the US lives in the world and not apart from it.
It may be hard, but yes, we must be more introspective. Commitment and hard work are necessary to ensure that we have sufficient economic and miltary strength and friends abroad to defend our core values; these efforts must be guided by an awareness of our own faults. Reflexive self-justification and denial in the face of criticism are understandable, but do not help us to deal with real problems. The US is facing a critical task to stem and reverse the serious decline in relative power that the US is now experiencing as investment and power flow to the growing economies of Asia, Europe and Latin America, as the “Dream on America” article in Newsweek points out so well.
We should be gravely concerned that the world is turning away from us, and those who are pointing this out to us are doing us a service and should be counted as our friends. The Newsweek article is at its core a patriotic piece, Newsweek’s decision not to run it in the US is deeply disappointing and troubling.
The Newsweek Japan cover is shocking, but American readers should see it as it is – an expression of the very real alarm by our friends in Japan about the precipitous decline in the respect and admiration that US garners around the world, and at our unwillingness to face up to it. There is a palable sense of disappointment, disillusion and loss in Japan as the US has turned away from its historic optimism and vitality is palpable. The cover is a wake-up call, and not a slap in the face.
Many global issues cry out for US leadership, but we refuse to accept that mantle in favor of unilateralism. Worse, the Adminstration, Congress and big business are fiddling while Rome burns (see Tom Friedman’s excellent op-ed in today’s Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/25/opinion/25friedman.html?th&emc=th). Our place in the world will soon be much diminished, and we refuse to get our own house in order (enormous budget and trade deficits, declining technical and science skills, a frayed social support network, accelerating disparties in welath, you name it). The wealthy are doing quite well, but otherwise, what a mess we are handing off to our children!
Posted by Tokyo Tom
Hee, the internet is like a party in many rooms. Tokyo Tom, I saw your same post three days ago at wizbang and replied to you there. But, since you repeated it at this site, here's mine:
The financial scene - deficits and Greenspan's money printing press - is a mess, Tokyo Tom. But Newsweek's agitprop cannot be excused. They are part of the problem. It wasn't some concerned Japanese citizen who photo-illustrated that trashcan cover, as you should well know, since you've been posting at Gaijinbiker's ridingsun site. You read his recent item exposing William Duke: Man-Behind-Cover, didn't you?
If there is a financial meltdown, it will not be in the US only. It will be a worldwide catastrophe worse than the Depression, caused by the untenable fiat system and exacerbated by globalism. Once the US and the world went off the gold standard, there was no control on the amount of paper printed. You can't blame the American people for that. Roosevelt issued the edict to confiscate Americans' gold in the 30s. There was no democratic input on that. Then in 71 or 72 Nixon divorced the dollar entirely. The Federal Reserve and its mainly Rothschild-connected bank owners, has put America so deeply into debt, it's going to have worldwide repercussions. Those who engineered this, along with their puppet politicians always spending what they don't have, probably can't wait for the dollar to plummet so that their gold holdings will skyrocket. (Remember LTCM? That was Phase One. Who do you think ended up with the all the cheap gold in that scam?)
Since Japan is already net selling their US Treasuries, and did so again right after the Newsweek 2/2/05 Japanese edition, Newsweek is simply making things worse by attacking the US' economy in that article. The American people are not less vibrant. If the Japanese have that impression, they must be getting it from Newsweek and the rest of the MSM. Newsweek's attack was not constructive to anyone – except those who wish for America's demise.
Posted by BR
Is it possible to note the negative consequences of the Bush administration without being accused of wishing the "demise" of America?
The rightwingers here on Riding Sun have yet to type in a single word pointing out a logical, factual or analytical flaw in the Newsweek story in question. Why is that? Instead, the caterwauling has all been merely about the fact that the article criticizes the U.S. You'd think these critics would have at least a little bit to say about the actual content of the article. Apparently not.
I vociferously disagree with most of the Wall Street Journal's editorials, for example, and I think Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly are irresponsibly irrational and frequently depart from factuality and truth. I think the policies they advocate will take America right down the toilet. But, I fundamentally respect their right to advocate those policies and I have plenty to say about specific statements they've made. I see no reason to accuse them of desiring America's demise, even thought I believe they may well help bring it about.
Why can't the loudmouth right-wingers be happy critiquing left-wing views. Why always the attempt to silence or rule out of bounds the left wing view?
Posted by bunkerbuster
On 5/25/05 Gaijinbiker wrote in his main post above: "I've read it, and there's a lot that could be said in response, which might make a good post later on. But for now, there it is."
I will applaud G-B if he or someone will do this. That 1/31/05 Newsweek Intl edition in English (with even worse denigration in the Japanese 2/2/05 version) needs fisking, especially from G-B's financial consultant viewpoint. But the piece has a built-in repellant. I could only read it halfway through before I felt sick to the stomach at all the falsehoods-cloaked-in-generalities, fabricated opinion-given-as-fact, and concocted statistics (as if a small sample of Musllims could ever speak for millions and as if those surveyed, if they were even surveyed at all, felt safe enough to speak their mind - other than the madrassa brainwash line).
We should demand that Newsweek Int'l editor Fareed Zakaria, and writer Andrew Moravcsik show and explain those worldwide "surveys." How many individuals were surveyed? What were the questions? Who conducted the surveys? (Amnesty Intl?) Were they done in the big cities only? Were the surveys of Muslims by any chance taken on Fridays as they exited their mosques? What were the sample ratios vs population figures? Were women included in the Muslim surveys? Were any of the worldwide "surveys" done at all?
And the contributers: "Christian Caryl in Tokyo, Katka Krosnar in Prague, Mac Margolis in Rio de Janeiro, Tracy Mcnicoll in Paris, Paul Mooney in Beijing, Henk Rossouw in Johannesburg and Marie Valla in London"– what part of the piece did they write? Let's see their "surveys".
In the meantime, the MSM and the displays of anti-Americanism by leftwing drive-by posters continue to wake up the sleeping giant.
Posted by BR
BR: I'm confused. Are you awake, or sleeping? Are you a put-upon minority, or a "giant?"
Posted by bunkerbuster
Busted Bunker, I'm talking about the sleeping giant, silent majority, in the widest sense of the word. Not the liberals' narrow definition of American Christians only, but the wider group of common-sense people who normally have better things to do with their lives than pay attention to leftwing attacks. But with every new outrage from CBSgate, to Eason Jordan, to Linda Foley, to the latest - Newsweek's 5/9/05 phantom "report" fueling worldwide anti-US demonstrations, the giant becomes more and more irritated at the Lilluputians and their poison darts. The day may come when the collective "enough is enough" will explode like a coil, long suppressed since the liberals' trashing of Vietnam vets.
Something akin to civil war in the US would obviously play into the enemy's hands, so this too, may be the liberal plan in its long-term efforts to undo the Constitution, by goading common-sense people into violence, then martial law. Like a tart who starts up a fight between two men, the instigators will stand back and say, "Who, me? I didn't have anything to do with it."
I don't believe it's actually thought out by any of the rank-and-file. It's just their low-toned wavelength. So when people like Soros, Hillary, Gore, Kerry speak at that wavelength and frequency, the minions vibrate, resonating like tuning forks. It's time they began thinking for themselves.
I trust common sense prevails.
PS - To Gaijinbiker: Thanks for the link to the fisking!
Posted by BR
Where was the "giant" in the 2004 election? Bush attracted only 51% of voters, with Kerry taking almost all the rest. What's "giant" about that?
The U.S. is evenly divided between broadly defined liberals and conservatives. In 2000, the liberal candidate Al Gore, got more votes than the conservative, George W. Bush. At the moment, a growing majority are opposed to the way Cheney-Bush are handling the war in Iraq.
Are there any facts that support this vision of a "sleeping giant." Any polling data, election results or demographics?
Posted by bunkerbuster
The article was flawed. It claims that the desire of European, Latin American, and other such countries to reject the American model and accept the European one is a worldwide trend indicative of the decline of the "American Dream".
However, the article itself states that the countries that still support America are the poorest and most oppressed. Wow, which populations have a better appreciation of the freedom that is advocated for by the American ideal?
Which countries have accepted the European solutions, lets see, Europe (two world wars + communism, though we don't know the full story on where Europe's going and why - I'm not sure their social model will be the driving factor in any successes), Latin America (Chile, Argentina, Cuba, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, etc. etc) what a miserable region, what a failed place, no thanks to socialism and enlightened activism. Africa, thanks post-modern anti-imperialist internationalists: you sure did a good job here. Etc. Etc.
America has strayed far from its dream, I think. It has more to do with culture. The "European Dream" succeeds because it is meant for people who aren't accustomed to independence. I admit that this model can be considered more appropriate for some people, but a progressive society should try to grow towards the American model. Unfortunately, articles like this Newsweek one try to tell us that its the other way around: American idealism paves the way for European enlightenism. No! Europeanism is for former serfs/slaves/and peasants whose children had become content and comfortable and wish to remain 'enlightened' serfs. Americanism succeeded in America because the culture was already independent, and those who are true serfs see the difference between Americanism and "Enlightened Serfhood". The Euros and lefties, however, would like to take America slowly backwards. I say we fight for our independence. Our decline is directly correlated to our Europeanization. Duh! The article is completely backwards. Ironic. Okay, my argument fell apart, but if you agree with me you've gotten the point
Posted by Dudio
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