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| Down Under |
| To Australians, U.S. World Policy a Threat (Poll) |
| 2005-04-01 |
| Most Australians consider U.S. foreign policy to be as threatening as Islamic fundamentalism, according to a survey released Monday. More than two-thirds of respondents, 68 percent, said Australia takes "too much notice" of the United States when setting its foreign policy agenda, and 57 percent judged U.S. foreign policy to be as much of a threat as Islamic fundamentalism. The Lowy Institute for International Policy surveyed 1,000 randomly selected Australians on their foreign policy views. The survey's margin of error was 3.1 percentage points. The Sydney-based think-tank also found a majority of Australians ranked the United States near the bottom of their list of favored allied. Asked to rate their "positive feelings" about a list of 15 key countries or regions, Australians put the United States at 11th place, ahead of only Indonesia, the Middle East, Iran and Iraq. Australia's participation in the war in Iraq divided respondents, with 46 percent favoring postwar involvement, saying it was in Australia's best interests to support democracy. But 51 percent said Australia never should have been in Iraq in the first place. Australia sent 2,000 troops to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and currently maintains about 900 troops in the Middle East with 300 in Iraq. The think-tank's executive director, Allan Gyngell, said the findings reveal an "antipathy toward the United States" and its foreign policy. Full text of poll report: Australians Speak 2005 PUBLIC OPINION AND FOREIGN POLICY(500KB PDF) |
| Posted by:ed |
| #10 Holy Mother! Ima hedn fr the bnkrs! No seeum McGiver become commie. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-04-01 11:21:51 PM |
| #9 The Aussies appear dedicated to be fulfilling Ireland's manifest destiny for Ireland and Northern Ireland as a whole. What plan does the Failed/Angry Left International Lefts and Left-dominated Anti-US agendists have except to make Mackinder's World Island of Eurasia, aka Communist Asia, a reality despite the alleged "demise" of the USSR and Red China unto Comunist-controlled "Fascism-Rightism" for Communism!? Presuming that all the world gives full power and authority of governance to the Left, what's the Left's plan iff "Mackinder" doesn't work, andor how can Human Society as a class positively, proactively, and progressively evolutionarily transcend "Mackinder" unto the better next stage of development - ANSWER, THEY DON'T AND WE DON'T! THE LEFT HAS NO PLAN FOR AFTER MACKINDER, FOR BETTER THAN OWG AND GLOBAL COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM AND ASIANISM - NO WORLD ISLAND OF THE AMERICAS OR WORLD ISLAND OF EURAFRICA,NO PACIFICA OR PANGEA OR TRANSGEA, ...........etal@ to transcend or substitute for beyond Commie Asia. In reality America's critics and Socialist enemies are fighting for a Global Tribute/Slave/Peon State, and unfoirtunately for all Americans and peace-lovers the dialectical, politiczed Failed/Angry Left will NOT accept nor tolerate America NOT waging global war for Empire - iff America does NOT attack or wage war, America will be attacked and warred against NO MATTER WHAT AMERICA DOES! THE LEFT WANTS EMPIRE AND POWER AT ANY PRICE, EVEN IFF THEY HAVE TO DESTROY THEIR OWN BELIEVERS AND THE WORLD TO GET THEIR WAY - as for Clintonian Amerikans of the USSA, the CPUSA, and the People's Waffen SS Soviet Red Army, the choice for Aussies and everyone is either Asian Communism; or Western Fascism for Asian Communism; Fascist = Fascista and anti-Mackinderians for Mackinder!? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2005-04-01 9:39:13 PM |
| #8 It seems like just about all the people I know, including my family, are vehemently anti-Bush, but I don't think there is a great deal of anti-American feeling per se, apart from the usual leftist sources. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2005-04-01 5:00:40 PM |
| #7 ...a Lager thus a superior product by nature... LOL! You're having a laugh, right?! |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-04-01 4:34:12 PM |
| #6 I think you might find the same numbers if you picked a 1000 in the US for your survey. There is a strong isolationist streak, especially with the tranzis, and a lack of knowledge on how the US really keeps the peace on matters like safe sea lanes and such that don't get the attention of the media. Having said that, I love Australia, but everyone kept giving me VB (an Ale) and denegrating Fosters (a Lager thus a superior product by nature). I couldn't understand that but figured the Irish influence must have been far stronger than I suspected despite the massive Greek ethnic makeup of the VB fans. |
| Posted by: RJ Schwarz 2005-04-01 4:22:30 PM |
| #5 Let's face it - the media in every country in the world, include these United States, is reflexively anti-American. And the Australian public gets its information from the Australian media. Garbage in, garbage out. From a practical perspective, the lack of warm fuzzies doesn't prevent either the politicians or the public in these countries from supporting a policy of cooperation with Uncle Sam. In the short run, Australia has issues with Indonesia. In the long run, Australia will have issues with China. Australia could deal with these potentially existential threats alone. Or it could try to notch up brownie points with Uncle Sam. Note that without the US Navy, Australia would have been occupied by Japan during WWII. Australia isn't Europe. There are major threats on Australia's horizon. And that helps to concentrate Australian minds, even though it may not make Australians love Uncle Sam. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-04-01 10:52:41 AM |
| #4 The questios asked and the choices made are listed in the above pdf. A more concise question-answer format is at Lowy Institute Poll Data Book 2005 (315KB PDF) I don't think the Lowy Institute is a far left Tides-MoveOn type of outfit. The first item on their webpage is the transcript of a lecture given yesterday at the institute by Prime Minister John Howard. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-04-01 10:07:44 AM |
| #3 Most Australians consider U.S. foreign policy to be as threatening as Islamic fundamentalism US foreign policy was well down the list of threats. Interestingly nuclear proliferation was the top threat. And the 'positive feelings' question really just measures the warm fuzzies factor. The Iraq War was devisive and the striking thing is very few think the outcome is bad. The reality is a large proportion of the Australian population is pro-American and probably an more or less equal proportion is anti-American reflecting the Right/Left divide. I wouldn't read too much into the survey and the heavy anti-American MSM spin in the article. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-04-01 9:30:46 AM |
| #2 I'll wait to hear from phil_b and our other down-under correspondents, but I won't be surprised to hear that the Lowy Institute for International Policy gets most of its funding from the Tides Foundation and George Soros. The only polls that really count are the ones that use ballots. Howard won the last one handily and I have no reason to believe he would not do the same tomorrow. Good on ya, mates. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-04-01 9:26:00 AM |
| #1 If you equate 'threat' with 'change' then, yes, US policy is now on a course that like Islamic fundementalism creates a threat to the static order of many people's perceived notion of the world. The static world delivered 911. The US has now embarked into 'interesting times' and is now the major revolutionary agent for change rather sustainment of the status quo. For many, that will be a threat. However, the one charateristic of the American culture which all too often is lacking from the rest of the world, is the willingness to rush towards an uncertain future, rather than simply reenforce the failures of the past. |
| Posted by: Jealet Thereting9222 2005-04-01 9:12:56 AM |