Greatest Threat to Global Stability

[Jim]

Can anyone find a link for the detailed study? All I can find is the appalling conclusion:

 

But a pre-trip Harris/Financial Times poll of 5,000 people in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, found 36 percent of Europeans view the United States as the greatest threat to global stability. Thirty percent named Iran and 18 percent China, reports the Financial Times.

 

I'm feeling much better about the relative state of America's educational system.

[Sisyphus]

Depends on how you take the question, really. It's not just a matter of who is "worse," it's also about who is powerful enough to really cause trouble. Since the U.S. is really the only nation capable of doing that on a global scale, we're arguably the only real candidate for that particular honor. Not to mention that we have a long and recent history of widespread intervention, large and small, all over the world, including some catastrophic failures. Not that I necessarily agree with the answer (I don't even think the question is particularly meaningful), but I can certainly understand someone saying the United States.

[Skye]

Earthquakes!

 

Ok, in reality I think it's more the kind of divisions that would set several powerful nations against one another, such as in WWI, rather than individual nations.

[padren]

While I actually agree that the US is the greatest threat to world stability, I also think it is one of the greatest assets in world stability.

 

If you were to poll the same people, and find out if they thought the US aided global stability during say, the cold war, and if the the US is a great asset in defending western values and keeping those who would threaten them in check, the numbers would be much higher than 36%.

 

Keep in mind too, that the US has gone off into some pretty uncharted waters, with a doctrine of pre-emptive attack without requiring thorough intelligence nor consensus, and has moved towards the use of tactical nuclear weapons in otherwise non-nuclear combat conditions. The US has swung much more radically in changing its military policies in the last 6 years than any other western nation, so even if they don't think we are a threat exactly now we have demonstrated that we are both very powerful and can take radical shifts, so it leaves the door open to a much wider degree than other nations.

[Jim]

While I actually agree that the US is the greatest threat to world stability' date=' I also think it is one of the greatest assets in world stability.

 

If you were to poll the same people, and find out if they thought the US aided global stability during say, the cold war, and if the the US is a great asset in defending western values and keeping those who would threaten them in check, the numbers would be much higher than 36%.[/quote']

 

You make a valid point. The question asked in the poll may be skewed to produce a negative answer. It is possible all but a tiny minority of Europeans believe that the US is on balance a positive force for global stability. We'd probably have to see the actual questions asked in the poll to make this conclusion. Without seeing the actual questions, I should not have trusted the MSM's characterization of the poll's results, instead giving Europeans credit for more sophistication in their view of the US than was reported.

[Saryctos]

I can see the logic behind the US being seen as an unstable world affectign entity. With so much as a shift in the gongress from majority republican to majority democrat can have a massive wave effect through policy changes towards the rest of the world. Mostly i link this to the fickle voter base, and partisan hatred resulting in rhetoric made to undo any changes the other party makes during their majority leadership roles.

 

Being the nation in position to make the large effects globally it would be better for a more stable government. This is a poll on stability not prosperity, however I'm not truely sure if that is what the wording infurs* to others.