Why Don't They Like Us?

Yesterday in the Washington Post Anne Applebaum offered an interesting conclusion as to why USA prestige in the world has declined. Hint: it has nothing to do with our bully tactics and arrogance.

"If you're really worried about Iran, do you want to put your faith in the United States, the country that bungled Iraq? If you really care about Islamic fundamentalism, do you want to be led by the country that, distracted by Iraq, failed to predict the return of the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

There are other factors, of course: As I (and many others) have written before, we've been bad at looking after our allies over the past five years, bad at thanking them or compensating them for military contributions to Iraq, bad at maintaining very basic aspects of public diplomacy, such as student-exchange programs. Still, NATO will not fall apart because our president has been rude to his German counterpart or a few Britons don't get scholarships. NATO will fall apart, however, if its American leaders are perceived as inept. And even if the surge works, even if the roadside bombs vanish, "inept" is a word that will always be used about the Iraq invasion."

The word for this American decade: inept. Which is putting it mildly!

Australia and US to Swap Refugees

Australia has a camp for asylum seekers in Nauru.
The USA used Guantanamo. Both are off shore islands.

Huh? I put aside this article because I just didn't know what to say. I still don't.

"The move is aimed at deterring would-be refugees by preventing them from reaching their destination of choice...The hope is that potential refugees might think again about trying to get to the US if there was a chance they could end up in a faraway place like Australia, and vice versa."

This seems to be a new philosophy of refugee management forged with Australia's John Howard. The article is cruel, if it weren't so weirdly funny and, er, ignorant. This stance is right up there with the US refusal to consider Iraqis for immigration to the USA. This is a difficult issue, because we do not want to let Iraqi terrorists into the country. We should be very careful to keep out those who would bring harm to our families through terrorist attack. However, we have even refused the entry of Iraqis who have served the American war effort: journalists, photographers, interpreters, Green Zone workers, American Embassy workers. These people have aided the US in the war effort. Now that their lives are in danger because they are "collaborators" with the US, we refuse them entry to the country. We did this to the Vietnamese as well. Remind me, why is it that we are not trusted, globally?