More diplomatic criticism

A recent survey by the European Union found that 52% of Europeans believe America is a major threat to world peace. That puts us on a par with Iran and North Korea, and only slightly behind Israel, which 59% of Europeans regard as the country posing the greatest threat.

On Wednesday, Newsweek’s Richard Wolffe reacted to the news.

Shocking as they are, these numbers are not an excuse to beat up our favorite European stereotypes. There was a time when it was easy to dismiss the rest of the world as a bunch of spineless and spoiled children, hiding under America’s security umbrella while throwing hissy fits at the adults in Washington. (That was around the same time when it was easy to dump on anyone who cared about the rest of the world by branding them a weak-willed internationalist.)

That time is long gone. The European poll shows this dispute has gone far beyond name-calling. What started out as a little overheated rhetoric has grown into a full-blown crisis that threatens U.S. policy across the world.

The survey results show that Europe is descending into anti-Semitism and a reflexive anti-Americanism. To think that the correct response to such bigotry and ignorance is more and better American diplomacy is morally inadequate. It is also unlikely to be effective.

I don’t want to be too hard on Richard Wolffe. He’s just mouthing the same sort of nonsense James Rubin came out with back in August, and probably thinks he’s being clever. I hope he’s being partisan. Because if people really believe that those survey results, and the lack of European support on Iraq, are due to a failure of diplomacy by the Bush administration, then we’re in deeper trouble than I thought.

I’ll leave it to Natan Sharansky to ponder why a nation of Jews might be seen as a threat to peace and security. The European view of America is somewhat easier to explain. Put simply, Europeans are just not that fond of Americans; some are envious of our power but most are suspicious of our motives. They don’t like the way we organize our economy, they despise us for supporting Israel and they hate us because they think we’re destroying the environment.

How’s diplomacy going to help?

Update
A couple of other perspectives. One from the BBC on Arab and Israeli press reaction to the survey results. The other, an old Instapundit post, provides an insight into British public opinion on the Middle East, Europe and America; not timely but apt.

Update
In the essay by Natan Sharansky I link to he misquotes Martin Luther King. A Voyage to Arcturus has the story.