Somalia is the latest nation to fall to the forces of radical Islam. Militant Muslims have also made advances elsewhere. Additionally, it's becoming clear that the Russians and the Chinese are acting against U.S. interests, even inviting Iran's leader to the Shanghai Cooperation Council meeting, while denying the United States observer status. Are we seeing a growing confederacy against the United States and Britain?
by Melvin Rhodes
"Europeans see the U.S. as a greater threat to global stability than either Iran or China, according to a Harris opinion poll conducted in association with the Financial Times" ("Europeans See US as Threat to Global Security, Says Poll," Financial Times, June 19, 2006).
Three days earlier, columnist Quentin Peel wrote in the same paper, "it is scarcely news these days to report that America's image in the world is sliding... But the latest edition of the excellent Pew Global Attitudes Survey—the seventh since 2001—shows that favorable opinions of the U.S. have fallen again in 12 out of 15 countries polled" ("Old Europe Loses Enthusiasm for US").
Part of the reason for this, as Mr. Peel pointed out, is the continuing war in Iraq, which "is seen by a clear majority in all the countries surveyed, except India and Nigeria, as having made the world more dangerous."
A report in the same newspaper a few days later highlighted the dilemma of the crumbling coalition as countries pull troops out of Iraq to appease public opinion back home.
"The shrinking U.S. 'coalition of the willing' in Iraq has come to resemble more a coalition of the reluctant, as allies weigh up the costs of continued involvement in an unpopular war against the benefits of backing President George W. Bush for the rest of his second term" ("Iraq Gets 'Coalition of the Reluctant' as Allies Retreat," June 20, 2006).
