J-10
06-28-2007, 11:39 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070628/wl_afp/usrussiachinadiplomacyenvironmentpoll_070628031731
Wed Jun 27, 11:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Anti-Americanism has deepened across the world, while global public opinion has also grown wary of major powers China and Russia, according to a 47-nation survey released Wednesday.
The Pew Research Center said its survey showed that opinion about Russia is mixed, that China's growing military and economic might is triggering considerable anxiety, and that positive views about the United States have declined in many nations.
But discontent with the major powers and their leaders has not led to greater confidence in those who have challenged the status quo, such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Pew said.
"The public around the world sees lots of problems, but they don't look to an individual, they don't look to their country or any institution and say 'I have confidence,'" Pew President Andrew Kohut told a news conference.
The survey also found that pollution and the environment has become the top global concern in many countries, while the United States is the nation blamed most often for hurting the world's environment.
The survey was the biggest in the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which started in 2002, with more than 45,000 interviews conducted in 47 countries.
The US image abroad has sunk over the last five years, with positive views of the United States declining in 26 of 33 countries, the survey found.
The United States remains popular in Africa with support as high as 88 percent in Ivory Coast, while it remains unpopular in the Middle East with a favorable rating of only nine percent in Turkey, it showed.
But favorable opinion about the United States has also dropped among its Western allies between 2002-2007, going from 62 to 39 percent in France, 60 to 30 percent in Germany and 75 to 51 percent in Britain.
While opinion of China is "decidedly" favorable in 27 of 47 nations, favorable views have decreased in 10 countries, dropping from 55 to 25 percent in Japan and 66 to 52 percent in South Korea between 2002-2007.
Majorities in 14 of 47 countries have a favorable view of Russia, while majorities in 10 express negative opinions, and views are mixed in the remaining countries, Pew said.
Confidence in US President George W. Bush as a world leader continues to erode, but his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin does not fare better, Pew said.
"In fact, the Russian leader's negatives have soared to the point that they mirror the nearly worldwide lack of confidence in George W. Bush," Pew said in its report.
Institutionally, the United Nations also provoked a lot of doubt, with majorities in only 33 of the 47 countries having a positive view of the global forum.
Pew said support for the UN was strong in sub-Saharan Africa, but strikingly negative in the Middle East, especially Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, the Palestinian Territories and Israel. Nearly 70 percent of people in the Palestinian Territories, where the UN has long played a role, had a poor view of the institution, and 27 percent saw it favorably.
The European Union evoked a similar response, with majorities in 33 countries seeing it favorably. Outside of Western Europe itself, the strongest support was in Eastern Europe and in sub-Saharan Africa.
The EU was least popular in the Middle East, meanwhile.
Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who co-chairs the Pew Global Attitudes Project, said the survey gave a "sense of nihilism."
"What I find the most troubling is that the international system as we know it has broken down, according to these numbers," she told the news conference.
"The fact that there is not a sense of trust ... in the dominant powers in the world is something that I think is a concern," she said.
Wed Jun 27, 11:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Anti-Americanism has deepened across the world, while global public opinion has also grown wary of major powers China and Russia, according to a 47-nation survey released Wednesday.
The Pew Research Center said its survey showed that opinion about Russia is mixed, that China's growing military and economic might is triggering considerable anxiety, and that positive views about the United States have declined in many nations.
But discontent with the major powers and their leaders has not led to greater confidence in those who have challenged the status quo, such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Pew said.
"The public around the world sees lots of problems, but they don't look to an individual, they don't look to their country or any institution and say 'I have confidence,'" Pew President Andrew Kohut told a news conference.
The survey also found that pollution and the environment has become the top global concern in many countries, while the United States is the nation blamed most often for hurting the world's environment.
The survey was the biggest in the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which started in 2002, with more than 45,000 interviews conducted in 47 countries.
The US image abroad has sunk over the last five years, with positive views of the United States declining in 26 of 33 countries, the survey found.
The United States remains popular in Africa with support as high as 88 percent in Ivory Coast, while it remains unpopular in the Middle East with a favorable rating of only nine percent in Turkey, it showed.
But favorable opinion about the United States has also dropped among its Western allies between 2002-2007, going from 62 to 39 percent in France, 60 to 30 percent in Germany and 75 to 51 percent in Britain.
While opinion of China is "decidedly" favorable in 27 of 47 nations, favorable views have decreased in 10 countries, dropping from 55 to 25 percent in Japan and 66 to 52 percent in South Korea between 2002-2007.
Majorities in 14 of 47 countries have a favorable view of Russia, while majorities in 10 express negative opinions, and views are mixed in the remaining countries, Pew said.
Confidence in US President George W. Bush as a world leader continues to erode, but his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin does not fare better, Pew said.
"In fact, the Russian leader's negatives have soared to the point that they mirror the nearly worldwide lack of confidence in George W. Bush," Pew said in its report.
Institutionally, the United Nations also provoked a lot of doubt, with majorities in only 33 of the 47 countries having a positive view of the global forum.
Pew said support for the UN was strong in sub-Saharan Africa, but strikingly negative in the Middle East, especially Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, the Palestinian Territories and Israel. Nearly 70 percent of people in the Palestinian Territories, where the UN has long played a role, had a poor view of the institution, and 27 percent saw it favorably.
The European Union evoked a similar response, with majorities in 33 countries seeing it favorably. Outside of Western Europe itself, the strongest support was in Eastern Europe and in sub-Saharan Africa.
The EU was least popular in the Middle East, meanwhile.
Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who co-chairs the Pew Global Attitudes Project, said the survey gave a "sense of nihilism."
"What I find the most troubling is that the international system as we know it has broken down, according to these numbers," she told the news conference.
"The fact that there is not a sense of trust ... in the dominant powers in the world is something that I think is a concern," she said.