Ya know it's always something that just befudles me about Americans and our lack of grasp of our own history. I ask, when has the world EVER liked us? England hated us from the Revolution on through the War of 1812, Mexico wasn't too pleased with us and our engulfment of Califnoria, Europe was downright annoyed it took Japan attacking us for the United States to get involved in WW2, the Russians and Chinese weren't happy about the Korean or Vietnam War (nor, for that matter, were the Koreans or Vietnamese.)

Where do we get this misconception that the world ever saw us as anything but the adolescent nation flexing its large but inexperienced muscles? Our entire history has been filled with other countries rolling their eyes over our angst antics or chidding us for "borrowing" techniques from Europeans and then calling ourselves the leaders of the Industrial Age.

To ask the question "When did the world lose faith in America" implies that the world ever had faith in us at all. And let's not forget that the pinnicle of American-hating came during the Vietnam War, which makes the Iraqi war corruption, death and good ol fashioned US-hatin look tame in comparison.

Any amateur historian will tell you that the world lost faith in America the second the pilgrims stepped off the boat and didn't find rivers flowing with gold and money falling off trees. For two hundred and fifty years America has been the place to "realize" freedom and live the comfy middle-class dream. But let's not kid ourselves... this country is just beginning its growing pains. And if European and Asian national history is any indication, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Not really.

Well, er, ah, no. The USA has been loved, despite its sins, for a long time.

The United States was the first secular, non-religious state on planet earth (don't chide me with smallish prehistory this and thatisms, I know). Literally thousands of fuedal European ill treatments were discarded by the Americans, including cruel and unusual punishments, the punishment should fit the crime, or on the less consdquential side, women with child were encouraged, by no less than Benjamin Franklin, to walk about "like a ship at full sale" where they had been confined at home in Europe. etc. etc. European women wore scarfs or hats out, not American women! American women factory workers were even encouraged to FIGURE SKATE!

The United States virtually invented free farming and free labor (the South was the exception internally), which is what defined capitalism until the end of the Cold War and Reaganism.

In fact, the only reason McArthur had such a cakewalk in Japan was because he distributed land to the peasants, turned Japan from a fuedal into a free farming nation!

Then there are all sorts of industrial processes, and antibiotics, the polio vaccine, remission of leprosey, etc. etc. HUGE things for millions of people.

The people of the US have made enormous contributions to humanity, and anyone not afflicted with moralistic "identity politics" would know that -- but judging from these neocons, our contribution has run out, our elite is spent and decadent, and we should admit it rather than taking everyone else down with us.

I hope I'm wrong, and that we can actually contribute to making a global village a reality, and put the use of war into the ground, dead, never to plauge us again.

And beat our swords into plowshares.

The assessment that the world didn't like the US… ever… is a faulty one. In general the German populace was incredibly grateful to the Americans. I grew up in a family, where both my mother and my father would have starved to death, if it hadn't been for the Care packages. If it hadn't been for the soldiers who… just helped, despite the fact they should have had any reason to hate them.

Now, when I served in the Army, I served under US command, and again, there was a level of trust in those people who put their ass on the line for us for over 40 years at that time.

I specifically went to get a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the US, to learn from there… and here's the moment when I had a rather rude awakening. Not only did the majority of grad students not know anything about world affairs or their own history (other than: we sure kicked your asses in WW2, hahahaha), they also DIDN'T care. There were few who were incredibly literate, understood history, art, whatever… but the majority – and this was a Journalism school, mind you – didn't give a damn. They did care about getting their face on TV, though. They did care about their new status symbols. But as to what they were reporting about? No a clue.

And that was in 96.

I went back to the US in 2001, and was there when 9/11 happened. And this was when it got REALLY scary. After the initial emotional outreach, which still moves me to this day, on 9/12, in an upper class bar, in St. Louis, the following was told to me: "You know? We should just nuke the entire middle east. F**king sand-niggers. Hey, you Euros need a parking lot? We can give you one for free".

And it was not just one guy, that was the sentiment in the room. Understandable anger? Sure. One could say that. Even though I find it interesting how you can insult two ethnic groupings at the same time.

But, being a history fanatic, I went back and tried to understand what happened. As in: "Why do they hate us?" Obviously, for the majority of the US populace at the time, it was enough to state: "They hate us for our freedoms". Yeah, say it again, Polly. Want a cracker?

Off you guys went, starting an incredibly stupid war, under false pretenses and… with and inepititude that boggled my mind even back then. I knew from my time in the Army and training with US soldiers that the actual WAR on a BATTLEFIELD, the US forces would be pretty much unbeatable by any other military in the world. But, here's the thing, and I told this to my US friends back in 2003… the Iraqis did exactly what I would have done. Exactly what I had been trained for in the event the Soviets would have taken West Germany. If you know you can't beat the forces in open battle, you let them roll over you. Wait. And kill them one by one. I just couldn't understand, still cannot understand how ANYBODY with a military background wouldn't know that.

And now Iran. The mess in Iran, the rule of the Mullahs is YOUR fault. Again, history lesson here. 1953. The CIA ousts a democratically elected secular government, invents a throne and puts a tyrant on it they call the Shah. Why? So that BP comes into existence. That turned into what the CIA calls a blowback and the Mullahs get into power. So what do you do? You prep up "New Hitler (1)" (Saddam) in order to invade Iran and fight your war for you… and nobody in the US gives a damn. Nobody does. But just imagine yourself to be an Iranian. First, the US is responsible for a tyranny (they hate us for our Freedoms, you know), then they back the guy who attacks your country. And people in the US wonder WHY the Iranians are somewhat wary of you, especially after being put on the axis of evil? You wonder WHY the Iranians indubitably (I have no doubt about that, at least) are looking to go nuclear, if you look at what happened to the other two countries on that axis? Iraq? Didn't have nukes, got torn to pieces. North Korea? Has nukes, everybody is tip-toeing around them.

Then we add to it: Gitmo, Abu-Ghareib, Blackwater, wiretapping, suspension of Habeas Corpus…

What Americans need to understand is that esp. the European populace, we KNOW that e.g. Putin is a bastard and Russia is well on its way back into Soviet times (albeit in a fascist way) and that China is a slave state that doesn't give a damn about human rights. We know that. It doesn't surprise us.

But you? The US? In my country at least, the wariness is primarily based on disappointment. You were supposed to be better. You were supposed to be the guiding light. The City on the Hill. And you turned ugly and you turned mean and you did it wrapping yourself in the flag and the Cross.

But that's my point. The United States has traditionally offered freedoms with one hand and taken them away with the other. Our history is filled with "wrapping ourselves in the flag and the Cross."

Take Reconstruction, whose histiography is crammed full with various opinions on whether it was a success or a failure. The general concensus is that it was neither and both-we freed the slaves, yay, but were unable to keep the South from turning the Freedman away at the polls with Grandfather Clauses. We gave immigrants jobs in the Progressive Era, yay, but they were made to live in horrible health conditions and absolute poverty. The creation of unions was because the government failed so utterly to regulate big business' unethical tactics.

And yeah, we have "free" land-except that hundreds, thousands, of people died in the rush West trying to claim that free land. Land claims lead to some of the bloodiest confrontations in our frontier's history.

Added to that is who we took that "free land" from. Look at how the United States government has treated Native Americans. We created treaties with countless tribes-gave them rights, took them away-gave them reservations, took those away-gave them soverignity, and yet the issue of whether Native Americans should have their own nations within the US is still a hot-button topic.

And that's only scratching the surface within the US. Then look outside. We don't even need to bring the Middle East into this-the mess with Vietnam is proof enough that while the United States tries to play the world's Big Brother, it also preserves its own political interests as well.

America is a country full of contraditions. Freedom, racism, sexism, and a multitude of others still exist side by side, whatever gleaming image of America either Americans or the rest of the world wants to believe. The question of "What does it mean to be an American" is still unanswered. The question of "What does America stand for" (aside from that pesty broad term 'freedom') is still unanswered. America is a relatively young country, full of possibilities and with a history that is just as sinful as any other country's.

The US can accomplish great things. But with that power, they can accomplish horrible things as well. This should not be an issue of "What can the United States do to redem ourselves," because the world does not want a big brother. They do not want all the negative consequences that come with a big brother-corruption, secrecy, toltarianism. But that means the world has to step up. Stop being "disappointed" in America! Stop mumbling under your breath about how we're "fudging" the fight against terrorism and how we've fallen so far off the pedistal... Stop putting America on a pedistal! It has its problems like every other country on the face of the Earth! It may be rich, it may be powerful, BUT IT'S NOT PERFECT. It's never been perfect!

So help us! Stop being disappointed and make your country the leader! You lead the way! You have legs-use them! We cannot be disappointed in one country when the entire world is at stake!

McArthur had a cakewalk in Japan because of a little something we like to call "Gaijin Smash." (Coined by http://www.gaijinsmash.net)

It's a superpower, you see. The Japanese society is polite nearly to the point of meekness, and since the first time Commodore Perry pulled up in his big ships the Japanese have been accomedating to nearly every American demand.

That is not to say that the Japanese are weak. Merely that the straightforward personality that is sterotypically America is just too much to handle. And who can blame them?

Oh, I do understand and know all of those things, mainly because I am a history fanatic and do what is most reviled: I read a lot. As for stepping up and leading, as much as I hate to admit it, none of the European countries alone has the power, especially the military power or the economic power to challenge the US… at this moment.

The one country who already owns the US is China, like it or not. They own you, and sooner or later (sooner rather than later), they will collect on your asses.

What you however don't take into consideration is that it is not the actual facts that have colored the past decades, but rather the mythology. Or, as it was said at the end of THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, if faced with a mundane fact or a colorful legend, what do you print? The legend, of course. THAT and mostly that has kept the image of the US afloat since WW2.

It's just like that, the love of the legend, that has made the Holocaust (I know, dangerous territory) a "unique, singular occurance" in human history as the biggest genocide, although it was neither the biggest in numbers (The Japanese murdered more than 13.5 million Chinese civilians in WW2), nor was it unprecedented in human history. It was merely the culmination of centuries of racism, bigotry and hatred, put to its logical and most terrifying conclusion. However, considering the Nazis had this, how shall we call it? fetish of documenting everything so thoroughly, the Holocaust is most definitely the genocide with the "best" PR firm.

America will own up within the next twenty years. Already, the Europen countries, through OUR corrupt leaders (you aren't the only ones, you know) are getting more and more under the controlling influence of Russia, which has learned something about the controlling interest that Saudi Arabia and China have over you these days. 60 percent of gnatural gas comes from Russia, and this will only increase. Russian state-controlled (behind the curtains) companies are buying up German, French and UK companies at an alarming rate.

And to be honest, from my perspective (not from the perspective of the general populace here), we are headed for the secret dismantling of democracies in the next fifty to sixty years, perhaps to be replaced by global corporate feudalism. States will only be used to have the people pay for the inevitable wars over natural resources. In that sense, the 2nd Iraq war truly was the beginning of a new era. It is indeed, without pretense, the CWI (the first of the Corporate Wars).

As for what we can do? I'm not sure, to be honest. Demonstrations have been proven more and more ineffective as a measure to be taken by people. An old and venerable German journalist, Peter Scholl-Latour (think: your Walter Cronkite) has recently said that it is virtually impossible these days to have a revolution or to stand up to the state without the possibility of bloodshed, not even in our so-called Western "democracies"

(do we still have democracies? The German govt. is already trying to dismantle the German constitution the way the Bushites have dismantled yours. So far, without much success, primarily because the majority of Germans is still not quite ready to succumb to fear. But hey, they are talking about the mushroom cloud and sooner or later, people are people, and they will cower in fear)

I think we all need to deal with our own countries, trying to take them back, but that will be difficult, very much so, especially with a media and school systems that are producing new generations without the ability to think for themselves… but are good little consumers for Chinese slave-made products…

'we are headed for the secret dismantling of democracies in the next fifty to sixty years, perhaps to be replaced by global corporate feudalism. States will only be used to have the people pay for the inevitable wars over natural resources. In that sense, the 2nd Iraq war truly was the beginning of a new era. It is indeed, without pretense, the CWI (the first of the Corporate Wars).'

You make some interesting points. Global corporate power, or power corporations have to use states to fight a proxy war using states, has been growing at an alarming rate....or as Number Two said in an Austin Powers movie...'there is no world anymore, only corporations'

Well, Student_on_a_rebound, "England hated us right on through the war of 1812'. That's true, but it ain't an excuse for US self flagellation. The English public at large (and a large part of the Scots, Welsh and Irish) were sometimes, collectively, very stupid. One of the obvious ones, to me as a history buff, is the way English public opinion seems to have been overwhelmingly in favour of the South during the US Civil War. That doesn't mean current US policy is wrong or right, but it does mean that looking at public opinion, either in the US or elsewhere, is not much of a guide. I'm with Anne Applebaum: a lot of what people think about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is not shaped by whether they feel the underlying policy is good, but by whether they feel it is being pursued competently.