Thursday, August 28, 2008

Which Allies Have We Lost?

Which allies specifically have we lost?

I've heard the claim over and over again at the Democratic National Convention that we have lost friends and allies around the world. I'm not a foreign policy expert, but I can't name a single country where this is true. Sure, individuals may dislike what we are doing, but has it actually effected their foreign policy? I posed this question to a co-worker who is adamantly against Bush's foreign policies and she couldn't give me an answer.

If anyone who reads this blog can tell me a specific country that went from being our ally (or even neutral) to being against us, please comment or send me an e-mail.

Starting with Europe:

The U.K. was our partner in Iraq. Poland, Italy, and Spain sent troops. Spain did leave after the train bombings there, so I suppose it's possible that they don't like us. France and Germany voted out their two anti-American leaders and replaced them with the overtly pro-American Sarkozy and the very U.S. friendly Merkel. The Ukraine has requested that we install missille defense systems to protect them from Russia. Russia was never really our ally. Now, I've run out of European countries that matter on international security matters.

In East Asia, China has not changed. South Korea sent troops. I doubt Taiwan has any interest in abandoning U.S. protection. I don't think Japan can actually send troops because of WWII treaties, but maybe they don't like us? India? Vietnam? I haven't heard anything negative from these countries, but maybe I'm wrong. I considered that Indonesia might have turned a little negative towards us, but I'm not sure.

In the Middle East, Pakistan and the U.S. have formed a much closer relationship than we ever had before. Afghanistan's government is clearly more pro-American than the Taliban. Iran already hated us. Iraq is now friendly towards us. Kuwait still loves us. The Saudis may have cooled to us, but they are letting us continue to have bases there. Jordan worked as our ally. Turkey and Uzbekistan let us stage flights out of their countries. Israel, of course, is intrinsically dependent on us. Egypt? Algeria? Not sure. Libya at least capitulated to foreign pressure and quit their nuclear program.

In Africa, I believe South Africa sent troops. I'm not sure about most of the continent, but I wouldn't consider many of the governments to be stable enough to maintain a long term allegiance or animosity towards the United States.

In South America, there seems to be some strong anti-Americanism. Chavez has used paranoia about America's militarism to create his near dictatorship. Of course, when the country plunges into chaos, a pro-American government is likely to rise out of the ashes. Colombia has become very pro-American. Much of the continent seems to dislike our actions, but they don't involve themselves in international affairs that much. Anyone know anything that I don't?

Anyone? Anyone?

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