There’s a bit of good old multiculturalism. Mirko doesn’t mention Australia – where he lives and probably holds citizenship – but he is glad that Croatia is not on the hate list! Another one who can’t let go, apparently. I don’t give a damn what happens in, or what anyone thinks about, Scotland, Germany or England where my ancestors came from. That’s the difference between real Australians and “ethnics”, I suppose.

To be fair, while I agree with Murdoch he, as an American citizen, should not be telling Australia what to do

Nice try Mirko, but you need more than this effort. The latent anti-US streak in this country has now become more manifest and the sympathy and goodwill towards the Yanks following 9/11 has vanished, largely because of Iraq. We all possess 20/20 hindsight but the invasion was a mistake, in that they did not have sufficient troops to occupy, govern and reconstruct.

Nothing new there, I'm afraid - a program on SBS some years ago made by a French outfit found that their countrymen preferred German occupation to American. The only real success was the reconstruction of Japan, while the Marshall Plan helped a shattered Europe to its feet after WWII, the British were left without any aid.

While the Coalition and the ALP stress the alliance with the US, worry about the street. It's not a comforting thought.

Not to give a damn about what happens elsewhere is a recipe for disaster - unless of course you can live in a constant state of denial and pretend that globalism is all smoke and mirrors -

although I guess you do not have to care but you should not be surpised when say, in a sudden rush of blood, the Koreans do their best to absolutely crush the domestic car manufacturing market - or the yanks freeze us out of the world wheat market - or India makes mooving industry off shore even more attractive -

you name it there are any number of things that can happen elsewhere we should care about and take an interest in.

As for our sentiment towards the US - there are a few like A Bolt, Piers Ackerman et al that do really seem to subscibe to the infantile "you're either with us or against us rhetoric" -

anti US sentiment is expressed n contempt for the War, bully boy tactics like re arranging the swimming schedule for the Olympics and any number of foriegn policy gaffes - but having said that those sentiments aren't universal blocks of resentment - maybe in the heart land of the International Socialists - an organsiational minnow on the politcial landscape but the majority of people can be critical of what is wothy of criticism at the same time as recognise what is of merit -

It is only few infantile polemicists I mentioned above who see it as a mass movement of of anti US sentiment -

You forgot all about mentioning the Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny, didn't you!

You had it right the first time Mirko. "The decision by the US led “Coalition of the Willing” was an egregious violation of international law and has caused incalculable suffering to the people of Iraq." International attitudes towards the states plummeted more as a result of this, and actions like it, than due to any other issue. But you already know this.

"Making weapons and money are the two most competitive pursuits on earth". Yessiree. They're both unavoidably corrupting.

Look the average man in main street USA is a decent person with decent morals. However those in power are decadent and self serving. The invasion of Iraq was nothing about helping Iraqi people, it was a power play in the middle east and about energy supplies. The US political system is backed by money and you need mega dollars to win an election, that does not sound very democratic to me. The US is the country that has killed the most people since the second world war in the name of maintaining the status quo with them in charge. I think the idea is he who has the gold makes the rules and this unfortunately is how the world works.

I do not want the rest of the world to be like America, yes they are probably the best of a bad bunch but are still far from perfect and we as citizens of the world can do better.

BTW don't sell Australia short, we have achieved a lot in the world given our drawbacks and population.

The war in Iraq SHOULD dominate our views about the US. As it's crucial to the war against the global jihadists. And indeed--changing one word--America is the STRONGEST "show in town." Since only America, among all nations, can defeat this surge of Islamic barbarism.

See POWER POLITICS:"A Curse is Haunting The Leaders of Europe", October 11, 2006 http://power-politics1.blogspot.com

Mirko, you can do much better...And DandaMna is right. The invasion of Iraq was very little (if anything) about helping Iraqi people. It was much more about about getting cheap petrol / energy supplies. Every kookaburra in Australia has already learnt it...

The saddest aspect of this article is its support of the cult of absolutism: you're either with us or against us.

The language that goes along with this - and it is prevalent in any debate these days, whether about abortion, euthanasia, population control, climate change, oil reserves, media laws or whatever - actively works against discussion. Instead its two faces are either black or white; any attempt to explore third ways, middle ground, or even elicit facts over opinions, is doomed.

Criticism is a legitimate tool of friendship; it does not necessarily connote enmity. In fact, it is often the most positive and kindly act that can be performed, to explain quietly to a friend the impact of certain of their acts or behaviours that are out of line.

To deduce that we are anti-American from the evidence presented is akin to believing everything you read in the newspaper. It is also to conflate the people with their political leadership; in every developed country, the personal and political have been diverging for many years, and continue to do so. To blame the American people for the acts of Donald Rumsfeld is as stupid as believing that every Australian acts and speaks like Alexander Downer.

There is also a subtext that the writer carefully avoids. America's influence has always been predominantly economic, and economic power will shift quite quickly over the next thirty years or so. How will the US react to having to relinquish their absolute economic authority? And will we support them if and when they react aggressively?

Look the average person in the US is generally a decent person decent morals, whatnot, but the administration is decadent and misleading. Bit like many other nations out there. It's not as if Howard's nose is clean either is it, although many Australians (98%) are viewed as good decent people and the other 2 are pricks. I think there is hope however, Bush has lost control of the Senate, and Rudd might even win this next election.

This is the same Mirko, who not long ago was detailing scenarios to justify the use of torture in the Herald Sun.

Social discourse and policy is different to Mathematics and the Sciences because in the later you can prove something either right or wrong. In Social discourse we are forced to deal with uncertainty.

Nevertheless, thousands of years of civilisation, culture and history have given us some universals. One of those universals concerns torture. This makes you something quite despicable. And in light of your legal training - something even worse.

Remember, you were part of the hysteria which helped Howard win public acceptance to begin this crusade with the coalition of the willing. And there you are now again spruiking the US.

"the rending pain of re-enactment. Of all that you have done, and been; the shame of motives late revealed, and the awareness of things ill done and done to others' harm, Which once you took for exercise of virtue. Then fools' approval stings, and honour stains. From wrong to wrong the exasperated spirit proceeds, unless...... "

ts elliot - just a little birko

Half of the American voters elected Bush into his second term of presidency while the Iraq war was ongoing. They are at least jointly responsible for the events in Iraq and all their consequences. Imagine that after WW II the German people was held accountable for all the cruelties occurred during the war and even for the war itself though Hitler wasn´t even elected by the Germans.

What you call the American dream and the belief that everything is possible is closely connected to the attitude of many Americans that they are doing right whenever they are fighting for what they consider freedom and democracy, regardless of the victims. It is the primitive right of the strongest, and consequently they don´t feel themselves subjected to the Court of international law unlike all the other civilized nations. No wonder that there is a growing anti-Americanism in the world.

On the other hand I do not know personally any American among my many US-friends and acquaintances who support the Iraq war and wouldn´t be conscious of the American shortcomings. Of course you never can accuse an entire nation for the mistakes and faults committed in their name, and of course every nation has positive points serving also as an example for others. This is a matter of course about the Americans as well as about the Italians, the Germans or the Chinese. But does that really improve the ongoing matter?

I found this article silly, a rehash of cliches about a US that maybe once was, but isn't now. What draws people to the US is its success at using militarism to supply its ever greater consumption of natural capital, with US$ hegemony and 'free trade' neoliberalism the single song sheet all suitably supine governments sing from. Check out USs rising incidence of malnutrition and turburculosis, 1-in-35 adults in the prisons or corrections system, or the rate the water table is falling in San Fernando valley for better info.

Enrico is dead right about electors responsibility for their governments actions, even more so when the democratic process is plainly broken. If the populace then tries nonviolent action and receives gunfire and repeated assault (as currently happening in Oaxacao (sp) Mexico), only then might they disclaim responsibility.

Australians who just 'hate America' (unRightThink translation: oppose US administration actions) are evading their own responsibilty, as our own government has stoked racism, ignored mass demo's, sent troops, and weekly expresses support and bluffes optimism. And we let them get away with it, diverting ourselves with criticism of US or sneers at the political class.

Unfortunately the Coalition of the Willing (-to do neoliberalisms dirty work) is losing in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been decisively outwitted by China, S.America and Europe over access to energy reserves. If we don't want a sickening situation (600,000+ dead in Iraq) to turn catastrophic (ME war, oil blockades, more anti-West terrorism, ...) then we have to stop being Good Germans and MAKE our government accountable for these criminal wars, for lying to parliament and the people, and for aiding terrorism by letting AWB be Saddam's #1 sugar daddy.

For many years now, American presidents of both parties have been staunchly committed to Israel and its security. This entrenched policy is an expression of the Jewish-Zionist grip on America’s political and cultural life. It was fervent support for Israel – shared by President Bush, high-ranking administration officials and nearly the entire US Congress – that proved crucial in the decision to invade and subdue one of Israel’s greatest regional enemies.

While the unprovoked US invasion of Iraq may have helped Israel, just as those who wanted and planned for the war had hoped, it has been a calamity for America and the world. It has cost tens of thousands of lives and many tens of billions of dollars. Around the world, it has generated unmatched distrust and hostility toward the US. In Arab and Muslim countries, it has fueled intense hatred of the United States, and has brought many new recruits to the ranks of anti-American terrorists.

Americans have already paid a high price for their nation’s commitment to Israel. They will pay an ever higher price – not just in dollars or international prestige, but in the lives of young men squandered for the interests of a foreign state – until the Jewish-Zionist hold on US political life is finally broken.

Chad....ask yourself why the situation in Iraq is a 'disaster'. If you are capable of working out the correct answer, it will dawn on you exactly WHY this war is such a neccessity, and why we should be committing more, more and more troops. And if at all there is a God, surely it must be that of the Jews, for does not God oppose Satan himself? Tell me, Chad, what exactly do YOU see when you look at the Kaaba?

Chad, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion have been repeatedly proved to be a hoax. Check Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion for a good summary of the issues.

As to the war in Iraq, best remember the old adage that stuff-up is much more likely than a conspiracy. Iraq looks like the biggest American stuff-up in at least a generation.

What a cop out, Johnj. A mere stuffup, pushed thru in the face of global opposition, after alarming warnings from soldiers and with a justification that anyone who gave a damn knew in 2002 to be a fabrication?

How convenient a view for apathy, for the passive acceptance of genocide perpetrated in our names. I suppose the enrichment of anyone owning shares in industrial death (Boeing, Raytheon, Carlyle Group, General Electric, LOckheed, Northrop, BAE, Blackwater, ADI..) or its parasites (Bechtel, Halliburton, Five Star, KBR..), all companies dear to Bush & Howards respective troughs, is just coincidence too eh Johnj? You oughta go into politics.

"We need to take our hat off to the Yanks. Jealously is the only thing that prevents other nations admitting that they would want nothing more than to have an ounce of America’s power and affluence."

You sell Australians very short when you assume that Anti-Ameicanism is based on Iraq. We have been watching 'America' operate for a long time now, its propensity to force less powerful countries into allowing both its resources and its people to be exploited to the nth degree to fill American coffers amounts to ecological and cultural rape of entire eco-systems and peoples. This is what I find so repugnant in the 'American' ideology - remember selling the rights to control ALL water in Bolivia? Prohibiting people from even catching the rainwater from their own roofs. What about copper mines in Indonesia which pull billions of dollars of copper out of the ground and leave the local inhabitants penniless with poisoned eco-systems and no redress, etc, etc, etc.