The New World Sport : Hating America
27.08.2006 um 13:50Mr. John Gibson's new book Hating America: The New World Sport
Question: Do yousee any justification for this anti-Americanism?
Mr. Gibson: There are very goodreasons it’s happening. The first one is, and I quote this guy who is a German newspapereditor (and I don’t know if this is his idea or he borrowed it from somebody else), “thefirst rule of alliances is they fall apart when they succeed.” So the Western alliance,which was Western Europe, the United States, and large parts of the Arab world, was analliance against the Soviet Union. Once there was no Soviet Union there was no reason forthese countries to be quite so closely allied with the United States. At the same time,Western Europe in particular began to fear the United States more because here’s thishuge monster military power (that was built up to protect them) that is now lookingaround for something to do. That’s their attitude. So jealousy, envy, and fear come intoplay, and also the simple equation that Germany can engage in anti-Americanism becausethey don’t need Americans to protect them from the Russians anymore. And they view thisas a period where they can shake off World War II.
How dangerous is what isbeing printed about America?
Mr. Gibson: The fact of the matter is that we aregoing through a rough time and it might last a while. The world still has the same fearsabout us. Nobody on the planet, except guerrillas, can act militarily except the UnitedStates. So everybody is worried about us. They are feeling pretty good right now becauseAmericans are getting a bloody nose in Iraq. But there is still long-term worry. There isnobody to challenge the United States. The basic resentment and hatred of the UnitedStates comes from that fact. We are a virtually unstoppable force on the planet and theyhate that. Look, nobody ever puts it in these terms, but if the U.S. military wanted totake Paris tomorrow, they’d take Paris. We don’t want it. We’re not going to do that, butthere’s nobody to stop us. When the European elites and the intellectual class and policyplanners look at that, it worries them. The Europeans in particular have spent all theirmoney on their comfort society — full employment, medical plans. They don’t havemilitaries. They don’t spend their money on that. At the point where we were debating thewar, for a moment Europe thought, "if we had airlift capability we could at least get inon the debate." But they had nothing, so nobody was going to pay any attention to whatthey had to say. And if they weren’t going to be paid attention to, their position had tobe to oppose it.
Lookingat this stuff is useful to help make you understand why we’re getting grief from thesepeople who are supposed to be our friends. The answer is, they’re not our friends.
When John Kerry says we have to get our allies involved in Iraq, I’m notreally sure he believes that. Because in order to get them to help us, you’d have to makeconcessions that constrain us. I think America has to be free to act in its own defense.If you have the French constraining you, then you are defeating the purpose of acting todefend yourself. I think itsdangerous to want friends in this regard. They are only going to constrain how you canact in order to suit their own interests.
Question: Do yousee any justification for this anti-Americanism?
Mr. Gibson: There are very goodreasons it’s happening. The first one is, and I quote this guy who is a German newspapereditor (and I don’t know if this is his idea or he borrowed it from somebody else), “thefirst rule of alliances is they fall apart when they succeed.” So the Western alliance,which was Western Europe, the United States, and large parts of the Arab world, was analliance against the Soviet Union. Once there was no Soviet Union there was no reason forthese countries to be quite so closely allied with the United States. At the same time,Western Europe in particular began to fear the United States more because here’s thishuge monster military power (that was built up to protect them) that is now lookingaround for something to do. That’s their attitude. So jealousy, envy, and fear come intoplay, and also the simple equation that Germany can engage in anti-Americanism becausethey don’t need Americans to protect them from the Russians anymore. And they view thisas a period where they can shake off World War II.
How dangerous is what isbeing printed about America?
Mr. Gibson: The fact of the matter is that we aregoing through a rough time and it might last a while. The world still has the same fearsabout us. Nobody on the planet, except guerrillas, can act militarily except the UnitedStates. So everybody is worried about us. They are feeling pretty good right now becauseAmericans are getting a bloody nose in Iraq. But there is still long-term worry. There isnobody to challenge the United States. The basic resentment and hatred of the UnitedStates comes from that fact. We are a virtually unstoppable force on the planet and theyhate that. Look, nobody ever puts it in these terms, but if the U.S. military wanted totake Paris tomorrow, they’d take Paris. We don’t want it. We’re not going to do that, butthere’s nobody to stop us. When the European elites and the intellectual class and policyplanners look at that, it worries them. The Europeans in particular have spent all theirmoney on their comfort society — full employment, medical plans. They don’t havemilitaries. They don’t spend their money on that. At the point where we were debating thewar, for a moment Europe thought, "if we had airlift capability we could at least get inon the debate." But they had nothing, so nobody was going to pay any attention to whatthey had to say. And if they weren’t going to be paid attention to, their position had tobe to oppose it.
Lookingat this stuff is useful to help make you understand why we’re getting grief from thesepeople who are supposed to be our friends. The answer is, they’re not our friends.
When John Kerry says we have to get our allies involved in Iraq, I’m notreally sure he believes that. Because in order to get them to help us, you’d have to makeconcessions that constrain us. I think America has to be free to act in its own defense.If you have the French constraining you, then you are defeating the purpose of acting todefend yourself. I think itsdangerous to want friends in this regard. They are only going to constrain how you canact in order to suit their own interests.
