Nobody I know personally over here supports president Bush.
There is support for Bush policies from those people who are openly racists, want to send immigrants out and are courting the jewish community (because of opposing the muslims).
The VB is actually getting stronger all the time and there are elections in october, so I'm kind of worried about it.
I remember, before the invasion of Iraq, being invited at a friend and we (we were a dozen guests) talked about what was going on in the US and we were not enraged or shouting angrily or cursing....No, we were very upset by what was going on in the US and the mood was very silent. We all had friends in the US and were wondering what was going on over there, a country we love, where people are so friendly, curious and interested about us.
Back then, we were called the axis of weasels.
I know the few relatives we have left in the US are very much pro-Bush and this made some phone calls to them quite disturbing (ok, well disagreements like that are avoided if possible).
I don't think non english speaking Europeans have a good knowledge of the US political debates.
On the internet, with astro-friends, I do defend the US position when I notice they assimilate too quickly what the current admininistration says with the entire country. There is for instance a large disbelief concerning the return to the Moon.
When I went to the US embassy (to renounce my citizenship), I talked a little, in the waiting room, with a real american and he sounded just as friendly as I knew them to be from past experience.
So, no, americans are the same as before (but I'm aware they're not the majority as it looks like the influence of the inland-states seems bigger than the coast states).
I have studied law and had lessons in international law and one of the basic principles of international law is non interference with internal matters of sovereign states. This principle was rightfully brought foward by the US in 1945. If it had been violated, it was by non democratic regimes, or very shortly (no time for the UN to condemn as it was over) or in full compliance from the UN or NATO for good reasons.
This time it was far too blatantly a violation of international law. I remember Bush speeches pretending there was evidence of WMDs here and there, without ever showing the smoking gun. That was full war propaganda! I was very upset US politicians didn't dare question their president. The US is paying for that now. I was also upset the lessons of Vietnam were not learned and that had been less than 30 years before.
I remember hearing a former french minister, Jack Lang, saying on the BBC (that is exceptionnal but then what was going on did induce lots of serious political talkshows) to a US journalist that France had lost its empire and international stature because of its arrogance and the US should be careful about that too.
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re: Yo!, Elisee!
