MO' MONEY :

US 'suffers global image problem' (Greg Barrow, 30 July, 2002, BBC)

A new report by an influential policy group in America says the US Government needs an urgent public relations overhaul to improve its image in the international community.

The report by the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations says the Bush administration has significantly underperformed in its efforts to capture the hearts and minds of non-Americans.

The report says that in trying to sell its foreign policy and values, the administration needs to much more, and it needs to do it fast.

It says that part of the problem has been a dramatic decline in funding for government departments that were once dedicated to promoting US policy and values overseas.

Heard about this on NPR yesterday and it sounded like a pitch by a lobby group for more spending on Foreign Affairs. Implicit in much they say is that we need to improve our image by doing what the "international community" expects us to do. But what evidence is there that the world would
be a better place if we were more like it, instead of it more like us? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 30, 2002 8:36 AM