Americans in Europe
Filed in archive Politics on June 28, 2005
This article is highlighting one of the issues pretty prominent in Europe there seems to be an increasing linkage between the more hostile political opinion in Europe against the US and what businesses feel about it:
"In the past, for Americans working in Europe, politics was seen as separate from business; today, the two are inextricably linked. It is becoming personal. "I was actually involved in organizing one of the antiwar protests," a longtime European resident told us. "I realized how things had changed when someone at the protest refused to take orders from me because I was an American."
"It is something that comes up in relatively relaxed settings -- such as over cocktails, dinner, small talk," says John McAuliffe, Moscow-based president of the KOM Group. "I'm not sure I would label it 'anti-Americanism' -- it is more an automatic opposition to any action of the Bush administration and a general suspicion of American motives in the international arena. I have heard some amazing conspiracy theories about American foreign and business policy. There is also a certain level of distrust that I have never experienced before." In Russia, this was manifest in suspicions that the U.S. government, seeking to install a friendly leader in Kiev, engineered Viktor Yuschenko's electoral victory in Ukraine."
My explanation for this would be that through globalization people have gotten closer than ever in their lifestyle. Compare French hyper markets and Wal-Mart or Super8 motels and Accor hotels. Or take any autobahn in Germany and Californian highways - you will have no issues recognizing the models. So if people feel they are even more similar and try to find ways to differentiate each other. This is what happens on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean right now. The US is certainly not the most charming in most of its policies but often the only who provides useful leadership.
"It is something that comes up in relatively relaxed settings -- such as over cocktails, dinner, small talk," says John McAuliffe, Moscow-based president of the KOM Group. "I'm not sure I would label it 'anti-Americanism' -- it is more an automatic opposition to any action of the Bush administration and a general suspicion of American motives in the international arena. I have heard some amazing conspiracy theories about American foreign and business policy. There is also a certain level of distrust that I have never experienced before." In Russia, this was manifest in suspicions that the U.S. government, seeking to install a friendly leader in Kiev, engineered Viktor Yuschenko's electoral victory in Ukraine."
Permalink: Americans in Europe
Tags: usa europe americans entrepreneurship 2003 americans+europe venture+capital java+entrepreneur
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Response from:
Jawahar
(06/30/05 2:27am)
We need to practice global compassion rather than conservative compassion to prevent these issues
Response from:
David Tagliaferri
(09/10/06 2:10am)
You say that america is often the only one providing useful leaders. Perhaps people should consider, those countries that stay out of other countries politics, are really the countries providing useful leadership, as they lead by example.
Response from:
Joe Noory
(07/12/07 6:20am)
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Who are you fooling, Jawahar. I've spent half my life in Europe. The invective, bigotry, and generalization directed at Americans today is no different than it was 30 years ago. Your garden variety euro, living his peevish little envious, wholly rationalized existence imagines very much that we're all alike. It takes a bursting of the bubble most of the time to get them to realize that the sort of comments they casually toss around about Americans would cause them to shame someone if they said them about an African, an Arab, a South Asian, etc.
Even among the educuted, the comversation pre-supposes a small collection of obsessions that change from year to year, but begin with the random American having the sort of question posed to him that sounds more-or-less like "have you stopped beating your wife" - the assumption being in their decrepid little nationalist minds that it's perfectly alright to jump down the throat of a passing yank and make him explain European illusion about America, and confirm them for their amusement.
Don't forget that the worst ideas, the greatest violence, the mass genocides for the past 4 centuries all started as "popular movements" in Europe, led by Europeans, conducted by Europeans, and largely repaired by someone else.
Even among the educuted, the comversation pre-supposes a small collection of obsessions that change from year to year, but begin with the random American having the sort of question posed to him that sounds more-or-less like "have you stopped beating your wife" - the assumption being in their decrepid little nationalist minds that it's perfectly alright to jump down the throat of a passing yank and make him explain European illusion about America, and confirm them for their amusement.
Don't forget that the worst ideas, the greatest violence, the mass genocides for the past 4 centuries all started as "popular movements" in Europe, led by Europeans, conducted by Europeans, and largely repaired by someone else.
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