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America's Saving Grace
// Isn't What You Think It Is
The fact that America is constantly trying to teach others how to live their lives is nothing new. Russia's state-owned television news channels talk about this fact so often that it would be impossible for it to surprise anyone. The fact that no one likes America is also not going to make headlines. Russian television shows anti-American demonstrations from around the world lavishly and with gusto – with somewhat more gusto, incidentally, than it shows any other demonstrations. No one likes America even in those countries that in Russia are accused of excessive adoration of the US. Anti-Americanism is flowering even in the "orange" republics of the former Soviet Union.
The most severe anti-Americanism is in Kyrgyzstan, where an American soldier casually killed a Kyrgyz citizen, where an American air force plane accidentally rammed a Kyrgyz passenger plane, and where people associate a bright and easy past with Russia and an unstable and impoverished present with American intrigues.
There is also no love lost towards Washington in Ukraine. The attitudes in the camps of the prime minister's supporters are clear: in the tent city in a park in Kiev, people are soliciting "money for a plane ticket to America for Yule [opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko]," and Viktor Yushchenko is tarred as a NATO wannabe. For their part, the "orange democrats" also accuse their opponents of having sold out to the Americans: activists never fail to bring up the American political strategists who worked with Viktor Yanukovych and ensured victory for his Regionalists in the last elections. Americans are also drawing fire during the current crisis for supposedly not wanting to see Ukraine integrated into Europe.
It doesn't pay to even mention Moldova: a "pro-American" communist leader is just an oxymoron. Georgia is no exception. Only loafers are too lazy to laugh at "George Bush Street" in Tbilisi, and once in awhile the Americans get the blame for ruining many centuries of Russian-Georgian friendship.
Let's take a look at Europe. The Europeans spent half a century in thrall to American values when the threat of the Soviet Union loomed on the horizon. Now that that fear of the USSR is gone, so is the love for America. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) chairman Rene van der Linden said yesterday that if anyone has the right to talk about human rights, it's not the United States. Western Europeans pointedly give the cold shoulder to every second initiative from America, whether it be war in Iraq, membership for Turkey in the EU, or the expansion of a missile defense system.
And remember that Western Europe also reacted with obvious mistrust to the "orange revolutions" in the CIS. In November 2005, Viktor Yushchenko and his team were defended by former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski and the United States, while Europe sat mute. Recently a senior European diplomat convinced me that Russia is so important for the EU that Europe is ready to turn its back on the countries of the CIS, and that Europeans take absolutely no interest in "orange" democratic processes.
In a word, the world is only half a step away from fusing into an explosion of anti-Americanism. Irrational irritation at Washington's actions is tearing at everyone. But, as has already become apparent, America has a secret ally that will never leave it hanging out to dry. With its policies, this ally is no less fearsome in the eyes of its friends and neighbors than that obnoxious Washington. If not for its disproportionate aggression towards those closest to it, Europe and the CIS would have long ago joined in calling America the Great Satan.
And that secret, precious friend of the United States – why, it's Russia, of course.
Mikhail Zygar
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 17, 2007
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