Clash of Nations

The BBC Commmissioned a Survey on the Clash of Nations - The Result ?

The view that there is an inevitable clash of nations between the West and Islam is not viewed by the majority to be a certain thing.

Neocon's in the US looking for a fight with pre-nuclear Iran and Osama bin Laden who views the west as being anti-Muslim, are it would appear, in the minority according to the BBC poll.

According to the BBC Survey which took opinions from around the world, the majority do not believe that conflict is inevitable and that current tensions are the result of intolerant minorities and political self-interest.

Globescan conducted the poll which canvassed 28,000 citizens from 27 countries with 2/3rds believing common ground could be found between the West and Islam.

Interestingly, over half the respondents believed that political power and interests are at the heart of the perceived conflict while less than a third felt it was cultural or religious differences.

Given US Secretary of State Rice's presence in the Middle East, and a general belief that the Iraqi leadership have been advised to "get a grip", perhaps there is a realization in the Whitehouse and US Department of State that leadership does not neccessarily mean militarily kicking three barrels out of a small country.



War is after all diplomacy by an alternative means - perhaps we should be trying true diplomacy more often?

The US Department of State

The US Department of State, the face of the richest most powerful nation on the planet and responsible for setting and shaping global policy that affects all of our lives.

I doubt it can be argued that the 20th Century was not America's; successful in two World Wars, victor in the Cold War and undisputed industrial and economic power by the year 2000, where will America take us in the future ?

As we head deeper into the 21st Century what will the Pax Americana that has settled over the world bring us? A Pax Americana that shows signs of being at a crossroads, an historical fulcrum upon one side of which is an extension of American hegemony that may or may not be in communal global interests and on the other, a disintegration of influence, security and confidence.

The United States is a vast and diverse country that is young and vibrant, brash and arrogant, generous and welcoming, naive and innocent, violent and insensitive, and even the name "United States" can sometimes seem an oxymoron.

America is everything and nothing, but definitely something and here is where I will bring my thoughts on what this something is together with my perception, as a non-American, of the Department of State and the America she claims to represent.