The US is a Greater Threat than Either Russia or China

 Vladimir Platov

In spite of the Russophobic and Sinophobic information campaign promoted by Washington in recent years, the world has a different view of the real threat to peace, naming the United States as the worst enemy.

Even the populations in the western satellite states of the United States are no longer hiding their growing anti-American sentiments. Thus, according to the survey Democracy Perception Index (DPI) of the Latana Institute for Market Research, most Germans are critical of the United States, writes Der Spiegel. Over a third of German respondents (36%) stated that American influence threatens Germany more than does Russia (29%) or China (33%), while one in two respondents (51%) called US influence on world democracy negative. The Democracy Perceptions Index was commissioned by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, founded by former NATO Secretary General and former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

In addition to Germany, people in many countries around the world also consider the US a greater threat to democracy than Russia or China.  In the 53 countries chosen for the survey, a majority of respondents believe that it is the US, and not Russia and China, that is a threat to the lasting peace, according to the British newspaper The Guardian. As the newspaper specifies, the poll was conducted among 50,000 people in 53 countries at the request of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. Its conclusive finding was that almost half (44%) of respondents in 53 countries recognized the concern that the United States was threatening democracy in their countries. 38% reported being afraid of China’s influence, while only 28% admitted to being threatened by Russia’s influence. These results clearly show that neither the United States nor the G7 countries can safely assume the mantle of “defenders of democracy”. The British newspaper reports that the perception of the United States as a threat to democracy around the world has greatly increased from last year, and the figure has risen from +6 to +14. The increase was especially high in Germany (+20) and China (+16).

Commenting on the publication of the Turkish news outlet Haber7 in social networks about the US sanction threats for the purchase of S-400 from Russia by Turkey and India, readers stressed: India, too, has realized that the worst enemy is the United States.

This negative perception of the United States in the world has a number of explanations, one of which is Washington’s recent emphasis on armament and the use of military force, since it is no longer able to ensure its hegemony by economic, financial, informational and diplomatic means. This is evidenced by the detailed draft budget for the coming fiscal year 2022, recently submitted to Congress by US President Joe Biden, in which he asks for nearly $753 billion for “defense needs” (+12.5 billion compared to the previous year’s figures). The draft shows that overall government spending would be roughly quadrupled from $1.52 trillion to six trillion dollars, which would be the largest expenditure for the US government since the end of World War II.

However, the notion of the United States as the greatest threat to the world peace is not a recent phenomenon, only growing stronger over the past few years. The British press, for example, which has played a significant role in fomenting anti-Russian sentiment around the world in recent years, is openly shocked by the fact that the world population considers the US a greater threat to the world than Russia or China. Such a perception is understandable in Foggy Albion, because it turns out that efforts to demonize Russia there have been in vain.

A poll conducted back in 2019 by the renowned Pew Research Center found that the US is much more feared around the world. And not only in countries traditionally dissatisfied with Washington and gravitating toward Russia (e.g., Serbia). But unexpectedly for many, residents of US allies and even their neighbors showed their fear. In particular, 46% of Canadians believe that the United States is a threat to their country (Russia and China are seen as such by 32% and 31%, respectively). And in Mexico, 64% of the population fears their big neighbors, while less than a third see Russia and China as threats. The Americans are feared more than the Russians in Germany, France, Japan, and South Korea, countries that are traditionally considered to be close allies of the United States. And this trend has continued today, despite the change of administration in the White House.

On the eve of the Munich Conference, the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation conducted an analysis of public opinion in seven European countries, discovering, among other things, that in Germany 50% of the population considers the US to be the biggest threat to the world peace, while only 33% see Russia as such. In France, 24% of the population is afraid of America, with only 12% fearing Russia.

Such sentiments can quite logically explain the aversion of residents of Western countries to the policy of sanctions against Russia. In particular, in France the sanctions regime was supported by 33% (43% against), in Germany — only 17% (75% against), even in Latvia, where the local press has long been trying to smear Russian foreign policy, 59% of the inhabitants spoke against the sanctions regime.

This really means that the efforts of Western agitators to completely demonize Russia have been, if not in vain, then at least not as effective as they seemed to many people.

Judging by the analytical reports that accompany the research data on this topic, this negative perception of the US is a source of great concern to Western experts, who are not sure what to do about it, as some of them openly admit.

The results of the earlier and more recent surveys are unlikely to have pleased the foreign ministers of the G7 countries, who in early May held talks in London on “confronting Russia and China”.

In recent days, anti-American sentiment in Western countries has become even stronger after several European media outlets investigated the Danish Foreign Intelligence Service’s wiretapping of several European politicians, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the request of the US National Security Agency. The fact that the US intelligence service NSA has been spying on high-ranking German politicians such as Angela Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier for years has long been known, writes the German Das Erste. And this new fact, as acknowledged in many European capitals, clearly demonstrates the direct threat of the US to European democracies.

Vladimir Platov, expert on the Middle East, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.