By Anthony Downie

As a Briton living in New York, I felt great anguish at what had taken place in this City and had enormous sympathy for all those who had lost their lives in the aftermath of September 11th. While I watched in horror as I saw celebrations on television of the attacks in areas of the Middle East, I was very proud that my country was the first to come out and “stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States” and commit forces to the War in Afghanistan. I was surprised by the fact that America’s so-called allies around the world did not seem so keen to help. Even in Britain, there were calls in the press from various left wing Members of Parliament not get involved, even though Britain also lost hundreds of people in the attacks.

America is viewed as a great place by all the immigrants who have flocked here from around the world. It is also viewed as a drug peddling crime paradise by many of those who were left behind. In a way America needs to rebrand itself in the International community to increase its standing. So often, areas of the world feel America will destroy anything in its path to gain true global dominance and fight wars that aren’t worth fighting to demonstrate its military might. America is also perceived as forcing its corporate culture on other countries without realizing the diversity and differences between different countries.

While I believe America has fought for good causes against evil dictators, there is some substance to the argument that America has forgotten about the cultural differences between their culture and those where US corporations have moved in. Little things, like taking more account of a different country’s beliefs coupled with some understanding that the American model doesn’t fit everywhere would make a huge difference. America will not be liked everywhere. There is a lot of xenophobic and jealous hatred of America that cannot be changed. But for those people who believe in America, but also think Americans impose their beliefs too quickly on different cultures, there could be a huge difference. The greatest goal of American foreign policy over the next few years could be to work on an image as a country that understands difference and wants to be at the center of the internationalist community rather than the isolationist country that America has been in the past.