Israel, Iran, US lead 'least-liked'
countries By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - A majority of people from
around the world hold predominantly negative views
of Israel, Iran, and the United States, according
to a survey of more than 28,000 respondents in 27
countries.
The survey, which was sponsored
by the British Broadcasting Corp's World Service
and designed by Globescan and the Washington-based
Program for International Policy Attitudes (PIPA),
found that 56% and 54% of all respondents said
they had
mainly
negative views of Israel and Iran, respectively.
Fifty-one percent and 48% said the same
about the United States and North Korea,
respectively.
At the other end of the
spectrum, 54% said they felt "mainly positive"
about both Canada and Japan, while the European
Union and France, with 53% and 50% "positive"
ratings, were the next highest among the 12
countries or regions rated in the survey.
"It appears that people around the world
tend to look negatively on countries whose profile
is marked by the use or pursuit of military
power," said PIPA director Steven Kull.
"This includes Israel and the US, which
have recently used military force, and North Korea
and Iran, who are perceived as trying to develop
nuclear weapons," he said, adding, "Countries that
relate to the world primarily through soft power,
like Japan, France, and the EU in general, tend to
be viewed more positively." Respondents in the
multi-nation survey, some findings of which have
been previously released, included randomly
selected samples of between 800 and 1,200 people
in the three nations of North America - the US,
Canada and Mexico; three South American countries
- Chile, Argentina and Brazil; six Asia-Pacific
countries - India, the Philippines, South Korea,
Australia, Indonesia and China; and two African
countries - Nigeria and Kenya.
Nine
European countries - Russia, Italy, the United
Kingdom, France, Portugal, Greece, Germany, Poland
and Hungary - and four predominantly Muslim
countries - the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon,
Egypt and Turkey - were also included.
Each respondent was asked to assess
whether the influence of the 12 subject countries,
which also included the UK, China, India, Russia
and Venezuela, was either "mainly positive" or
"mainly negative". An average of about one out of
four respondents declined to express an opinion
one way or another.
Israel, according to
the survey, stood out as having not only the
largest number of respondents express a negative
opinion about it, but also majorities in the
greatest number of countries - 23 out of 27. Iran
was regarded unfavorably in 21 countries, and the
US and North Korea in 20 out of the 27.
Israel, whose war with Hezbollah last
summer in Lebanon undoubtedly affected the
results, was seen most negatively in the Arab
world and Turkey (where only 2% of respondents
gave it a "positive" rating) and in much of
Europe. In Lebanon itself, 85% of respondents said
they had a negative opinion of the Jewish state,
followed by 78% in Egypt and 76% in Turkey.
At the same time, 77% of German
respondents expressed a negative opinion, as did
about two-thirds of Greek, French, British and
Australian respondents. In Latin America and Asia,
Brazil (72%) and Indonesia (71%) were the most
negative, respectively.
Nations that were
most positive about Israel were Nigeria (45%
positive), the US (41 %), and Kenya (38%).
For Iran, the strongest negative opinions
were found in Europe, particularly in France
(86%), Italy (84%), Germany (78 %), Portugal
(77%), and Britain (76%). Three out of four
Canadians and Australians also expressed mainly
negative opinions about Iran, which Washington and
other Western powers have accused of pursuing
nuclear weapons. In the US, 63% of respondents
gave a negative assessment, a remarkably sharp
drop from the 81% who expressed a negative opinion
in a similar BBC poll taken in late 2005.
In Lebanon, opinions on Iran were roughly
evenly split, while positive views of the Islamic
Republic were most prevalent in Egypt (51%
positive, 18% negative) and Indonesia (50%
positive, 31% negative). In Latin America the
greatest negativity was found in Brazil (69%); in
Africa, Kenya (60%); and in East Asia, South Korea
(69%).
On North Korea, opinions were most
negative in anglophone North America, Australia,
and South Korea. Nearly nine out of 10 Germans and
Australians expressed negative views, nearly eight
of 10 South Koreans expressed similar views, as
did three out of four US, Canadian, and French
respondents.
Several countries, however,
leaned slightly positively toward Pyongyang,
including Lebanon (38% positive, 27% negative);
Turkey (31% positive, 22% negative); Nigeria (42%
positive, 28% negative); Indonesia (40% positive,
37% negative); and India (26% positive, 18%
negative).
Among the more positively
viewed countries, Japan was seen most favorably by
Indonesians (84%), Kenyans and Canadians (74%),
and Filipinos (70%), despite Tokyo's occupation of
the Philippine archipelago during World War II.
Less surprisingly, the most negative views
were found in South Korea (58% negative) and China
(63%), both of which have long demanded apologies
by Tokyo for abuses committed by its occupation
forces.
The EU was viewed positively in 24
out of 27 nations in the survey and given
particularly high ratings in EU member countries
themselves, as well as by Canada, Chile and South
Korea. On the other hand, it was given slightly
negative ratings by Turkey (30% positive, 32%
negative), Egypt (10% positive, 33 % negative),
and Brazil (31% positive, 38% negative).
France was given positive ratings of 54%
or greater in all European countries, with the
exception of Poland (51%) and Hungary (40%), the
two African nations, Lebanon, and Canada. In Asia,
favorable views were most prevalent in China (62%)
and South Korea (55%).
The most negative
views toward France, whose outspoken opposition to
the US war in Iraq has won it wide notice, were
found in Turkey (69% negative, 9% positive) and
the US (41% negative, 38% positive). The latter
finding actually marked an improvement over the
previous two years. In 2004, 52% of US respondents
said they had mainly negative views of Paris.
On China, the most negative views were
found in Europe and the US while the most positive
opinions were found in Africa, the Arab world,
Indonesia, the Philippines, and Chile. An average
of 42% of all respondents (except those in China
itself) said they had a positive view of Beijing;
32% said their view was mainly negative.
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