America: The Scut Farkus of the World

Here’s a book review in Business Week on “Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions” by Clyde Prestowitz. (Hat tip to Arts & Letters Daily). It’s an even-handed review that both supports the author’s thesis of American high-handedness in world affairs, but also holds out that some of these claims are exaggerated. Take particular note of this excerpt on that touchstone of American unilateralism: the Kyoto treaty.

Although Prestowitz is critical of U.S. environmental policies, he also points out that Europeans used the Kyoto Treaty negotiations to score lots of cheap shots off the big bad U.S., as this played well to their domestic audiences. If there was a prologue to the policy split over Iraq, it was here.

In April, 2001, the freshly inaugurated George Bush announced he wouldn't sign the Kyoto Treaty, a decision that galvanized the Europeans more than almost any other move by Washington. "The Kyoto decision," says Prestowitz, "became a metaphor for American profligacy, unconcern, and arrogance." [Emphasis added]

I’ve always viewed the United States as the overbearing father in the world. You (or, for the sake of this metaphor, the “teenager” Europe) hate him for all his dominance and control, you rebel against his ideology, but when you’re in a jam, he’s there to support and protect you.

Now say “Uncle!”