Eric Jansson responds to a survey which suggests that only one in 10 Europeans now see the US as an ally. Photograph: AZP Worldwide/Alamy
At last, something Europeans and Americans can agree upon
Never make the mistake of conflating the actual people of a country with those who govern it, says Eric Jansson.
The survey on which you report (Only one in 10 Europeans now see US as an ally, survey suggests, 10 June) is wonderfully in line with the view of US citizens themselves, given the recent poll finding that only 2% of them trust the US government “just about always”, and only 15% trust it “most of the time” – a shrivelled fraction of the 73% who in 1958 said they trusted it always or most of the time, according to the Pew Research Center. We can rest easy knowing that Europeans and Americans (never mind their governments) remain natural allies with plenty to agree about.
Never make the mistake of conflating the people of a country or civilisation with those who govern it. This goes for Washington, Brussels, London, Moscow, Beijing, Kinshasa, you name it.
Eric Jansson
Oxford
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