Davids Medienkritik: Deutsche Welle: "Expats

Deutsche Welle, financed by the German Government, wants American expats to vote for John Kerry:

Opinion: Bush and the Damage Done
The millions of Americans living abroad may decide this year's tight US presidential election. Seeing the effects of Bush's foreign policy firsthand should boost Kerry with expatriate voters, says DW-WORLD's Marc Young. (...)

When expatriate Americans cast their ballots for president on November 2, they will be better prepared than most of their countrymen back home to assess whether that foreign policy has been marked by taking calculated risks in troubled times or if it's an unmitigated disaster harming the nation's interests more than advancing them. (...)

... long before the Iraq war, Bush's government had decided to take a unilateralist tack on a host of other issues, including the environment, arms reduction and international law. Much to the chagrin of the rest of the world, Washington rejected the Kyoto Treaty on greenhouse emissions, dismissed the Biological Weapons Convention and refused to join the new International Criminal Court.

... the latest opinion polls in the United States have Bush leading Kerry for the race for the White House. Why such a disconnect between US and world public opinion? It may be partly explained by the fact that most Americans are not confronted by the powerful antipathy for Bush and his policies that US citizens living abroad experience on a daily basis. Those back home also don't see the specter of rising anti-Americanism that Washington's arrogance has helped breed.

Like many overseas, I shuddered when long-standing allies France and Germany were branded as traitors for their reluctance to take part in Bush's war of choice in Iraq. There are myriad other examples of how the Bush administration has alienated much of the world, but the point is that such attitudes have seriously damaged America's standing abroad.

In Germany, the hard-left, far-right and anti-globalization groups can now freely peddle their own particular brands of anti-Americanism. Besides seeping into the mainstream media, anti-Americanism is becoming not only accepted, but normal. In central Berlin, no one bats an eye when a US flag is hung upside down and painted with the slogan "Against America." A direct result of Bush's unilateralism, it is now vogue simply to be opposed to the United States.

The complete lack of goodwill toward Washington is particularly worrying in light of the current disarray in Iraq and how badly the international community's help is needed there. The risk of a second term for Bush is that even if America makes progress in the war on terror, Washington will have lost the battle for the world's hearts and minds. For many Americans abroad, that danger is clear to see.

That's why John Kerry's comments that he would once again turn towards multilateral methods are encouraging. Not that electing Kerry could undo the damage to America's reputation overnight, but his plans to make more use of "soft" power to further the country's goals would be a good start. (emphasis added)

OK, expats, you're told now whom to vote for. And as to the use of "soft" power, here's a suggestion. And here is another one...

And don't forget to sign Kyoto and the ICC!

Also, it would help to issue an apology to German foreign minister Joschka "I am not convinced" Fischer, one of the world's most sophisticated diplomats.

And we want you to vote for a German seat in the UN Security Council.

All this won't change your country's dismal reputation in Germany "overnight", but it's a start. Also, it would teach your clueless American dummies from the back woods a thing or two about nuanced diplomacy...

BTW, here's another article by Marc Young, the author of this enlightened piece:

As Germany's state-backed international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle's mandate is to provide unbiased news and information to people who may not necessarily understand German. Funded by German taxpayers, DW-WORLD is able to compete in the rough-and-tumble world of English-speaking media.

"Unbiased news" - you'd have guessed that anyway, right?