[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

Anyway, foreigners are primarily concerned with US foreign policy, not domestic policy.

Just for starters the fiscal cliff is dometic policy and is what is on the mind of all the international stock exchanges this week (and maybe the whole month, rest of this year, etc).

This might surprise many, but before him, America was fairly loved.

I would say instead that they had after wwII a very successful diplomacy effort for the rest of the XX century.

Obama is liked because he works with other countries and doesn't shove America's policies down their throats.

Yep, they put the poison pills inside delicious little pancakes for countries to swallow, remember the megaupload fiasco and how several countries have been coerced to fulfill the riaa and mpaa wishes. Insisting in making their laws international las has been an ongoing effort since wwII.

If this cooling was sustained, you could easily see the collapse of NATO, a bad thing for all involved.

This line of thought makes me kind of sad. Europe as a whole has a longer story than the USA, why do they still training wheels to ride their bicycle (military)? Having a joint EU military force would not preclude military operations with the USA, Canada, Japan and other allies, but after the collapse of the USSR I see no further reason for NATOs existence. The sad truth is that the european union is not an union, is an association, unlike the USA, rusia, china or brazil (to mention examples of similar size).