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Originally Posted by Mumitroll
1) the US is currently running a very aggressive and dangerous foreign policy. it has been doing more or less the same since WWII, but after the collapse of the USSR, that approach was even escalated - bombings of Serbia, wars in Iraq and Georgia, getting out of nuclear disarmament treaties are just some examples. all that is perceived very negatively in the world, the more negatively, the less US-influenced propaganda there is.
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I have to agree with you there. The American foreign policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union hasn't been able to account for the changes in the world politic. As a result, their actions have often been ham-fisted and have accomplished the opposite of what they're trying to do. Of all of these actions, the most troubling has been the reaction to Russia's reemergence as a regional power. While Russia will probably never be a superpower again, the U.S. seemed to be unwilling to see it assert any power at all, and this confrontation can't have a happy ending.
Of the events, the ugliest diplomatic reactions have been the handling of the Russia-Georgia war ("We're all Georgians now"!?) and the encroachment of the ABM towards Russia's borders without paying any heed to Russia's interests. Both are very uncomfortable attitudes to hold.
In a slightly different topic, American actions have also been running counter to their rhetoric when it comes to nuclear proliferation. The State Department has been saying that everyone would be better off if they did not pursue nuclear weapons, but the world isn't blind. Everyone can see that Iraq's non-pursuit didn't keep them from being invaded, while North Korea is patently uninvaded. A similar mixed signal can be seen in regards to India, Pakistan and Israel - they have nuclear weapons counter to the NPT, and their statures have generally grown despite (or maybe even because of) that.
While the attitude of the U.S. is hardly the only factor at play, I don't think that there's going to be much progress towards a more stable nuclear regime until it's foreign policy undergoes a sea change when it comes to diplomacy. I don't foresee any such major change any time soon, so the world is going to be in for some very interesting times.