THE QUESTION

Polls show that many people in Europe think the U.S. is a greater threat than Iran. What should we make of this?

Posted by Fareed Zakaria on February 14, 2007 2:24 PM

FROM THE PANEL

Miriam Leitao is a reporter and columnist for O Globo and Radio CBN in Brazil. She is also a commentator on Globo TV Network and runs her own blog, www.miriamleitao.com, hosted at Globo online at www.oglobo.com.br. She was awarded Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2005.

America Is a Sleeping Beauty

We have learned how destabilizing the American presidency can be when democratic institutions stop doing their job to countervail White House power.

Miriam Leitao Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 23 COMMENTS
Feb 21, 2007 at 9:34 AM
Iranian-born Hossein "Hoder" Derakhshan is a blogger, journalist, and internet activist. Since 2001, he has been based out of Toronto, Canada, running his award-winning weblog, Editor: Myself, which has been among the most influential blogs in the Persian language.

I'd Take Khamenei Over Bush

If the U.S. waged a war against it, I'd absolutely go back and defend Iran.

Hossein Derakhshan Canada/Iran | 501 COMMENTS
Feb 18, 2007 at 11:00 PM
Nils Udgaard is the foreign editor of Norway's daily newspaper Aftenposten.

No Sense of Panic With Iran

The Iran issue is serious, but European diplomats have been working intensively on it for years and there is no sense of panic.

Nils Udgaard Oslo, Norway | 29 COMMENTS
Feb 18, 2007 at 10:59 PM
Nikos Konstandaras is managing editor and a columnist of Kathimerini, the leading Greek morning daily. He is also the founding editor of Kathimerini’s English Edition, which is published as a supplement to The International Herald Tribune in Greece, Cyprus and Albania. He worked as a correspondent for The Associated Press from 1989 to 1997 before joining the Greek press and has reported from many countries in the region.

Polls Distort the Issue

Europeans probably fear an isolationist U.S. more than an overly aggressive one.

Nikos Konstandaras Athens, Greece | 44 COMMENTS
Feb 17, 2007 at 6:41 PM
Mahmoud Sabit is a historian and an authority on Egypt’s 19th century political reforms. Sabit also works as a writer and producer of historical documentaries.

Europe Fears The Unintended Consequences

Europe has a long history in empire building, and is well aware of the shortcomings of policies that rely on dominance rather than balance.

Mahmoud Sabit Cairo, Egypt | 83 COMMENTS
Feb 17, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Miklós Vámos is a Hungarian novelist, screenwriter and talk show host. He is one of the most read and respected writers in his native Hungary. He has taught at Yale University on a Fulbright fellowship, served as The Nation’s East European correspondent, worked as consultant on the Oscar-winning film Mephisto, and presented Hungary’s most-watched cultural television show. Vámos has received numerous awards for his plays, screenplays, novels and short stories, including the Hungarian Merit Award for lifetime achievement. The Book of Fathers is considered his most accomplished novel and has sold 200,000 copies in Hungary.

Strengthen the United Nations

The U.S. should strengthen the United Nations and then leave it to resolve Iraq, Iran and other spots. This is the best option now.

Miklos Vamos Budapest, Hungary | 3 COMMENTS
Feb 17, 2007 at 7:18 AM
Soli Ozel teaches at Istanbul Bilgi University's Department of International Relations and Political Science. He is a columnist for the national daily Sabah and is senior advisor to the chairman of theTurkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association. He is the editor of TUSIAD's magazine Private View and the editor of the Turkish edition of Foreign Policy a journal published by the Carnegie Endowment in the USA.

Take a Nuclear Iran Over An Incompetent Invader

The world expects the worst of the Bush administration. Despite the sense that attacking Iran is not a rational policy choice, most everyone suspects this administration is capable of doing it.

Soli Ozel Istanbul, Turkey | 62 COMMENTS
Feb 16, 2007 at 7:11 AM
Masha Lipman is the editor of the Pro et Contra journal, published by Carnegie Moscow Center. Lipman is also an expert in the Civil Society Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center. She served as deputy editor of the Russian weekly newsmagazines, Ezhenedel’ny zhurnal from 2001 to 2003, and of Itogi magazine from 1995 to 2001. She has worked as a translator, researcher, and contributor forMoscow bureau of The Washington Post and has had a monthly op-ed column in The Washington Post since 2001.

According to Putin, U.S. Is the Bigger Threat

Russia's President Putin lashed out against the United States, but had relatively mild words for Iran. In his view, America presents a much greater threat to world peace than a nuclear Iran.

Masha Lipman Moscow, Russia | 389 COMMENTS
Feb 15, 2007 at 1:16 PM
Dr. Ali Ettefagh serves as a director of Highmore Global Corporation, an investment company in emerging markets of Eastern Europe, CIS, and the Middle East. He is the co-author of several books on trade conflict, resolution of international trade disputes, conflicts in letters of credit, trade-related banking transactions, sovereign debt, arbitration and dispute resolutions and publications specific to the oil and gas, communication, aviation and finance sectors. Dr. Ettefagh is a member of the executive committee and the board of directors of The Development Foundation, an advisor to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and an advisor to a number of European companies. Dr. Ettefagh speaks Persian (Farsi), English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Turkish.

Some Delicate Diplomacy, Please

America plays diplomacy like it plays sports. It's too bad American sports don't end in a tie. Instead, they end in "sudden death". Always having an absolute winner is dangerous.

Ali Ettefagh Tehran, Iran | 79 COMMENTS
Feb 15, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff is a Senior Director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a transatlantic public policy and grant-making foundation. He overseas the fund's policy programs. He was previously the Washington bureau chief of the German newsweekly, Die Zeit.

A Cause for Alarm

So you think it's ludicrous to assume that the United States is more dangerous than Iran? Well, think again. And listen to some readers of DIE ZEIT, the German weekly that I work for.

Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff Germany | 65 COMMENTS
Feb 14, 2007 at 9:53 PM
Saul Singer is Editorial Page Editor and author of the weekly column “Interesting Times” for the Jerusalem Post. He is the author of Confronting Jihad: Israel's Struggle and the World After 9/11. Before moving to Israel from the Washington area in 1994, Mr. Singer served for ten years as an advisor on the personal and committee staffs of the United States Congress, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Banking Committee, and Senator Connie Mack.

Drop the Defeatism, A United West Can Triumph

Some Europeans evidently are content being the last one eaten by the Iranian crocodile. But why the defeatism when America and Europe have the power to face Iran down without firing a shot?

Saul Singer Jerusalem, Israel | 23 COMMENTS
Feb 14, 2007 at 3:53 PM
Lamis Andoni is a Middle East consultant for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news station. She has been covering the Middle East for 20 years. She has reported for the Christian Science Monitor, the Financial Times and the main newspapers in Jordan. She was a professor at the Graduate School in UC Berkeley.

America the Dangerous

The U.S. has turned the world into a dictatorship under its own rule.

Lamis Andoni Doha, Qatar | 98 COMMENTS
Feb 14, 2007 at 2:40 PM
Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist. He was born in Jerusalem in 1955. Presently he is a visiting professor at Princeton University in the United States. Mr. Kuttab is the former director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah, Palestine and the founder of AmmanNet, the Arab world's first internet radio station. His personal web page is www.daoudkuttab.com

The Leadership Curse

The U.S. has often been blessed with good leaders, but every now and then it gets a bad one.

Daoud Kuttab Princeton, NJ | 7 COMMENTS
Feb 14, 2007 at 2:30 PM

READER RESPONSE

» John Peddicord | The question posed for this blog should have been: is Bush dangerous to the World? This would avoid having to dredge up past US foreign policy which ...
» Bobster | Mr. Sabit, I think your article has been one of the best that I have read on this site. Europe has every reason to move cautiously in dealing with ...
» Boy from Tehran | LAst September, Ahmadinejad challenged George Bush to a televised debate....let's have that debate and then decide who is saying what and who is more ...
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