Unease with America Grows Around the World

No one seems to worry more about America's image around the world or blather more about "American exceptionalism" than the self-anointed super patriots of the Republican Party.  Yet no one is doing more damage to America's image and standing in the world at the moment that these very same far right Republican lunatics.  The message being heard loud and clear around the world is that America cannot even mind its own house, so why should other nations listen to its pontificating on issues, not the least on democratic self-governance.  Right now, the far right of the GOP is trying to destroy America's constitutional system that has until now functioned for 224 years and survived the fratricide of the Civil War.  A piece in Huffington Post looks at the damage being done by the GOP.  Here are excerpts:

An unmistakable sense of unease has been growing in capitals around the world as the U.S. government from afar looks increasingly befuddled — shirking from a military confrontation in Syria, stymied at home by a gridlocked Congress and in danger of defaulting on sovereign debt, which could plunge the world's financial system into chaos.

While each of the factors may be unrelated to the direct exercise of U.S. foreign policy, taken together they give some allies the sense that Washington is not as firm as it used to be in its resolve and its financial capacity, providing an opening for China or Russia to fill the void, an Asian foreign minister told a group of journalists in New York this week.

The U.S. is still a pillar of defense for places in Asia like Taiwan and South Korea, providing a vital security umbrella against China. It also still has strong allies in the Middle East, including Israel and the Gulf Arab states arrayed against al-Qaida and Iran.

But in interviews with academics, government leaders and diplomats, faith that the U.S. will always be there is fraying more than a little.

"The paralysis of the American government, where a rump in Congress is holding the whole place to ransom, doesn't really jibe with the notion of the United States as a global leader," said Michael McKinley, an expert on global relations at the Australian National University.

The political turbulence in Washington and potential economic bombshells still to come over the U.S. government shutdown and a possible debt default this month have sent shivers through Europe.

Germany's influential newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung bemoaned the U.S. political chaos. . . . .  "At the moment, Washington is fighting over the budget and nobody knows if the country will still be solvent in three weeks. What is clear, though, is that America is already politically bankrupt," it said.

As Europe worries about economics, Asian allies watch in some confusion about what the U.S. is up to with its promise to rebalance military forces and diplomacy in the face of an increasingly robust China.

McKinley, the Australian expert, said Syria and the U.S. budget crisis have shaken Australians' faith in their alliance with Washington.   "It means that those who rely on the alliance as the cornerstone of all Australian foreign policy and particularly security policy are less certain — it's created an element of uncertainty in their calculations," he said.

In short, those in the GOP who claim they want to "save America" are on the verge of destroying it.  Frankly, I am not surprised.  The GOP is now largely controlled by the Christofascists and no one lies more often or more thoroughly than the "godly Christian" crowd.