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The U.S. and the World
A Series of Conversations About How America is Viewed Globally
 Listen to Part 1 - Ivan Menshikov, Russia
Listen to Part 2 - Mona Makram Ebeid, Egypt
Listen to Part 3 - Josef Joffe, Germany, and Francois Delahaye, France
Listen to Part 4 - Adetoun Ilumoka, Nigeria
Listen to Part 5 - Rashmi Magotra, India
Hear listeners' letters about the series.
Ivan Menshikov, a vice president of the Russian oil company TNK.
Credit: Courtesy Ivan Menshikov
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Adetoun Ilumoka, founder and executive director of the Nigeria-based Empowerment and Action Research Centre, a not-for-profit social change organization.
Credit: Courtesy Adetoun Ilumoka
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Josef Joffe, editor of Germany's Die Zeit newspaper.
Credit: Courtesy Die Zeit
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Francois Delahaye, general manager of the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris.
Credit: Hotel Plaza Athénée
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Aug. 4-8, 2003 -- The United States' popularity dropped among many nations as it led a war to topple the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. This week, Morning Edition gauges opinions about America in a series of conversations with a variety of people from around the world.
We'll talk to people whose jobs bring them into contact with the United States, through trade, travel, journalism, teaching or social services. While almost all of participants are critical of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, many say they still find much to admire in the ideals that America stands for.
In the first interview, NPR's Renee Montagne talks to Ivan Menshikov, a vice president at TNK, Russia's third-largest oil company. His job is to obtain financing for oil deals, including U.S.-backed loans.
Menshikov says the United States has "strange international ambitions." He cites the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as examples. But he says Russians like America's movies, music and lifestyle. They also admire America's entrepreneurial spirit and the independence of the legislative branch of government. He says the intense scrutiny of the Bush administration over its rationale for going to war against Iraq "shows that basic democratic rights, freedoms and values definitely exist in the U.S... We envy having this strong social capital which can correct any administration's mistakes."
Listen to Part 1
Coming conversations include:
NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with Mona Makram Ebeid, former deputy in Egypt's Parliament. She teaches part-time at the American University in Cairo's political science department.
Listen to Part 2
Inkseep interviews Josef Joffe, editor of the German newspaper Die Zeit and Montagne talks with Francois Delahaye, general manager of the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris.
Listen to Part 3
Montagne interviews Adetoun Ilumoka, founder and executive director of the Nigeria-based Empowerment and Action Research Centre, a not-for-profit social change organization focusing on health and social justice issues.
Listen to Part 4
Inskeep talks with Rashmi Magotra, general manager of Warren Travels, a division of India's Warren Tea Ltd.
Listen to Part 5
In Depth
 June 3, 2003: Poll: U.S.-Led War in Iraq Widens Rift with Europe
June 4, 2003: A Tavis Smiley Show discussion of the world's opinion of the United States after the Iraq war.
Jan. 23, 2003: Josef Joffe participates in a Talk of the Nation discussion on the U.S. stance on Iraq.
May 22, 2002: Joffe discusses Germany's growing frustration with the United States' unilateralist role.
July 6, 2003: Clyde Prestowitz, a trade negotiator in the Reagan administration, discusses strained relations as a result of the Bush administration's unilateralist approach.
Dec. 4, 2002: Poll: Anti-American Sentiment Builds Overseas
Sept. 9, 2002: Going It Alone on Foreign Policy
Other Resources
Read the results of a June 2003 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press on world opinions about the United States.
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