History Lesson - John Hawkins

History Lesson - John Hawkins of Right Wing News has an excellent, concise history of anti-Americanism. Hawkins goes over a number of points I'd forgotten; having Europe treat us like a hillbilly cousin goes back to the aftermath of World War I, and has been a consistent theme in every foreign-policy crisis in the past ninety years.

Money quote:

The truth is that if we're doing anything because we expect gratitude from another country, we're going to be sadly disappointed down the road. Maybe some of their citizens may appreciate what we've done, but even that is probably going to be very short-lived. Now why is that? Because as a general rule, I find that many people and all nations tend to decide what's in their best interests first and then come up with all the "moral" reasons why they're taking that position afterwards.

So, I don't worry about anti-Americanism that much. It has always been around and always will be. However, as long as our military and economy stay strong, it'll be in the interest of the other nations in the world to be friendly with us. And if it's in their interest, they'll come up with "moral" reasons why they should agree with/like us on their own -- especially once things start to cool down in the war on terror (although that will be years away). You may think that is a Machiavellian view of the world, but you'll find that it's a very realistic one in a world where politicking between nations is simply a clever way to mask that the law of the jungle is still in effect.