{UAH} Myth about America’s role in the world: EM this is for you

There are so many exaggerations and plain untruths out there about how the United States operates in the world

Read more: Here is a list of myths about USA from politico.com.

The world hates Americans

John Negroponte, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and director of national intelligence under President George W. Bush

The biggest myth out there is that "people hate us" around the world. I have served at eight diplomatic postings abroad in four different continents and always encountered respect and admiration for what the United States stands for. Our political and economic systems are the envy of many across the globe and a magnet to millions seeking to reach our shores as visitors, immigrants or refugees. There are, to be sure, those who find fault with what America stands for, even to the point of outright hatred; but I am convinced, based on more than five decades of having lived and traveled abroad, that they represent a very small, albeit vocal, minority. American can and does stand tall among nations of the world, and we are still looked to for a strong global leadership role.

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The CIA is a secret superpower

Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist

The most bizarre myth I encounter in my travels is that the CIA is this omniscient, omnipotent organization that manages to pull strings all over the world and make things work. These conspiracy theories attribute to the CIA miraculous abilities and language skills; as a taxpayer, I only wish that they were true. You'd think the Ray Davis affair might have taught Pakistanis in particular something of the CIA's limitations. In fact, of course, the CIA has its fair share of incompetents who struggle with English, let alone foreign languages.

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American foreign policy is driven by morality

Stephen Walt, professor of international affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School

There are two myths that habitually infect U.S. foreign policy discourse. The first is the myth that U.S. foreign policy is powerful shaped by moral concerns. Nothing could be further from the truth: The United States has allied with brutal dictators, killed millions in illegal wars and through economic sanctions, and turned a blind eye to various atrocities whenever U.S. interests weren't involved. Like with other great powers, in short, U.S. foreign policy is driven primarily by realpolitik; by the desire to maximize U.S. power and primacy for as long as possible.

A second and related myth is the notion that Washington always has the right answer to assorted world problems. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright famously said that the United States "stands taller and sees farther than others do," but there's scant evidence to support that self-flattering notion. The United States may not be as prone to folly as some other states, but it is certainly not immune from it either. Just look at our inept Middle East diplomacy, our mishandling of relations with Russia and that little kerfluffle on Wall Street back in 2008.

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America is stronger alone

Madeline Albright, former U.S. secretary of state

What drives me the most crazy is the myth that our country's power is diminished when we cooperate with other countries to achieve our national security interests. We are, as President Clinton said and I have often said since, the indispensable nation to this day. But there is nothing in the definition of "indispensable" that says "alone." Another way to put it would be to engage in multilateral diplomacy, something I dabbled in once. The problem many Americans seem to have with "multilateralism" as a term is that it has too many syllables and ends in "-ism"! What it really means is "partnerships." Our country can be stronger and more effective when it engages in partnerships—with allies, with businesses, with civil society—to make our country and the world a better place.

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Americans are more generous – and bigger global peacekeepers

Charles Kenny, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and author of The Upside of Down: Why the Rise of the Rest Is Good for the West

America is really generous giving to the world, and especially when you account for private philanthropy. For a start, it isn't clear why the rest of us get credit for the fact that the Gateses and Warren Buffett gave away the bulk of their fortunes. But as importantly, it simply isn't true. Private development assistance in the United States equals 0.2 percent of gross national income—the same as government development assistance. Private development assistance in the United Kingdom also equals 0.2 percent of gross national income—while government assistance equaled 0.6 percent in 2011. Add the two together, and the United States is one-half as generous as Great Britain — and two-fifths as generous as Sweden.

Another persistent myth is about America's outsized role in peacekeeping when in fact the United States provides a fraction of 1 percent of United Nations peacekeeping forces—which, especially after the last 10 years, look a little more effective at keeping the peace than go-it-alone U.S. efforts. America does have airlift and sealift capacities that are the envy of the world and plays a vital supporting role in some of those U.N. missions, but it is developing countries that do most of the heavy lifting in terms of troop numbers.

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The United States has all the answers

Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT and author of Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection

What drives me craziest is the idea that United States has the ideal solution to all problems and that, by exporting what we know how to do well to the developing world, we'll address endemic problems. The desire to do something helpful, combined with an implicit assumption that people in poor countries have no thoughts on how to solve their own problems, inevitably leads to failure. I see this problem in high-visibility campaigns like Kony 2012 and in the well-meaning, technically sophisticated work that comes out of my home academic institution—it's a tension I wrestle with in my own work.

In many cases, there's better thinking about complex social, environmental and developmental problems coming from local entrepreneurs, scholars and activists than from well-meaning innovators from abroad. But it's hard for innovators in Africa, Asia and other parts of the developing world to find financing, technical support and visibility for their solutions. We'd benefit greatly from crushing the myth that the solution to problems of international development comes solely from U.S. universities and labs, and celebrating the innovation and creativity emerging from the developing world.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/myths-about-americas-role-in-the-world-102409.html#ixzz2r2FqEwJz