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Dear List, This is an article about a survey carried out in eleven countries in Western Europe. The results should not be surprising.. HZ ------------------------------------- >From the Finnish Daily Helsingin Sanomat http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20031020IE2 Foreign - Monday 20.10.2003 Survey: Finns very critical of United States According to a new survey, Finns are more critical towards the United States than the residents of many other European countries. The survey, commissioned by CNN and Time magazine, revealed that the majority of Finns believe that the United States is only looking out for its own interests in its policies. The survey was carried out in eleven countries in Western Europe. Of the Finnish respondents, 71 percent believed that the U.S. only has its own interests in mind. A mere five percent believe that the U.S. thinks about what would be best for the rest of the world. These answers differ clearly from the averages across all countries. For example, on average, half of the respondents in the survey believed the U.S. thinks only of its own interests. The French, Swiss, and Swedes came closest to the views of the Finns. The U.S. receives the strongest support from the British. Europeans were also asked about their general view of the United States, and how the policies of current President George W. Bush have affected the security of the world. In these questions, the opinions of Finns did not differ much from the European average, but were slightly more critical. Over 40 percent of the Finnish respondents said their attitude towards the U.S. had become more negative during the past twelve months, compared with an average of 35 percent. In Finland, 58 percent estimated that Bush's politics have made the world more unsafe, with the average at 57 percent. In surveys published in January and in May after the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Finns were shown to be strong opponents of the Iraq war. Compared with the May survey, Finns believe the world has become an even more dangerous place. According to Juhani Pehkonen from TNS-Gallup, which conducted the survey in Finland, the answers of Finns in the new survey did not differ much from previous findings. "Perhaps the attitudes were more critical than I would have expected", Pehkonen commented. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk