Dismissal of Gen. McChrystal: Frustrations or Disciplinary Action?

Commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan Gen. McChrystal was dismissed by the President Obama after he and his staff had made some inappropriate comments about U.S. Afghan war policy and about various U.S. political leaders and diplomats.

Afghanistan has been the center of U.S. war on terror since October 2001. Afghanistan was attacked primarily to capture Osama Bin Ladin and dismantle the network of Al-Qaeda. Second, to oust Taliban from government in Afghanistan as they had refused to hand over Osama bin Ladin to U.S. Taliban were easily over thrown from government but the prime U.S. mission of capturing Osama had failed so far and they had also failed to really eliminate Taliban from Afghanistan.

Gen. McChrystal remarks show a declining confidence in the campaign and the abilities of the political leadership to lead to any success. For a serving ‘General’ it may not be not appropriate or legal to pass such remarks but on the other side as a realist these remark refer to realities on ground. Does this not mean the American army has lost hope for success in Afghan war? The way Obama administration sharply reacted does not reflect the frustrations on part of the civilian leadership as well? Does the whole situation not show dearth of confidence between civilian and army leadership on the issue of Afghan war?

Afghan war never dominated the social media since Pew started its News Media Index (NMI) in January 2009 but the news of Gen. McChrystal became a top story on the social media as well. Looking at Pew NMI it becomes obvious that bloggers debate show frustrations regarding Afghan war. Mostly the issue of withdrawal comes to the surface repeatedly at various blogs and the issue of ‘success’ & ‘salvation’ remains very dim. Bloggers really captured the frustrations surrounding the issue.

How do you see this whole episode of Gen. McChrystal dismissal? Why an army general will make negative statements about his campaign, or political leadership if he is winning the war? does it not show the dearth of confidence between army generals at ground in Afghanistan and a civilian leadership in U.S?

Can Turkey Really Deliver To Palestinians & The Muslim World?

Last decade has seen a new Turkey; politically stable and economically prosperous. This led to the change in foreign policy mood of the Turkish state. As a result of the last month Freedom Flotilla episode Turkey remained in the headlines of the news channels across the world. Palestinians, as found in the recent survey believe Turkey to be the closest ally.


The survey shows that Palestinians now hope that Flotilla really advocated the Palestinian cause effectively before the international community. They expect that these efforts will result in lifting or softening of Israeli blockade. Turkey played major role in the whole of Freedom Flotilla campaign and this won appreciation from Muslims living all across the world and especially Palestinians.

Following the incident Turkish Prime Minister Tayyib Erdogon declared that he himself would lead a Flotilla to ameliorate Palestinian conditions. Besides Flotilla Turkey has been quite active in addressing the issues related with Muslim countries. Turkey took a clear stand in favor of Iran regarding its nuclear issue. Turkey remained active in Freidns of Pakistan forum. Turkish leadership also remained very mobile in the last couple of years visiting the Muslim countries.

Does Turkey really has the capacity to deliver anything to Palestinians or the Muslim world? AKP at home has been trying to bring forth several reforms but it had not been very successful except for taking bold initiatives. It came to the verge of being banned by the constitutional court regarding the legislation about lifting ban on scarf. Recent surveys also show that CHP popularity is also growing among Turks.

Is AKP taking more interest in the Muslim world related issues to win yet another ballet at home? Current Turkish leadership did not really remained successful in bringing revolutionary changes that it propounded like lifting ban on headscarf’s, will it be able to achieve such a high goals at international front? Should Palestinians really attach more hopes with Turkey to help them win their independent homeland? Should the Muslim world look toward Turkey for providing leadership?

Disillusionment About Obama?

U.S. President Barak Hussein Obama came to White House as one of the most popular leader of U.S. He was equally popular abroad and people took him to be a man of change. He himself chose ‘change’ to be spirit of his presidential campaign. With his election views about U.S. favorability in the world begin to hike and so was the views about U.S. leadership. Far more people across the world expected him to do right things in the international affairs than President Bush. This surge in public opinion about U.S. and its leadership was quite obvious in 2009 opinion polls.

Some 18 months down the line, public opinion though largely intact but has begun to deteriorate. Favorable opinion of U.S. in many countries has started declining except in East Europe where it has ameliorated. The decline in a survey of 22 countreis is between 1 to 10 percentage points, the highest decline is observed in Egypt. Similarly the views of President Obama himself have begun to decline again except in Russia where his views have improved by 4 percentage points. The decline is between 2 to 12 percentage points and the highest decline is observed in Argentina, Mexico, China, Turkey and U.S. itself.


The publics that were highly enthusiastic in 2008 and the same trend sustained through 2009 seems to have become disillusioned about President Obama. In his 18 months in office the larger picture at the international front has remained the same. Economic crisis though beginning to disappear but still people in many countries are struggling. The situation in Afghanistan and Iraq has not much changed and the public demands for withdrawal of forces are still to be materialized. The tension with Iran is continuing without any practical solution for the Iranian Nuclear crisis. The Palestine issue has been revitalized with the Flotilla episode and U.S. role remained ambiguous in this crisis as ever. Similarly on climate change issue public across the world are not happy with the U.S. policies.

The performance of President Obama on the above counts has disillusioned the world that he probably can not deliver beyond a certain limit. Keeping these changing public sentiments across the world and in U.S. itself, how do you feel that President Obama will go down in history as a popular President of U.S? Will he be able to maintain a positive image of himself and U.S. in the world? What steps do you think will be essential for President Obama to take at home and regarding international affairs to maintain his image as a popular President?

Freedom Flotilla and Cyber Public Sphere

The May 31 incident on a Turkish ship that caused 10 lives remained a dominant story on blog for that particular week. It generated a hot debate regarding the Palestine issue on the cyber space. This refers to the decade long debate on potential of Internet for changing our social, political and economic lives.


Like the coffee houses of 18th century where people discussed and debated issues of their common interest, Internet blogs today are providing the same space. Flotilla issue remained a top news story for the week May 31-June 06 on blogs. 32 percent of the news links on blogs were saying something about this issue. Some of these blogs were updated several times a day to cover the ongoing incident followed by protests world wide especially in the Muslim countries. These blogs also discussed how the incident was covered by mainstream media in various countries. Several American News Channels were censured along with BBC.


Mostly the blogs censured Israelis attack but still there was a vocal minority defending the Israelis stance. Whether the bloggers were pro Palestinian or Israel is something else but this whole process on blogs testifies the political potential of Internet. These blogs have really provided a new space where public discussed this issue and showed their sympathies or annoyance about any of the two parties involved. A computer with Internet connection provides you access to this sphere, so it’s a universal one and anyone can be part of it.

Whether it was really a rational critical debate is a difficult philosophical question, but did it really served any end should be pondered at this stage. This debate on blogs must have created more awareness about the Palestine issue and especially about the Gaza blockade episode that might lead to a serious loss of human lives.

Looking at the incident of Freedom Flotilla and blogosphere response to it, do you think that Internet has the potential to provide a new public forum for debate on modern issues of common interest? Does such a debate can really have political implication? Who do these blogs represent, public or individuals?

Muslims Reaction to Israeli Attack on Freedom Flotilla

Last week Israel attacked Gaza bound flotilla that was taking aid to the besieged Palestinian. The voyage was actually a protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The ship was carrying European parliamentarians, civil society representatives, journalists from different countries and the common people as well, most of them were Turks. Israel attacked the ship in international waters that was against international law. The attack took at least ten lives, nine of whom were Turks. Turkish president, prime minister, foreign secretary, and Turkish media censured Israel for this attack. Similar was the out rage in other Muslim countries. However a recent survey in Turkey shows that people were still not satisfied with the Turkish government reaction to Israeli attack. What does Turks and Muslims living in other parts of the world are expecting from their governments?


International community also censured for this attack. Several countries including European as well, Arab League, and Organization of Muslim Conference demanded for an international investigation. However the U.S. reaction to incident was very cautious and it supported an Israeli investigation.

Looking at the survey, what does the Turkish dissatisfaction with their government reaction mean? Is the Turkish reaction representative of all the Muslims living in different parts of the world? Generally we find a gap between public perceptions in predominant Muslim countries and their states official state on several foreign policy issues. Take the example of relations with U.S. or Israel, and war on terror. Somewhat similar seems to be the public feelings on this current episode of flotilla.

The Israeli attack has once again revitalized the Muslims sympathies with Palestinian. Will this further help unite Muslim states on a single stand regarding Palestine issue? Can Muslims states really generate international diplomatic pressures at this point of history against Israel to pay due respect to Palestinian right to co-exists? To what extent this incident bring U.S. pro-Israel policy to lime light?

Summary of Global Opinion Report # 122

This week report consists of 23 surveys;

West & Central Asia-01
Northeast Asia-01
Sub-Saharan Africa-01
East Europe-01
West Europe-01
North America-09
Latin America-02
Australasia-01
Multi-country surveys-04
Cyber world-02

Why Arabs Are Getting Negative of U.S. Leadership?

With the change in office in White House, U.S. image across the world begin to ameliorate and this was also true of Arab countries. President Obama approval rating especially got a stimulus in the Muslim world from his Cairo speech. Primarily his vows to bring ‘Change’ in U.S. and its image as a power in the world helped him improve U.S. deteriorating image. But just over a year since Obama has been in office, some of the Arab countries have again taken a U-turn regarding perceptions about U.S.

A recent Gallup USA survey shows that in some of the Arab countries public percpetions of U.S. have taken a U-Turn. This is especially of true of Egypt-the country that President Obama chose for his address to Muslims. Did he made a wrong choice of the venue? Soon after his speech U.S. image soared up in Egypt and in many Arab countries which shows that probably venue his little significance in this regard. However Egyptians and all the Arabs were highly optimistic with the change in Washington. They had a lot of expectations from Obama. One of the survey conducted by Gallup USA then showed Egyptians priorities for Obama in order to improve U.S-Mulim relations. These priorities equally reflected the concerns in the Muslim world in general. People wanted Obama to take steps to pull out troops from Iraq, remove military bases from Saudi Arabia, support Muslim countries economically and technologically and help them get thier right to make their own governments. However over the last year, public in Muslim countries saw little effort on part of president Obama to achieve these goals.


People across the world always attach high hopes with change, so was the case in the Muslim world. Obama campainging and initial enthusiastic steps to improve U.S-Muslim relation gave a hope to Muslim. But the actual performance of Obama administration diappointed them and again created the air of distrust. This resulted in the U-Turn in several Arabs perceptions about U.S.

How can President Obama restore the trust in the Muslim world?
What initial steps Presidetn Obama may take to ameliorate U.S-Muslim relatons?
Is there any need for another Cairo speech?

Summary of Global Opinion Report # 121

This week report consists of 25 surveys. Two of these are multi-country surveys while the rest of 23 are national surveys.
Middle East & North Africa-01 (Multi-country survey)

Southeast Asia-01,
Sub-Saharan Africa-01 (Multi-country survey)
East Europe-05
West Europe-03
North America-10
Latin America-04
For detailed report please visit Gilani Foundation.

Mexicans and Americans Perceptions About Drug War in Mexico: The Question of Morality

It has been decades that drug related stories from Latin America remained in the news. Political significance of this issue got reinforced in the last decade with most of Latin American countries succeeding in stabilizing their economies one after another resulting in the increased trade within the region along with the increasing number of Hispanic immigrants in U.S. It has been long since Mexico initiated its war against the drug cartels but still signs of curtailing these cartels and dealers are out of sight. What are the causes of Mexican failure? This was the subject of a bi-country survey this week. It was conducted in U.S. and Mexico.


The poll shows the environment of distrust and insecurity due to the prevalence of drug cartels. Such feelings are more dominant in Mexico than in U.S. States bordering Mexico. The views on both sides of the fence are almost identical on several aspects. Publics’ in both the countries blame drug cartels to be responsible for this war and on both sides it is perceived that drug cartels are winning the war. So there is a weird disappointment that despite two states fighting the cartels, one being a super power-U.S. are still not able to achieve their goals.

U.S. being a huge market for drugs has been cited as one of the main cause on both sides which stimulates the whole activity for making profits. The second most prominent cause raised by the publics on both sides is the corruption prevalent in authorities dealing with this issue on both sides.

Both of these causes suggest that the root of such issues lie in the declining standards of morality than anything else. Drugs and corruption of course had been there in history but not on such huge scales as in today’s world. Our changing life styles might have something to do with them. People in this consumeristic world are always in search of money and luxuries initially and then peace and serenity.

This suggest that in order to really win war against drug cartels, the states should bring such positive change in the society through legal and material infrastructure that drug market gets eliminated. Before putting further pressure on Mexico, should U.S. not take steps at home to curb the drug market? This should be equally applicable to countries across the globe. Similarly is it possible for Mexico or U.S. or any country to win a war against drug cartels without wining a war against corruption?

Summary of Global Opinion Polls Report # 120

This report consists of 25 surveys including three multi-country surveys.
West & Central Asia—02
Northeast Asia—01
East Europe—02
West Europe---04
North America—09
Latin- America—03
Australasia—01.
You can reach the complete report at Gilani Foundation.

Constitutional Reforms and Future Of Turkey-The Most Democratic Muslim State

Turkey is among the most prosperous and democratic Muslim countries. Unfortunately it also has long history of military involvement in politics and banning of political parties in the name of preserving the secular traditions of the Turkish Republic established by Kemal Attaturk. The current constitutional reform package has initiated a hot debated in all the political circles in Turkey. Some critics say it will result in the banning of AKP and early parliamentary elections. Is Turkey going to see the banning of yet another party? Will this not further hurt the Turkey’s bid to join EU?


Since AKP came to power in 2003 there have been several occasions when it came into conflict with constitutional courts and military.Despite having majority in parliament, several of the initiatives of AKP have been stopped by the judiciary. In 2008, the constitutional court annulled a bill aimed at ending the ban on Islamic headscarves at universities. This year, the AKP was irked by the decision of the HSYK, a panel of the judiciary known for its anti-government stance, to fire a prosecutor who was investigating an alleged coup attempt against the government. Now the AKP says the constitutional court and the HSYK need to be reformed. Critics say the government wants to control the judiciary. Similarly it is also alleged that if such an amendment is passed the secular nature of the Turkish republic will cease to exist.

These reforms will make some 30 amendments to 1982 constitution. The reforms deal with appointment of judges, banning of political parties, and trying the military leaders in civilian courts along with several other changes suggested in the package. One might say this package directly hurts the interest of the constitutional courts and military leaders.

European Union, U.S, and legal scholars have welcomed the reforms. The Turkish public also seems to support the reform package. The polls show that if referendum is going to be held that half of the Turks will vote in favor of these reforms. Similarly Turks still consider Tayyib Eurdogan to be most trustworthy politician in the country. But the opposition parties and circles of constitutional courts seem to oppose it staunchly. The overall political environment is getting heated on both sides. Erdogan vows that they will either write history or become history. The opponents are equally fierce.


Amid this situation, do you think constitutional courts will dismantle the AKP efforts once again as they did for AKP efforts to uplift hijab ban from universities in the country? Will AKP also become history like Rifah and other political parties? Will the opposition parties keep on playing only confrontational politics and do not help AKP strengthen democracy in the country? Is AKP really trying to do drastic harm to the nation’s secular setup?

Summary of Global Opinion Polls Report # 119

This week report consists of 22 surveys. One of these is a multi-country survey while the rest of 21 are national surveys from across the globe.
Central and West Asia-02
Sub-Saharan Africa-01
East Europe-02
West Europe-01
North America-12
Latin America-02
Australasia-01
Multi-nation survey-01
You can reach the detailed report at Gilani Foundation.

Americans or American Government Is Turning to Prayers?

National Prayer Day which U.S. Congress designated in 1954, has generated a lot of debate regarding the issue that religious practices should be/not be patronized by the state. The opponents view is that a secular state has nothing to do with prayers. But are Americans or the United States is really secular? This has remained the topic of a light debate for years. The U.S. currency notes also their faith in God through the statement written on it “In God we trust”. 

The American public seems to highly support the idea of National Prayer Day. A Gallup USA survey shows that opposition to National Prayer Day is very low. Just 5 percent of total Americans and 9 percent of those for whom ‘religion is not important’ oppose this prayer. About six in ten in the overall American public and three fourth of those for whom ‘religion is important’ support the idea.

Over eight in ten Americans say there is God who answers prayers, while about one in ten say there is a God who does not answer prayers. On the other hand just 5 percent believe that no God exists.

These figures show that Americans are no less religious than Muslims living in Asia. None of the Muslim state has made any law about any particular prayer day and has left these things for the Muslim publics to do according to their own wishes. Do such efforts on the part of U.S. state does not show the religiosity of the State of U.S? The U.S. and Americans are passing through difficult times ever since 9/11 and more recently since the economic recession. Will it be right to say that in these difficult times Americans and their State both are now turning towards God?

Summary of Global Opinion Report # 118

This week report consists of 18 surveys. Two of these are multi-country surveys while the rest of 16 are national surveys of various countries.

Northeast Asia. 02

East Europe. 01

West Europe. 02

North America. 09

Latin America. 01

Australasia. 01
Multi-country surveys. 02

For detailed Global Opinion Report No. 118, please visit Gilani Foundation. 

Women Education in Muslim Societies

A general perception is that women have very low status in Muslim societies. Similarly it is assumed that Muslims put more emphasis on educating their boys than girls. A Pew survey shows a very dissimilar picture to such stereotypes. In eight predominantly Muslim countries, an overwhelmingly majority of Muslim respondents stress equally on educating the boys as well as the girls, showing that Muslims also realize the significance of education for both sexes.

There are several such misconceptions about women status which are wrongly attributed with the religion. Muslims emphasis on education for girls shows that they know women play significant role in the development of any society as a family member and as a citizen of the state. It is misperceived that women in Muslim societies are debarred of their fundamental rights and it is due to Islam. It is not to claim that women in Muslim societies do not have any human rights problem. It is to note here as well that several women become the victim of brutalities each year in Muslim societies just as they face similar problems in any other society. But it should be made clear that abuses against women are not due to Islam rather the root cause of these abuses lie in the cultural heritage that Muslims inherited from pre-Islamic societies. Had it any ideological reasons than no Muslim or very small minority would have supported equal education right for girls. By increasing literacy rate in Muslim women, awareness level among Muslim women will increase and they will be able to defend their rights more appropriately if any thing goes wrong.

Nevertheless negative perceptions about Muslim societies are very common. Are women really not enjoying basic rights in Muslim societies? What is the possible reason for such negative perception? Is it western media that shows such pictures of women in Muslim societies?

Summary of Global Opinion Report # 117

This week report consists of 23 surveys. Three of these are multi-country surveys while the rest of 20 are national surveys from various regions of the world;

Northeast Asia 01

East Europe 01

West Europe 05

North America 12

Latin America 01

Multi-country surveys 03


For complete Global Opinion Report # 117, please visit Gilani Foundation. 

Can Liberal Democrats Win Election in U.K?

Parliamentary elections are going to be held in U.K next month. Labour Party has been in power since 1997. Electoral history of U.K shows that only two parties i.e. Labour Party and Conservatives dominated the 20^th century. Liberal party, a third British political party remained very unsuccessful and it merged with Social Democratic Party to form Liberal Democrats in 1988. Last week polls surprisingly show that Lib-Dems is now leading the pre-election polls.

Conservatives after ruling for several lost their appeal in the last decade of 20^th century. Labour got majority in 1997, 2001 and 2005 election with Tony Blair as Prime Minister. Iraq war proved to be detrimental for both President Bush and PM Tony Blair along with deteriorating economies. These resulted in shift in voting preferences for Americans and Democratic candidate won the election with the slogan of ‘change’.

Do people in Britain also want change? They have seen Conservatives and Labour parties are they now going to give a try to Lib-Dems? Pre-elections poll showed for several months that Conservatives were leading the election campaign. But the polls conducted after the first debate on April 15, public support for Lib-Dems have increased. Now they are either matching the Conservatives or they have got lead over Conservatives which was leading prior to the debate and governing Labour turns to be the third political party in the minds of people.


Can Lib-Dems maintain this lead? Are the voters in U.K also tired of Labour Party and want a total change by bringing a new party to 10-Downing Street? Was the merger of Liberal Party with Social Democratic Party was the right decision to form Liberal Democrats?  

Summary of Global Opinion Report # 116

This week report consists of 24 surveys. Two of these are multi-country surveys while the rest of 22 are national surveys. These national surveys are from;

Middle East (2)

Southeast Asia (1)

East Europe (2)

West Europe (3)

North America (12)

Latin America (2)


For detailed Global Opinion Report # 116 please visit Gilani Foundation. 

Dismantling Settlements Is Creating Polarization in Israel?

Israelis settlements in West Bank have been one of the major hurdles in the resolution of Israeli-Palestinian crisis in accordance with the two state solution. Palestinians views about this issue have been quite clear that the want an end to these settlements that would lead the way for the eventual creation of Palestinian state. But in Israel the public perceptions on this issue have remained quite anti-evacuation.

A recent survey in Israel shows a kind of shift in the general Israeli public attitude towards this issue. Opposition to dismantling these settlements have dropped remarkably and support for this idea has reached as high as 60 percent. This is the highest support for this idea recorded since 2005. Who will get most affected by the idea of dismantling settlements? Of course the settlers, the settler’s perceptions on this issue are widely different from the general Israeli public. Almost seven in ten (69%) settlers oppose the idea of dismantling these settlements. This is in sharp contrast to general Israeli public. Mistakenly 57% of the settlers believe that general Israeli public is also opposed to the idea of evacuation, which is totally the reverse of the reality. A large majority of general Israeli public believe that motive for living in settlements should be attached with religious or missionary zeal but the settlers stated that they are more motivated by personal quality of life, housing and community then religious or missionary objectives.

These findings suggest that settlers and general Israeli public have widely different perceptions about dismantling the settlements in Judea and Samaria. Moreover the settlers have misperceptions about the general Israeli views about evacuating West Bank settlements. Does this suggest that general Israeli pubic and settlers are moving towards two different poles? Setters would definitely be the most affected group if Israeli government decides to evacuate, so will this decision create internal groups in public and Israeli politics? On the other hand if Israel continues with these settlements will there ever be peace between Palestinians and Israelis?

Summary of Global Opinion Report # 115

This week report consists of altogether 27 surveys.
Multi-country Surveys: 03
National Surveys: 24

These 24 national surveys are from;
Middle East: 02
Southeast Asia: 01
Northeast Asia: 01
East Europe: 01
West Europe: 04
North America: 13
Latin America: 02

For detailed Global Opinion Report # 115 please visit Gilani Foundation.

State of Democracy in Hungary

At the eve of 2010 parliamentary elections in Hungary, surveys show the Hungarians disappointment with the state of democracy in their country. Hungarians were among the earliest and most enthusiast to endorse the shift from communism to free market economy and democracy. Twenty years down the line today their perceptions of both the free market economy and democracy the way they experienced it are dismal.
Among the Central and East European countries they are the most dissatisfied nation with democratic institutions and practice. Similarly in a comparative perspective they have the most disappointing image of free market economy today for which they were very enthusiastic two decades ago. They feel they are worse off today than they were under communism. Does it mean that they are rejecting democracy and free market economy?


Hungarians still highly admire the basic principles of democracy. They believe it is very imperative to have multiparty elections, free speech, religious freedom, and civilian control of military in the country. But they do not find such values in their system. These show they have the spirit to support democracy but it is the functioning of democratic institutions in their county that they disapprove. What have been the major problems for Hungarian democracy?

The survey findings bring attention to two significant issues. Ethnic and religious relations within Hungary may be one of the problems that the nation is facing. A high majority of Hungarians (69%) have an unfavorable view of Roma one of a key ethnic minority. Similarly a sizable number of Hungarians (33 percent & 29 percent) have an unfavorable view of Romanians and Jews respectively. This reflects a problem that is quite common in African or Asian democracies. Can Hungarians put together as a nation is a big ask for a democracy which is just about two decades old?


The same survey also discovers that Hungary is no exception in the region facing problems of corruption. Over seven in ten states corruption as the nation’s most malicious problem. I personally feel that corruption might be the real cause of mal functioning of democracy in Hungary. Can we expect Hungary to be a more transparent democracy five years down the line? What should be the preferences of newly elected government so that people’s trust in the political system of the country can be restored?

Summary of Global Opinion Polls Report # 114

Global Opinion Report no. 114 consists of 18 surveys. One of these survey is a multi-country survey regarding the issue of 'democracy' in Central and Eastern Europe. The rest of 17 are national surveys from various countries.
The complete Global Opinion Report No. 114 can be reached at Gilani foundation.

Is Ukrainian ‘No’ to NATO, Part of Russian Resurgence?

Ukraine pursued a policy to be part of NATO for six years but the current government of Viktor Yanukovich decided to take a U-turn. Ukrainian parliament is going to pass a law that will restrict Ukraine from joining the military alliance. Ukrainian government decision seems to have popular support as well. A Pew Research Center survey shows that more than half of the Ukrainian respondents have an unfavorable opinion of NATO and they are opposed to Ukraine entry into NATO. This opposition is highest in ethnically Russian areas of Ukraine. Somewhat similar are the views about NATO in Belarus, another neighbor of Ukraine and Russia.


The surveys show that Ukrainians have a very positive opinion of Russia. Ukrainian will be approving a suggestion to have further closer ties with Russia and will support the exclusion of visas and customs. This shows that the immediate neighbors of Russia perceive Russian influence as positive except for Georgia. The opinions on Central Asian side are somewhat mixed. Keeping in view the fact of stabilizing Russian economy and military strength reflected in its foreign policy, Russian resurgence seems to be underway. Will Russia be able to extend its positive image beyond these immediate neighbors in East Europe? Are Russians still thinking of a Greater Russia including some parts of Soviet Union back to its territory? Public support for United Russia has been on the rise for the last few years but can it really be translated into political terms?

Summary of Global Opinion Polls Report # 113

This report consists of 22 surveys. One of these surveys is a multi-country survey while the rest of 21 are national surveys.

Complete Global Opinion Report can be reached at Gilani Foundation.

Can We Expect Peace Between Israel & Palestinians?

Israelis Palestinian issue has been a burning for more than half of a century. It led to several large scale and limited wars in twentieth and twenty first centuries. After being disowned from their territory Palestinians have been struggling to attain their statehood in whatever the territory they were left with. But they could not achieve that goal due to policies of Israel. Palestine conflict is one of such issues that reveal the failure of the entire civilized world to help them reach a settlement.


The western world led by U.S along with some support in the Arab countries is bent upon compelling Iran from acquiring nuclear technology but the Palestinian issue seems less significant to them. At times the lip service is made against Israel expansionist policies but they never talk of isolating Israel by implementing sanctions against it. How can Palestinians expect peace with Israel when the whole of their nations stands behind their leadership in carrying out the illegal construction? Does Israel really want peace with Palestinians? What should be the role of international community for protecting the rights of Palestinians? If U.S. can launch a whole scale diplomatic campaign for paving the way to impose further sanctions against Iran than what should U.S. do for Palestinians? Is it not the failure of those leaders who talk of global governance and ignore the sufferings of people like Palestinians or Kashmiris?

Summary of Global Opinion Polls Report # 112

This week report consists of 21 surveys. One of these survey is a multi-country survey of Gallup USA covering 155 countries, while the rest of 20 surveys are national surveys.

Complete Global Opinion Report No. 112 can be reached at Gilani Foundation.

Water Scarcity and Future of The World

Population growth, urban development, farm production, and climate change is increasing competition for fresh water and producing shortages so acute that virtually every industry in the world anticipates sweeping systemic transformation over the next decade in their strategic planning, production practices, and business models. This is the conclusion of a Globescan leaders survey on water scarcity.

This suggests that water scarcity will have profound impacts on global businesses. Other than business and economy the water crisis will have significant political and social consequences as well. It can be easily comprehended that increasing gap between fresh water supply and demand will lead to several issues with in nations and conflicts between neighboring nations. These conditions possess potential to bring world wide changes; Industries locations might change towards places where fresh water supply is ensured, hydro power projects might suffer resulting in energy disorders and impacts on economies, farming cycles disorder will lead to famines, social life styles may get hurt along with health hazards if the number of people having access to water declines further instead of increasing. These conditions may pose eventual threat to life at this planet.


These conditions definitely demand more responsible reaction from all institutions involved and citizens themselves. Under such circumstances as a citizen of this planet what role would you expect from states, industrialists, and citizens?

Disapproval of Taliban: Victory for U.S. or Disapproval of violence in Pakistan & Afghanistan?

Last week Gallup USA survey made headlines in newspapers regarding the increasing unpopularity of Taliban’s in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The survey shows that Taliban has lost their approval in both of these countries and there is very little support for them left in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is especially true of Pakistan according to this survey result where just 4 percent of people still believed that Taliban’s are having positive impact in some areas of the country while almost 8 in ten said they are having negative impact. Should this be considered a victory for U.S? Or it might be considered as a support for the Pakistan government military initiative against Taliban.

Pakistanis witnessed the deadliest attacks in the year 2009 after the military launched campaign against Taliban’s in South Waziristan. Hundreds of people lost their lives in suicide and car bomb blasts in almost all the major cities of Pakistan. North West Frontier province was the most affected one and as a result the Taliban today has least support in that province. Baluchistan was least affected by the violence wave and as a result still a quarter of residents see some positive aspects of Taliban. So the frequent incidents of violence which inflicted heavy loses to civilians made Taliban unpopular in Pakistan.

Disapproval of Taliban did not mean approval of U.S or war on terror, even probably not the approval of Pakistani’s military offensive against Taliban. As at the same point of time we see a further decline in U.S. favorability ratings in Pakistan and Afghanistan which was already poor. Pakistanis support for military campaign against Taliban is also correlated with the increase in violence in Pakistan.

Does this not suggests that people in Pakistan and Afghanistan have not only disapproved Taliban rather they have also disapproved U.S. leadership and its war on terror. Does it also not suggest that people in these countries are more inclined towards peaceful means of settlement rather than the method adopted by U.S i.e. the war on terror?

Christmas Day Attack and the Fate of Nigeria

On Christmas day a Nigerian Umar Faruk Abdulmatlab made a failed attempt to blow Detroit bound airliner. This has been widely condemned across the world including Nigeria as well. Overwhelming majority of Nigerians condemned Umar Faruk and feel that this will have a negative impact on the image of Nigeria in the world. President Obama could not speak with his Nigerian counterpart as he has been out of country for now about two months due to medical reasons. Moreover the relations of Nigeria were already not very good with the United States for the last few years. Coupled with the fact that Nigeria is the second Muslim country after Palestinian territories where there is a high support for suicide attack. Eventually Untied States under such circumstances blacklisted Nigeria.

This would ultimately have consequences for Nigerian image abroad. The above facts raise several questions in mind. The nature of terrorism these days is transnational just as the issue of climate change or financial crisis. Often states are not backing the terrorists which seem to be the case of Nigeria as well. But the states or nations have to pay for the acts that have actually been committed by a single person or a group of persons. Blacklisting Nigeria means all the Nigerians will now be looked at suspiciously.

Keeping in view the fact that U.S. blacklisted Nigeria for genuine apprehensions but should it be considered as a right approach to deal with such crisis? Of course it is a very complex and sensitive issue. But Nigerian are after all humans like Americans. They are also very sensitive, and all of them are not like Umar Faruk. Do we not need to restore the confidence in each others nations to deal with the issue of terrorism today?

Summary of Global Opinion Report 109

This report consists of 23 national surveys. This week no multi-country survey could be added to the report.
Full text of the report can be reached at Gilani Foundation.

Why do American People Always Sympathize With Israel?

U.S. has been playing a major role in Middle East since times Israel was not established. American people had been having very positive view of Israel and felt more sympathetic towards Israel in conflict with Palestinians. A recent survey of Gallup USA shows that more than six in ten (63%) Americans say they feel sympathetic towards Israel in this conflict. This is a new high level of support since first Gulf war when Iraqi missile hit Israel. Keeping in view such large of sympathesirs for Israel in U.S, can anybody expect justice for Palestinians or even peace between Israel and Palestine?

When there are sympathies for one party in a conflict, you can not expect justice from the arbitrator. The way U.S. has supported Israel on all the occasions historically can be comprehended keeping in view a vast supportive public ground in U.S. Israel is among the most favored nations for Americans and Palestinians on the contrary are the least on the same count. How did Americas generate such perceptions? It probably be by the rocket attack of Palestinians across border or possibly be stone missiles thrown at Israeli soldiers by Palestinian civilians. These rockets of course result in injuries for several Israelis and might be the source for acquiring sympathies.

But on the other hand thousand of Palestinians; women, children, old and yound have lost their lives, why their miseries could not not generate similar sympathies for them among American people? Or why brutalities against innocent civilians could not generate dissatisfaction for Israel within Americas? Mostly people say American 'media' is responsible for this fact. Almost all media giants in U.S. in particular and the world in general are owned by Jews. So they present the stories in a way to attract sympathies for themselves and dissatisfaction for Palestinians. But some might say that today there are thousands of internet websites that are providing objective information about this issue through reports, videos, images, and interviews and Americans especially are among the top internet users in the world. So the effectof conventional media alone can not produce such high figures in favor of Israel as have been mentioned above.

What do you think are the factors shaping positive opinions of Israel among Americas? Why do Americans feel more sympathethic towards Israel? Why do Palestinians despite losing men, women, and children are not able to acquire the support of American publics?

Global Opinion Report 108

This report comprises of 29 surveys from around the world. Two of these surveys are multi-country in nature. These two deal with Arab world and North Africa. The rest of 27 surveys are national surveys from various countries. This week report covered public opinion in Middle East, North Africa, West and Central Africa, East Europe, West Europe, North America, Latin America and Australasia.

For Complete report on Global Public Opinion please visit Gilani foundation.

Will internet make us more intelligent or stupid?

Every now and then we hear that internet can give you information about this and that due to availablility of vast info resources over its cyber space. But does it make us more intelligent? This was the subject of a Pew survey along with future expectations as a result of increasing facilities over internet. An owewhelming majority of around 80 percent says internet will make humans more intelligent ten years from now. I feel it very difficult to digest. Whatever the developments we may see in communication technology and availablity of info but human brain will be human brain. It will not become a computer itself. Supporters may say that millions of pages of data can help one get more knowledge in less time and almost free of cost. Moreover developments in the field of artificial intelligence will aslo be helpful in incresing human intelligence.

Internet is a good source of info and artificial intelligence may help in finding the relevant material in comparatively short time. But on the other hand, human brain capacity to assimilate and absorb this knowledge will not go beyond a certain limit as it is gifted by nature. Some practices and proecess of learning may increase that capacity but not beyond a certain limit. One can not say more books you purchase, more you will be intelligent and knowledgeable. Several say google is severly damaging 'concentration' and that is not with out reason. In depth reading habit is changing into mere skimming through pages one after another. Does it not seem illogical that internet will increase human intelligence? Those about 80 percent respondents to Pew who believe that internet will make them more intelligent, see to be mere enthusiasts?

Is Internet a good place to find a life partner?

On the eve of Valentine day, BBC World Service poll of 19 countries brought forward some sepctacular findings. Three in ten across the world believe that internet is a good place to find a boy/girl friend. Surprisingly, the largest numbers of respondenst who believe in this usage of internet are from Pakistan (60%) and India (59%). The least support for this idea is in U.S, South Korea and Britain.

In general the more developed nations are comparatively less enthusiastic about the usage of internet for dinding the spouse. This is quite a puzzle that maximum support is in Pakistan- a society which is generally considered as vulnerable to extremist ideas probably becuase by and large it is a traditional society. One would expect that highest support for this idea in the Musim world might have been in Turkey, being an advanced and liberal society but it is not the case, almost six in ten disagree with this usage of internet in Turkey.

Thinking of India & Pakistan in a larger context suggest that both share history & to a large extent customs and culture. Both stand unmatched in their support for this idea. Does it mean that this high level of support refer to the changing attitudes of their youth towards their traditional marriage systems? May it be considered as a reaction to the traditional system? People in developing countries generally appreciate 'change'. They attach high hopes with the 'change'. As it is a new way of selecting spouse, that is probably the reason of its popularity among indo-pak respondents?