[Some political scientists have drawn a distinction between soft power (the power to influence other countries, and especially to convince them to imitate our political and cultural institutions) and hard power. They've argued that the soft power doesn't necessarily follow hard like a wake follows a boat; that our most important foreign policy goals are ultimately only accomplishable by soft power; and lastly, that by showing contempt for soft power -- in short, by not giving a fig for the appearance of fairness -- we'll steadily lose it even as our hard power grows.]
[Perhaps. I'm not sure. But below is an interesting example of curdled soft power -- an inability to produce the effect we want so complete that it's almost like a negative Midas touch.]
[BTW, I think I've mastered how to send links that work for WSJ non-subscribers. I tested this one in particular. But if I'm still wrong, please tell me.]
------------
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=1428690387&pt=Y
PAGE ONE
September 17, 2002
Bush Protest on Human Rights Is Universally Decried in Egypt
As Arab Views of U.S. Grow More Negative, Move Angers Government and Dissidents
By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
CAIRO, Egypt -- When President Bush lodged an unusually tough protest with Egypt last month for its jailing of a top advocate for democracy, he won widespread applause in the U.S. But the move is backfiring on Washington in a way that raises troubling questions about America's standing and policies in the Arab world.
The incident involved Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a sociology professor who received a seven-year prison sentence for sullying the country's reputation abroad and receiving Western funding. Two weeks later, Mr. Bush reacted by telling Cairo he would block any increase in foreign aid to Egypt .
Western pundits and human-rights advocates cheered what they saw as a new willingness in Washington to confront repressive behavior by a Mideast ally, rather than condemning only the strong-arm tactics of sworn enemies such as Iraq. The government of President Hosni Mubarak, of course, protested the U.S. interference, but it was the reaction elsewhere in Egypt that jolted the Bush administration.
Some of the Mubarak regime's fiercest opponents -- including many former colleagues of Mr. Ibrahim in the human-rights community -- rallied to the government's defense. The U.S. move had stirred up longstanding resentments of Western influence, from colonial rule under Britain to Washington's support of Israel and perceived indifference to Palestinian suffering. It was the latest and clearest indication of a painful legacy of the Sept. 11 attacks and the war on terrorism: the belief among Arabs that every U.S. initiative is part of a Washington campaign targeting them.
Many activists here fret that the very ideas of human rights and democracy now have become associated with American influence -- a kiss of death in many parts of the Arab world today. "The Americans are helping the demolition of human- rights organizations here," says Mohammed Zarei, founder of the Cairo-based Human Rights Center for Assistance to Prisoners. "They have made all of us look like agents of the West, like spies, like people who would stop a developing country from getting assistance."
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=1428690387&pt=Y