Comment Re:ISIS just burned a man alive (Score 1) 517
By any measure I know the U.S. is the most diplomatic nation on earth. [For instance, ] in terms of foreign AID.
Foreign aid is a vehicle for exerting influence: for instance, to open foreign markets to US exports. You'd be a fool to think there were no strings attached. It's logical (at least in terms of game theory) for the US to exploit it's influence to its advantage, and we certainty do: take, for instance, our strong-arming intellectual property laws into numerous countries. Those laws support US exports (which tend to be soft on tangible goods and heavy on services and content).
I'm not criticizing any of this BTW, just describing the ground in front of us. The concern arises where maybe we're consuming accumulated good will for short term gains. Obviously, ISIS is going to view us as the great satan no matter what we do. But there 7 billion other people out there, and our long term ability to shape the world rests in part on their perception of our government.
We are number one the UK is number 2 the rest aren't even in the same league.
The US drops to the bottom of the list once you account for GDP. To be fair, that doesn't account for military presence [which saves Europeans a bundle on defense spending], military intervention [when it's not, um, massively misguided], and the generosity of the American public itself (thru churches and humanitarian organizations).