[Arnfinn Madsen]

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That's a good point. The more I think about it can you really name a "popular" large country in the world. Most of the universally popular countries are very small, like norway or sweden.

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It is not to brag or anything, but having a red passport (Norway and Switzerland) makes you being treated better in most of the world. I forgot to buy train ticket in Italy and I was clearly told that if I had been i.e. American I would been thrown out, but since I was Norwegian it was no problem. Have had a lot of similar experiences.

Likewise on borders, I just walk through while many other nationalities are stopped (after Schengen this is not a big problem in Europe anyhow).

That being said, it is an interesting subject. As you point out, the less powerful a country is the more popular it seems to be. However China has become "hot" so it cannot explain anything. I guess countries that do not interfere in other countries' business is the most popular ones (I advocate for foreign interference).

United States' popularity here is at an all-time low (it borders to hatred). Main reasons for this is very evident, human rights is on top of people consciousness here, and there it is evident the US/Israeli-alliance is one of the worst (general consensus here).

Does it have any political consequences for the US? It has leaked here that the government wanted to oppose harder against US policy but was threatened by US that we could lose our security guarantees. It shows that US is powerful enough to bully around, but the day you are not military and economiccally superior anymore your goodwill crisis will pose a big problem.

Again, look at China vs US, China consciously tries to build a better image. When Rumsfeld is asked about human rights he ridicules the questioner (like today, he reminded the journalist that a released Guantanamo-prisoner was involved in planning terror afterwards), when the Chinese foreign minister was asked the same question he said he was ashamed of the human rights abuses in China.