The Arrogant Empire, Fareed Zakaria’s wide ranging article on America’s place in the world, is a must read for, well, everyone. It captures so many of the themes that have been floating around, half formed, in my head, that I’m twice as glad it was written. This sentence confirms every suspicion that I’ve had about our diplomacy under the Bush administration:

Having traveled around the world and met with senior government officials in dozens of countries over the past year, I can report that with the exception of Britain and Israel, every country the administration has dealt with feels humiliated by it.

Read the whole article, though. Zakaria recognizes that people will be more suspicious of the US because we are the lone superpower, but also clearly illustrates how it’s the abuse of that power that has put us where we are.