I have talked to a range of ordinary Europeans and they all say, in the face of the earnest shoulder-to-shoulder rhetoric of their leaders, that America got itself into this hole by its arrogant disregard for what others think.

This is not what Americans want to hear at this time of grief and anger. Yet they have to know that their actions produce reactions. It is not for nothing that anti-American resentment is on the rise all over the world.

Such sentiment is especially strong in Europe, where there is astonishment at the way the new Bush administration has plowed ahead with its unilateral agenda of national missile defense, ignoring the rest of the world's opinions and concerns.

Outside the United States, people have heard Washington's mantra on the need to seize upon this special post-Cold War moment to gain global militarily superiority, and they don't like what they hear.

But international perceptions of American arrogance didn't begin with President George W. Bush. Under Bill Clinton, America began the new millennium as the most heavily militarized nation on Earth. Despite the end of the Cold War, Washington provocatively expanded NATO toward Russia's borders and made only paltry efforts to reduce superpower nuclear arsenals.

The Bush administration, with its determination to abandon the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, now seems unconcerned that such steps will torpedo international arms control agreements and provoke a dangerous arms race. This American administration has even hinted it would understand if China increases its nuclear forces and tests new nuclear weapons.

These are not the only holes the United States has created for itself. After the 1967 Middle East war, Washington never firmly spoke out against Israel when it began its illegal policy of building settlements on occupied land. Amazingly, the policy continues, with what Arabs now see as Washington's tacit approval. Such perceptions have bred a sense of powerlessness and hatred of America across wide swathes of the Muslim world.

The arrogance of power has now produced its inevitable reaction. America is threatened not by nuclear missiles from rogue nations, but by small groups of angry men whose frustration, if not their methods, have struck a chord with ordinary people around the world. To deal with these emotions effectively, Americans had better find a new way of looking at the world. After all, the first law of holes is to stop digging.

Power is an analyst with the Stockholm-based Transnational Foundation. Distributed by Knight Ridder-Tribune Information Services.

© 2001 PioneerPlanet / St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press

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