The new anti-Americanism: in Greece and around the world, they used to hate us for our policies. Now they hate us for our values.

• Author: Maniatis, Gregory A.

IN SIMPLER TIMES, ANTI-AMERICANISM was easy to grasp. Outside Marxist quarters, the United States was denounced primarily for its self-serving hypocrisies. Washington claimed, instance, to support liberal democracy but allied itself with dictators. This led to demonstrations, diplomatic demarches, and stinging editorials, but seldom to real trouble for average Americans.

After September 11, that is no longer true. Anti-Americanism has emerged as more ugly, widespread, and dangerous than we realized. Not only are thousands of angry Muslim men trained and ready to kill, but millions of their coreligionists, even if they disapprove of terrorism, share their anger. In Europe, meanwhile, popular disdain and even loathing of the United States is in vogue.

If this were only due to America trampling the rights of other nations by selfishly projecting its power, there would be an obvious antidote: trample less. Certainly, some U.S. policies (our nose-thumbing unilateralism, supporting Israel over the Palestinians) contribute to the outrage. It's also inevitable that the richest and most powerful of nations will arouse anger and envy among those who are less privileged and successful--especially if our gains and advantage are perceived to be ill-gotten. But something else is at work. Anti-Americanism is no longer rooted solely in the policies we impose or the envy we inspire, but in the values we export. And it is no longer the province of secularists and the left, but is increasingly fanned by religionists and the right. The prime example is Osama bin Laden and his reactionary Wahhabi-Muslim followers, who not long ago were U.S. allies against the Soviets in Afghanistan. There's also Russia, where, for the last decade or so, communists have joined forces with right-wing ultranationalists and the Russian Orthodox Church to denounce America, NATO, Jews, and the pro-Western policies of the Yeltsin and Putin governments. In Turkey, secular and Islamic parties might team up to try to wrest power from pro-Western politicians. In Tokyo, notes The Washington Post, "Traditional opponents of US. influence in Japan, such as the small communist and socialist parties, have found unexpected company among some conservatives." In each of these cases, the left-right axis has been cemented by an ethno-nationalist fear that American culture and values--often conflated with globalization--are undermining the country's identity.

All of this has been playing out vividly in Greece, a small nation that would seem an unlikely place for anti-Americanism to thrive. After all, most Greeks have relatives living happily and prosperously in the United States, and Greeks can rightly take pride that their ancestors invented the ideas of democracy and individualism on which the U.S. is based. Greece seems to have clearly thrown its lot in with the West. It's a member of NATO and the European Union, which it outpaces in GDP growth, thanks to a virtual economic revolution engineered by the government of Costas Simitis. Its deft diplomacy has calmed relations with arch-foe Turkey--a detente cheered by Washington--and its allies are relying on Athens to solidify democracy in the Balkans. Free market capitalism underpins the economy. And in 2004, Athens will host the Olympic Games.

Scratch the surface, though, and you'll find sentiments that belie this neat facade. An anti-American terrorist group, November 17, has been menacing and killing U.S. and other officials for 27 years, with little protest from average Greeks, until the group was seemingly dismantled this summer. Thirty percent of Greeks responding to one poll said the September 11 attacks were justified; just 7 percent supported the US. campaign against terrorism, and 95 percent opposed NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999. Reasonable arguments can be made against the bombings and the form of our anti-terror campaign. But often the mood in Athens is not a reasonable one. "I hate Americans and everything American. I hope the youth begin to hate everything American," declares Mikis...