Loes Nas on Kate Delaney and Andrzej Antoszek

This essay is a response to the essay “Americanization and Anti-Americanism in Poland: A Case Study, 1945-2006.” The author argues that Poland, Georgia, and South Africa tend to echo each other, even though they are arguably very different countries. It stresses that Poland and the Republic of Georgia, for example, were both subjected to Soviet influence and that this had consequences over the years in their views of the U.S. Nas is quite interested in Delaney and Antoszek’s argument that Poland is the least anti-American country in Europe, and suggests that it might be better to examine those attitudes as attitudes expressed above ground or underground. The essay also contemplates the possibility that Poland had more freedom than Georgia because it was never a formal part of the Soviet Union. And it contemplates the South African experience which highlights U.S. economic imperialism, even though Chinese influence now also needs to be examined.