gauging 'global opinion'

christopher hitchens proves compelling reading, whether dissecting bad movies, liberal blowhards and apologists.
hitchens examines the vagaries of 'global opinion' (found via memeorandum and lucianne.com)

these polls often yield mind-bogglingly contradictory findings...the act of polling may be illegal (an iranian pollster was arrested for his efforts)...and how do you sample 6 billion people properly?

If I was to interrupt this article every few sentences, asking you whether or not I was making a good impression on you, I hope and believe that you would think I was a servile jerk. Yet this is what our politicians are doing in every speech (most notably in the absurd recent debate on “flag-burning”) and this is apparently what we hire Karen Hughes to do in our public diplomacy.
[snip]
Thus, for a Fourth of July message, I would suggest less masochism, more confidence on the American street, and less nervous reliance on paper majorities discovered by paper organizations.
Happy Independence Day.

while i fall for these polls, healthy skepticism must accompany that interest since it remains easy to play with polls, surveys, etc