Obama has blunt message for Arabs and Jews
US President Barack Obama had a blunt, "tough-love" message for Arabs and Israelis that thrust him deeper into Middle East peacemaking - a tangled web that bedeviled his predecessors and carries risks for him. Quoting a Quran passage to "speak always the truth," Obama set aside diplomatic niceties in a speech in Cairo demanding that Israel stop building Jewish West Bank settlements that antagonize Palestinians, that Palestinians work for peace and accept Israel's right to exist and for Palestinian militants to halt violence.
We cannot impose peace," Obama said in Thursday's speech to the world's Muslims. "But privately, many Muslims recognize that Israel will not go away. Likewise, many Israelis recognize the need for a Palestinian state. It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true." His foray into the Middle East comes far earlier in his presidency than that of his predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W Bush, who waited until late in their terms to make a major push and found themselves disappointed at the outcome.
Monday, June 8, 2009
President Obama and the Franco-German struggle
US President Barack Obama visited France on June 6 to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. The visit comes on the heels of a brief visit to Dresden, Germany, where Obama met with injured US military personnel at the military hospital in Landstuhl and toured the Buchenwald concentration camp museum. Obama's visit to Germany can best be described as curt; he avoided the capital and stuck to an itinerary largely designed without any input from the German government.
A news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel also yielded nothing of substance, with both leaders pledging to "work hard" to find a solution for the problems of the Middle East and the economic crisis.While it may seem that the low point in the Obama-Merkel relationship is caused by petty domestic politics and German pre-electoral campaigning, the actual cause is a wider geopolitical trend: Germany is resurgent and independent - far from the compliant Germany the United States grew accustomed to over the course of nearly 65 years.
The US strategy in Europe has been to prevent the rise of a single political entity that could challenge US interests in the region. Today's internally unified and economically ascendant Germany is just such an entity, although the United States' understanding of that fact may not be apparent.
US President Barack Obama visited France on June 6 to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. The visit comes on the heels of a brief visit to Dresden, Germany, where Obama met with injured US military personnel at the military hospital in Landstuhl and toured the Buchenwald concentration camp museum. Obama's visit to Germany can best be described as curt; he avoided the capital and stuck to an itinerary largely designed without any input from the German government.
A news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel also yielded nothing of substance, with both leaders pledging to "work hard" to find a solution for the problems of the Middle East and the economic crisis.While it may seem that the low point in the Obama-Merkel relationship is caused by petty domestic politics and German pre-electoral campaigning, the actual cause is a wider geopolitical trend: Germany is resurgent and independent - far from the compliant Germany the United States grew accustomed to over the course of nearly 65 years.
The US strategy in Europe has been to prevent the rise of a single political entity that could challenge US interests in the region. Today's internally unified and economically ascendant Germany is just such an entity, although the United States' understanding of that fact may not be apparent.
Obama's Islam success depends on Israel
US President Barack Obama's speech to Muslims also had a huge and attentive Jewish audience, attuned to any suggestion that he might soften US support for Israel or ease up with Iran at the expense of the Jewish state. His careful words illustrate the constraints posed by Obama's political obligations as he tries to reinvigorate America's honest-broker status in the Islamic world. The president's address in Cairo was a long-promised dissertation on the painful history of the US relationship with Muslims,the misunderstandings and missteps that fill an ocean of suspicion and ill will on both sides.
US President Barack Obama's speech to Muslims also had a huge and attentive Jewish audience, attuned to any suggestion that he might soften US support for Israel or ease up with Iran at the expense of the Jewish state. His careful words illustrate the constraints posed by Obama's political obligations as he tries to reinvigorate America's honest-broker status in the Islamic world. The president's address in Cairo was a long-promised dissertation on the painful history of the US relationship with Muslims,the misunderstandings and missteps that fill an ocean of suspicion and ill will on both sides.
US hopes Iran vote will end holding pattern
Whatever the outcome of Iran's June 12 presidential election, the Obama administration hopes Tehran will then end months of stalling and respond to Washington's overtures for better relations. Whether the winner is firebrand anti-American incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or his more moderate key rival, former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi, the prevailing view is that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls the shots.
Ultimately, the most important decisions on where this goes will be made by the Ayatollah and not the new (Iranian) president," said a senior US official, who asked not to be named as Washington does not want to be seen as interfering in the election, which could result in a run-off on June 19.
But experts say a win by Mousavi could improve the climate for either bilateral talks or those between major powers and Tehran to settle disputes over its nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at building a bomb. Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes to produce much-needed power.
Whatever the outcome of Iran's June 12 presidential election, the Obama administration hopes Tehran will then end months of stalling and respond to Washington's overtures for better relations. Whether the winner is firebrand anti-American incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or his more moderate key rival, former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi, the prevailing view is that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls the shots.
Ultimately, the most important decisions on where this goes will be made by the Ayatollah and not the new (Iranian) president," said a senior US official, who asked not to be named as Washington does not want to be seen as interfering in the election, which could result in a run-off on June 19.
But experts say a win by Mousavi could improve the climate for either bilateral talks or those between major powers and Tehran to settle disputes over its nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at building a bomb. Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes to produce much-needed power.
How should the Mideast react to Obama's speech?
Like millions of others across the Middle East, I was eager to listen to US President Obama give his speech in Cairo on June 4. As an Arab-American, I was excited to see my own president addressing issues I've found myself trying to explain since my childhood four decades ago as I traveled back and forth across the Atlantic: the relationship between American and Middle East.
However, unlike many others who may have wanted to express their views, I had the privilege of spending the day as a commentator on a widely-watched TV news broadcast and hosting an event for the American Ambassador to Qatar to talk about the speech at the Brookings Doha Center which I direct.
Like millions of others across the Middle East, I was eager to listen to US President Obama give his speech in Cairo on June 4. As an Arab-American, I was excited to see my own president addressing issues I've found myself trying to explain since my childhood four decades ago as I traveled back and forth across the Atlantic: the relationship between American and Middle East.
However, unlike many others who may have wanted to express their views, I had the privilege of spending the day as a commentator on a widely-watched TV news broadcast and hosting an event for the American Ambassador to Qatar to talk about the speech at the Brookings Doha Center which I direct.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)