FOREIGN RELATIONS
- April 20, 2009 - President Obama returns from his first visit to the Summit of Americas. The meetings took place from April 17 - 19 th at the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. At this summit America took a verbal beating from Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, three Latin American dictators who oppress their own people. Obama concluded the 34-nation summit by calling it a "very productive" meeting and progress is possible if different countries are willing to set aside "stale debates and old ideologies."
F: So far Obama's policy of persuasion is not working. America's adversaries are acting like business as usual. His foreign policy of extending an open hand to nations hostile to the U.S is very risky. Time will only tell if this new approach will work. As for now Obama, again while overseas, has apologized for America's past actions and "mistakes". Obama endured a 50-minute diatribe from socialist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that lashed out at a century of what he called terroristic U.S. aggression in Central America and included a rambling denunciation of the U.S.-imposed isolation of Cuba's Communist government. Obama responded by saying he was “grateful” he didn’t blame him. Obama was also seen shaking hands and smiling with Hugo Chavez. Chavez has been conducting a vicious anti-American campaign lately. Obama accepted a gift from Chavez of an anti-American book and later stated "It was a nice gesture to give me a book. I am a reader".
- April 10, 2009 - President Obama, up to now, while on foreign soil, has done a poor job in promoting the positive traits America holds. In several different countries during the G20 eight day tour overseas Obama sustained his negative comments throughout. Never has a U.S. president on his first trip abroad be so disrespectful to his country or its history.
F: President Obama acted like no other previous U.S. president while on his first trip overseas when speaking about his own country. His performance left many Americans scratching their heads. Obama should understand that improving foreign relations should not include appeasing other nations at the expense of America. Some of Obama's quotes were as follows:
1: Obama stated “Looking at a new chapter in America” with Muslims and said ”I know that the trust that binds the United States and Turkey has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced.”.......but he failed to mention America's immense sacrifice liberating 3 different Muslim countries (Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait) just in the last 18 years alone or how America lead the way in humanitarian aid for Muslim countries during the 2004 Tsunami.
2: Obama stated "despite its flaws and past mistakes, the United States is poised for a "new chapter in American engagement" with Muslims and the rest of the world.......but failed to mention the rest of the world has left it up to America to fight terrorism and that America has spent more time, money and military than all other countries combined in helping countless nations around the world.
3: Obama stated ”As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act.”....but failed to mention that America was attacked first during WW2 and by using the nuclear weapon instantaneously ended the war ultimately saving millions of lives.
4: Obama stated ”I say this as the president of a country that not very long ago made it hard for somebody who looks like me to vote, much less be president of the United States" and said "Our country still struggles with the legacies of slavery and segregation, the past treatment of Native Americans.”......but failed to mention America like, no other country in history, took on slavery and defeated it and today is the world leader when it comes to human rights issues.
- April 4, 2009 – President Obama wrapped up his meetings with other global leaders at the G20 Economic Summit with a town hall speech in Strasbourg, France. He declared it as “success” and “very productive”. The Group of 20 meeting took place on April 2nd in London. It was President Obama’s first overseas trip where he visited five nations in eight days.
C - : Obama had some high points and low points at the summit. Starting with the low points, first Obama failed to get European leaders to commit to U.S. style stimulus packages. Second he failed to persuade NATO allies to send more combat troops to Afghanistan. Some other low points included Obama wanting to make clear that the U.S. is but one actor in a global community. This was the wrong message to send. America is the world leader both economically and militarily. Obama should have conveyed that (as previous presidents did) based simply on America’s success it has spread throughout the globe historically. In addition Obama called America arrogant, dismissive and derisive towards Europe. This was the most critical a US president has ever been on foreign soil. And quite surprising were the remarks considering all the sacrifice America made through the decades liberating Europe numerous times. He continued by saying “In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world.” The problem with this statement is that America has every right to not to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world. After Europe’s recent lack of involvement in the Balkans genocide, The Cold War with The Soviet Union, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the war on terror, just to name a few. One must wonder when Europe will stand up and realize that avoiding confrontation is not the answer. Obama needed to be more supportive of America’s past actions and of it’s sacrifice of it’s armed forces. Some of his highs points came when Obama called out Europe to get more involved in the war on terror by stating “Europe should not simply expect America to shoulder that burden alone. This is a joint problem and requires a joint effort on Afghanistan”. He went on to remind Europe that terrorists attacks are more likely to happen in Europe than in America because of proximity. He continued by telling the Europeans that blaming America and using its actions as an excuse to avoid tackling the global Islamist threat was unacceptable. Give Obama credit for also calling out Europe on it’s attitude towards America by stating "But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what is bad." The biggest success of the summit was how Obama received positive feedback from the European leaders who were happy to see the new change of attitude from an American president. It seemed the European leaders were happy the way Obama represented America with a more passive attitude. Finally, another high point came when Obama convinced NATO allies to agree to send up to 5,000 more military trainers and police to Afghanistan, including forces to help protect candidates and voters at upcoming elections. However, as mentioned above, Obama fell short of convincing NATO to send more military troops. The allies rebuffed U.S. appeals for more combat forces to join the war.
F: So far Obama's policy of persuasion is not working. America's adversaries are acting like business as usual. His foreign policy of extending an open hand to nations hostile to the U.S is very risky. Time will only tell if this new approach will work. As for now Obama, again while overseas, has apologized for America's past actions and "mistakes". Obama endured a 50-minute diatribe from socialist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that lashed out at a century of what he called terroristic U.S. aggression in Central America and included a rambling denunciation of the U.S.-imposed isolation of Cuba's Communist government. Obama responded by saying he was “grateful” he didn’t blame him. Obama was also seen shaking hands and smiling with Hugo Chavez. Chavez has been conducting a vicious anti-American campaign lately. Obama accepted a gift from Chavez of an anti-American book and later stated "It was a nice gesture to give me a book. I am a reader".
- April 10, 2009 - President Obama, up to now, while on foreign soil, has done a poor job in promoting the positive traits America holds. In several different countries during the G20 eight day tour overseas Obama sustained his negative comments throughout. Never has a U.S. president on his first trip abroad be so disrespectful to his country or its history.
F: President Obama acted like no other previous U.S. president while on his first trip overseas when speaking about his own country. His performance left many Americans scratching their heads. Obama should understand that improving foreign relations should not include appeasing other nations at the expense of America. Some of Obama's quotes were as follows:
1: Obama stated “Looking at a new chapter in America” with Muslims and said ”I know that the trust that binds the United States and Turkey has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced.”.......but he failed to mention America's immense sacrifice liberating 3 different Muslim countries (Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait) just in the last 18 years alone or how America lead the way in humanitarian aid for Muslim countries during the 2004 Tsunami.
2: Obama stated "despite its flaws and past mistakes, the United States is poised for a "new chapter in American engagement" with Muslims and the rest of the world.......but failed to mention the rest of the world has left it up to America to fight terrorism and that America has spent more time, money and military than all other countries combined in helping countless nations around the world.
3: Obama stated ”As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act.”....but failed to mention that America was attacked first during WW2 and by using the nuclear weapon instantaneously ended the war ultimately saving millions of lives.
4: Obama stated ”I say this as the president of a country that not very long ago made it hard for somebody who looks like me to vote, much less be president of the United States" and said "Our country still struggles with the legacies of slavery and segregation, the past treatment of Native Americans.”......but failed to mention America like, no other country in history, took on slavery and defeated it and today is the world leader when it comes to human rights issues.
- April 4, 2009 – President Obama wrapped up his meetings with other global leaders at the G20 Economic Summit with a town hall speech in Strasbourg, France. He declared it as “success” and “very productive”. The Group of 20 meeting took place on April 2nd in London. It was President Obama’s first overseas trip where he visited five nations in eight days.
C - : Obama had some high points and low points at the summit. Starting with the low points, first Obama failed to get European leaders to commit to U.S. style stimulus packages. Second he failed to persuade NATO allies to send more combat troops to Afghanistan. Some other low points included Obama wanting to make clear that the U.S. is but one actor in a global community. This was the wrong message to send. America is the world leader both economically and militarily. Obama should have conveyed that (as previous presidents did) based simply on America’s success it has spread throughout the globe historically. In addition Obama called America arrogant, dismissive and derisive towards Europe. This was the most critical a US president has ever been on foreign soil. And quite surprising were the remarks considering all the sacrifice America made through the decades liberating Europe numerous times. He continued by saying “In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world.” The problem with this statement is that America has every right to not to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world. After Europe’s recent lack of involvement in the Balkans genocide, The Cold War with The Soviet Union, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the war on terror, just to name a few. One must wonder when Europe will stand up and realize that avoiding confrontation is not the answer. Obama needed to be more supportive of America’s past actions and of it’s sacrifice of it’s armed forces. Some of his highs points came when Obama called out Europe to get more involved in the war on terror by stating “Europe should not simply expect America to shoulder that burden alone. This is a joint problem and requires a joint effort on Afghanistan”. He went on to remind Europe that terrorists attacks are more likely to happen in Europe than in America because of proximity. He continued by telling the Europeans that blaming America and using its actions as an excuse to avoid tackling the global Islamist threat was unacceptable. Give Obama credit for also calling out Europe on it’s attitude towards America by stating "But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what is bad." The biggest success of the summit was how Obama received positive feedback from the European leaders who were happy to see the new change of attitude from an American president. It seemed the European leaders were happy the way Obama represented America with a more passive attitude. Finally, another high point came when Obama convinced NATO allies to agree to send up to 5,000 more military trainers and police to Afghanistan, including forces to help protect candidates and voters at upcoming elections. However, as mentioned above, Obama fell short of convincing NATO to send more military troops. The allies rebuffed U.S. appeals for more combat forces to join the war.
- Jan 20, 2009 - As Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44 th elected president of the United States of America, much of the international community has high hopes and looks forward to rekindling their relations with the American high office.
A: There is no doubt as President Obama takes office, many nations have high hopes and look for a brighter future in terms of strengthening their relations with America's new presidential administration. But can Obama maintain these new found favorable relations with nations who continue to refuse to help America in the war on terror? Will he be able to convince terrorists harboring nations to change their ways?
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