Posts Tagged ‘President Obama’
As India Prepares for President Obama…
India is getting ready for U.S. President Barak Obama’s visit to the country beginning on November 4th. Apart from the political and diplomatic dimensions of the visit, the most interesting aspect is the Indian media’s pre-visit coverage. Editorials in leading news dailies and comments by strategic observers in the run up to President Obama’s visit have a different tone this time. Visits by U.S. Presidents are usually hyped as historic, path-breaking and momentous. However, caution seems to be the more dominant sentiment this time.
President Obama’s Af-Pak Public Outreach
Rarely have the messages delivered by U.S. Presidents reached the non-English speaking audience in its original form. Op-eds in local newspapers, new-feeds in primary national languages and reactions of domestic political leadership are the most common sources for the non-English populace of developing countries to access any speech delivered by the U.S. President. Such sources often tend to be opinionated and do not allow the local population to comprehend the real message.
The Obama Administration has sought to enlarge its public outreach by connecting to the common people without via medium of their governments. Given the widespread public distrust of national leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Obama Administration is spreading word about the President’s approach to the region in local language and through widely accessible mediums. Following President Obama’s West Point Speech last week (transcripts are available in Urdu, Dari, Pashtu and Arabic), Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has recorded two video messages for the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Secretary Clinton has directly addressed the people of the two countries in these messages with the objective of explaining President Obama’s future strategy in the region. The video message is available for downloads on the internet and mobile phones. Click to continue…
Is Obama on the Gorbachev Path-I?
Indeed, the international situation is still complicated. The dangers to which we have no right to turn a blind eye remain. There has been some change, however, or, at least, change is starting….A new, democratic philosophy of international relations, of world politics is breaking through… Considering that world public opinion and the peoples of the world are very concerned about the situation in the world, our policy is an invitation to dialogue, to a search, to a better world, to normalization of international relations.
The above is an excerpt from Mikhail Gorbachev’s speech in 1987. The words have an uncanny sense of semblance to the recent foreign policy speeches of President Obama. The foreign policy vision of Gorbachev and Obama share a commonality: the acknowledgement that challenges persists yet there room for change. This post explores what makes President Obama’s foreign policy objectives challenging and promising.
Is President Obama on the Gorbachev Path?
Mikhail Gorbachev was a victim of his own reform movement. Though praised internationally for his bold vision, Gorbachev’s popularity dipped dramatically in the erstwhile U.S.S.R. The vision and rhetoric of reform is more appealing than actual reform process. Is President Obama treading the Gorbachev path? Or is it still too early to decide? I must confess that the comparison here is not about the impact of reform policies on the political system but more specifically on the political future of the two leaders.
President Obama’s approach and policies in four particular areas can be referred to as ‘reformatory’ if not revolutionary: narratives on race in the country, foreign relations of the U.S., health care in America and issues of fiscal responsibility. This four part analysis will deal with each aspect in detail. The objective is to review the kind of reform that President Obama is aspiring for and the emerging response to it. Such analysis would equip us to determine whether or not President Obama is heading down the Gorbachev path. Click to continue…
President Obama’s Speeches are Aimed at Uncertainty Reduction
R.L. Health and J. Bryant in their book Human Communication: Theory and Research stated, “Interactions are expected to increase predictability with the goal that this will lead to the ability to predict and explain what will occur in future interactions.” This explanation is the core of the Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) of Communications. Simply stated the URT emphasizes that reducing uncertainty is the central motive of communication. The four major foreign policy speeches of President Barak Obama epitomize the central tenet of the URT. Contrary to popular perception, President Obama is not attempting to induce changes in behaviors of nation-states or other non-state actors. He is simply reducing uncertainty in international affairs by clearly explaining the basis and goals of U.S. foreign policy under his Administration. The stated goals are marked by an element of continuity and the speeches are merely contextual communication of the same. Click to continue…
Egyptian Public to Greet President Obama with Suspicion
A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds Egyptians continue to view US foreign policy quite negatively and see President Obama as closely aligned with it. At the same time, Obama has much better ratings than Bush had, and there are signs of thawing feelings toward the US. Excerpts from the Opinion Poll are presented here.
Asked how much confidence they have in Obama to do the right thing in international affairs, 39 percent say they have some or a lot of confidence–up sharply from the 8 percent who viewed George W. Bush positively in January 2008. Views of the United States government have also improved with favorable views rising to 46 percent from 27 percent in an August 2008 WorldPublicOpinion.org poll.
There has been little change in the views of US foreign policy. Sixty-seven percent say that the US plays a negative role in the world.
Expectations from President Obama’s Cairo Speech
From taxi drivers to high-ranking bureaucrats; from university students to renowned political analysts, everyone in the Arab and Muslim world seems to be waiting for June 4 – the day when President Obama is expected to address the Muslim world. Student exams scheduled for June 4th have been postponed at the Cairo University, the venue for President Obama’s speech. This is not the first time that President Obama would approach the followers of Islamic faith with the objective of clarifying the U.S. policy towards the ‘Muslim world’. Since the inception of his term, President Obama is attempting to re-define America’s diplomatic outreach in an effort to reverse the tide of anti-Americanism among the Muslims across the world. So what makes the June 4th speech so special? To me it’s the burden of expectations. From open letters in leading newspapers of Egypt to op-eds by scholars of international affairs everyone has a list of dos and don’ts for President Obama. Though we cannot appropriately anticipate what President Obama will say we can examine what the Arab and Muslim world expects him to say.
[AP Photo/Ben Curtis]
Replacing Huntington with Morgenthau in U.S. Foreign Policy
Islam has emerged as a dominant influence in U.S. domestic and foreign policy in recent years. A variety of issues ranging from Islam as an organizing principle of the socio-political systems to the nationalistic expressions of Islam; from Islam as a political force to Islam as an international threat – the U.S. and Islam have interacted in every possible way. Yet clouds of distrust have thickened and a sense of hostility marks mutual relations. Despite the positive rhetoric of President Obama not much has changed on the ground. Is there any approach that the U.S. can adopt for reconciliation with the followers (both nation-states and common people) of Islam? Click to continue…
Kerry-Lugar Bill: An Opportunity for Democratic Pakistan
The Kerry-Lugar Bill, presented before the Senate yesterday, seeks to apply the Afghanistan prescription suggested in Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea to Pakistan. The very title of the book is a suggestion on the best strategy to be pursued in Afghanistan: the Western style of speeding up operations doesn’t work; slowing down and building relationships would help to achieve the desired objectives. Though slowing down is not an option in Pakistan but building relationships is a viable strategy and this is what the Kerry-Lugar Bill intends to do. In the words of John Kerry, the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act (Kerry-Lugar bill) seeks to “fundamentally change America’s relationship with the people of Pakistan.”
[Photo Courtesy: Boston Globe, May 5, 2009]
The most important element of the proposed bill is the repeated reference to the ‘people of Pakistan’. U.S. commitment to the needs of Pakistani people is proposed to go beyond the fluctuating government to government relationship. The people of Pakistan cannot be punished for the inability of their Government to optimally utilize U.S. military aid to counter terrorism. The justification for reducing and conditioning military aid to Pakistan is as strong as the rationale for increasing non-military aid to the country. Click to continue…
Pakistan Beyond ‘AFPAK’
The Obama Administration before taking office was well aware that Pakistan would be the most compelling threat for the U.S, foreign policy in the coming days. President Obama’s AFPAK strategy was presented as an attempt to restructure America’s approach in dealing with the Al-qaeda- Taliban challenge. In terms of strategy and approach President Obama’s Pakistan policy appears sound, but it needs to be realized that the nature and degree of crisis confronting Pakistan is yet to be fully grasped. The greatest test for the Obama Presidency will not be to deal with the Taliban threat but to fully comprehend the Pakistan challenge. Click to continue…