Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
March 21 2010

Tough days for Obama

by AMANDA PAUL

When Barack Obama first spoke about US foreign policy on the campaign
trail, he was highly critical of the course it was taking. When he
first entered the White House, he was overflowing with enthusiasm and
ideas on how to reverse the negative image of the US in the world.
George W. Bush’s legacy, including a shambolic foreign policy, needed
to be buried. Obama wanted to make the US popular again. To this end,
he set himself a very ambitious set of goals, and not surprisingly, he
is finding it increasingly difficult to deliver on most of them and
make a clean break from the politics of his predecessor. Enthusiasm
has turned into pessimism, and efforts to engage with Iran, China and
Russia seem to have run somewhat adrift, while attempts to make
progress in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East have not reaped
the results he once thought they would. Climate change efforts have
also been disappointing, and his grand gestures to the Muslim world
have not shown any great results so far following the very impressive
speech he made in Cairo. But, of course, words are always easier than
actions. Looking on the bright side, however, views of the US around
the world have improved considerably over the last 12 months, and
Obama seems as popular as ever, even if his policies are somewhat
disappointing.

Obama’s efforts toward peace in the Middle East, which was one of his
top priorities, have so far proved to be rather fruitless, and he is
clearly having difficulty handling the Israelis. He set out to revive
the Middle East peace process by demanding a freeze on Israeli
settlement building last year, but this request was quickly brushed
under the carpet by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Furthermore,
the recent slap in the face the US received from Israel during the
visit of US Vice President Joseph Biden — announcing 1,600 new homes
in the contested territory of East Jerusalem during his stay — has
heightened the perception that Israel is in the driver’s seat and that
the foreign policy of the Obama administration is not going well.
Additionally Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the Afghanistan-Pakistan
problem are also causing Obama considerable headaches.

The relationship with Iran is in serious trouble. Obama spent his
first year in office trying to open up to Iran, which has failed.
While Obama downgraded the threat of an American attack and has been
very careful not to propose rigid deadlines on the Iranians, it has so
far not won him a change in policy from the Iranians. While it is now
practically impossible to persuade Iran to do a U-turn on what they
have already done, there are still no guarantees on the table that
Tehran will not go to next level, either. The policies of Bush have
left a very sour taste in the mouth of Iran. Unfortunately, the West
has, over the years, allowed many opportunities to improve relations
with Iran to pass by giving them all-or-nothing offers.

Sometimes a middle ground has to found in order to rebuild trust and
understanding. Iran, more than many countries, has good reasons not to
trust the West. Furthermore, there was a wasted opportunity last year
when a huge chance for political change was opening, then partly
closing, inside Iran. Affronted by Tehran on the nuclear front,
Washington is now investing too much political capital in the pursuit
of international sanctions that are unlikely to bring Iran to a
negotiated renunciation of its nuclear program. Obama was also
counting on Turkish support for this new round of sanctions, something
far from guaranteed in light of recent events in Washington following
the approval of the Armenian `genocide’ resolution by the US House
Foreign Relations Committee. Furthermore, the attention that Obama is
giving to Iran also explains why he has perhaps not pushed the Chinese
and the Russians further on issues such as human rights.

In Afghanistan Obama has all but given up on some of the initial
objectives cited in the US’s initial engagement in the country —
democracy, for example. Rather he continues his surge policy while at
the same time talking of troop withdrawals. The US also needs to
assuage Pakistan’s security concerns in order to gain its full
cooperation in the campaign against the irreconcilable elements of the
Taliban, including being reassured concerning the role of India in
Afghanistan. Therefore, Obama may try to further push the Kashmir
peace plan of former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, which could
go some way to stopping Pakistan’s obsession with India.

However, Obama is still only a year in, and let’s face it he was dealt
a very difficult hand of cards in the first place. There is reason to
be optimistic, as many other leaders also had tough first years in
foreign policy terms. Bill Clinton is a good example, and he went on
to achieve many foreign policy successes; therefore, Obama should not
get too disheartened and should continue to uphold his `yes we can’
motto.

21.03.2010