Hillary Rodham Clinton: A force to be
reckoned with in her own
right, is she ready
to be an instrument of Obama's Presidency?
[The Times, U.K.]
Les
Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, France
Obama and Clinton: 'The Shock Team'
"The political couple, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,
had better prompt Europeans to reflect quickly, shake them out of their torpor
and bring them to imagine a new American policy. Because this is an explosive
duo."
Editorial
by Jean-Claude Kiefer
Translated
By Sandrine Ageorges
December
2, 2008
France - Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace - Home Page
(French)
The political couple, Barack Obama and Hillary
Clinton, had better prompt Europeans to reflect quickly, shake them out of
their torpor and bring them to imagine a new American policy. Because this is
an explosive duo: on the one hand, there is an idealistic president, and on the
other, there is a very pragmatic senator from New York capable of realizing the
ideals of the first, at least as far as foreign policy is concerned. This
alliance is not only a circumstantial one dictated by the need to reconcile
Democrats after the fratricidal battle of the spring primaries. She expresses a
genuine desire: Hillary Clinton has very defined ideas on the war in Iraq, on
Iran, on the Middle East, China, Russia … and relations with Europe. Her
experience in foreign policy is real: she participated in a hundred official
trips with her husband Bill Clinton, less as "first lady" than as a
committed activist pleading for the establishment of micro-credits and
supporting development programs. She holds an address book that Barack Obama
does not - and she'll know how to use it.
In foreign policy, the task is enormous. The new team
will inherit three wars from the Bush Administration: two imposed by the
attacks of September 11, 2001 (Afghanistan and the war against terrorism) and
the third one totally “invented” from scratch: Iraq. This adventure should
quickly enter its last chapter. But how?: By leaving Iraq broken with
a-soon-to-be sovereign Kurdistan and Iran as an emerging nuclear power, and
while the United States ever-more entrapped between the Tigris and Euphrates? Realpolitik
would dictate initiating a dialog with Teheran and to recognize Iranian
leadership in the Shiite world while demanding in exchange the abandonment of
its nuclear ambitions. And it won’t be easy.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
NEWSPAPER SAYS: 'Obama's Afghan
reinforcement call'
BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER MILIBAND SAYS: 'I'm
sure he said 'send three and four pence - we're
going to a dance.'
For Afghanistan and terrorism, Barack Obama has other
goals: He wants to win these two wars and bring an end to instability in
Pakistan, which threatens India. To achieve this will require a much greater
commitment from NATO - and it will be up to Hillary Clinton to convince
Europeans. The gnashing of teeth will undoubtedly be heard …
More generally, the America of Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton, tempted by a certain isolationism due to the financial crisis,
will seek to calm relations with Russia. And in the future, the foreign policy
of the United States should be more transpacific than transatlantic - since this is where the largest amounts of capital flow.
Should Europeans, who have long dreamed of a more
“multilateral” world, rejoice? Perhaps, provided that we take our share of the
responsibilities, for example in the Middle East. That will require a common
will. But that's another story …
CLICK HERE FOR FRENCH VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
November 25, 6:55pm]
