More slowly, President Obama...
Il Giornale, 3 June 2009
He should go more slowly, demonstrating that he understands that what is at stake is not his popularity. Instead, Obama seems to walk towards the road to Cairo in love with his own goodness, with his own innovative words, which go at full throttle before he has first looked in the eyes a world in which often courtesy appears as weakness. The president seems to be at this time in search of consensus estimates, blatant, his words before departure seem to repeat those of a bizarre gesture of deep reverence towards the King of Saudi Arabia, which have left even his greatest admirers perplexed.
Obama has spoken against the danger of trying to impose "our culture" on those who have a "different history and culture." Dangerous, difficult as it can be. Surely, but when Obama says that "democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression and freedom of worship are not just the values of the West but are universal values" and are therefore embedded also within non-Western cultures, one comes to laugh (we hope that is the desired outcome) in relation to the ingenuousness of the statement in which one notices superficiality or cynicism; especially this ingenuousness sympathizes with dissidents, those condemned to death, oppressed women, those tortured by genital mutilation and homosexuals persecuted. The America that has always sought to save the oppressed, from Europe under the Nazis to the former Soviet Union and more recently Iraq, is tarnishing. It seems to retreat from the great race to establish worldwide freedom. Obama has declared simply that he will serve by passive example and ignores instead that the Islam perceives itself as an extreme, aggressively active example in a stage of expansion. It seems that the vision, which he has repeatedly expressed of the West, is that of a substantially oppressive world, that should make amends and therefore, be transcended, is winning out in the expression of his opinions.
On the eve of his departure to Cairo, Obama has asked U.S. embassies to invite Iranian diplomats to their July 4th celebrations. A significant concession without exchange to one of the most threatening countries in the world, one that looks upon our culture with disdain while it violates human rights and prepares the bomb. Will the U.S. be as useful example for Iran? We doubt it. Another very important point: Obama departs towards the Arab world after having deepened the gap with Israel. He starts after some prominent voices from the White House, later denied, reported that the U.S. would stop supporting Israel at the UN by using the right to veto. But in his trip there is already an original flaw: the choice of confronting the Middle East without a stop in Israel. He goes to visit the moderate Sunni Arab countries thus breaking the link between their good will for a peaceful future for the Middle East by the natural relationship of contiguity with Israel. So, he will give strength to those who place all the blame and responsibility on Israel, deferring the problems of democracy, of accountability. In fact, a great rise in anti-Israeli shields that Egypt, for example, hasn’t dreamed of for some time, mark the visit. Obama has taken care, just before his departure of using many harsh words: he has told Israel that "part of friendship is to be honest...and that today the current trajectory in the region is profoundly negative not only for Israeli interests but also for American interests. The U.S., in short, will be hard on you. I have already said that Netanyahu must now freeze all settlement construction and block the natural growth of settler communities. Start doing it." Here Obama reaps applause from the Arab world, while he knows (we hope) that the settlements, 500 thousand people, are a difficult, long process in which Arab guarantees are very different from those at present. All the UN resolutions say it, as well as the various agreements, which have always been rejected by the Palestinians (that of Oslo, that with Olmert and Livni): they are the starting point of negotiations, after the Palestinians accept the end of violence and recognize a Jewish state, without the right of return for refugees, on which instead you have two loud "no’s" from Abu Mazen.
The feeling is that the great publicity machine surrounding Obama’s travel insists on settlements and on excellent relations with the moderate Arab world at Israel's expenses, in order to blanket the difficulty of addressing the issue of Iran.