In the last 24 hours, the state-run newspapers in China emitted two cold blasts directed at the United States. One relates to President Obama’s trip to India, and the other the U.S. midterm elections Although much of the attention surrounding President Obama’s trip to India focused on Pakistan’s reaction, the other elephant in the Indo-Asian room has also been watching carefully. Columnist Chen Weihua of the China Daily, in an article headlined Obama’s Weapons Deals with...

Our ’round the world survey of global reaction to the new U.S. political landscape continues with this article from Russia’s Gazeta. Columnist Fyodor Lukyanov offers a detailed analysis of why such things as the Tea Party and wild swings in the political climate occur in the United States – and what the foreign policy ramifications might be, particularly for Russia and the New Start treaty that was recently signed by Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev. For Gazeta, Fyodor Lukyanov...

As we’ve seen, Europe’s reaction to the Tea Party, with the exception of Spain and some in Great Britain, has been tepid at best. Right up until now, Obama reigns supreme and as far as Europeans are concerned, is one of the most popular leaders in the world. Which is why, according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung columnist Christian Wernicke, the midterm election results have thrown most of Europe for a loop. For Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Christian Wernicke seeks to explain this befuddling turn...

So what’s the view of Beijing to the recent 2010 midterms? Not only do the U.S. elections appear unlikely to encourage China to set aside dictatorship for pluralism, according to this article by Mao Yingying for China’s state-run Beijing Times, America itself would be better off reconsidering how its ‘so-called democracy’ should run. For the Beijing Times, Mao Yingying writes in part: Americans appear disappointed with more than Obama, for despite the bad report card for...

Does the result of the midterm elections threaten the very future of the United States? Correspondent Martin Kilian of Germany’s Tages Anzeiger outlines for readers his concern that the apparent gridlock in the American system could threaten not only America’s future – but the world. For the Tages Anzeiger, Martin Kilian writes in part: Instead of paving the way for a long overdue rehabilitation of this ailing superpower, whose citizens are plagued by fear of social decline and...

Has the Tea Party movement been unfairly characterized by its political opponents to deflect attention from the truths that it exposes? Once again, a newspaper in Spain has mounted a rare international defense of the what has now become a major force in the Republican Party. You might recall an article headlined How Spain Can Build its Own ‘Tea Party’: Copy Sarah Palin from the publication Hispanidad. This editorial from Spain’s ABC says in part: Up until Monday, not a single...

Continuing with our global survey of reaction to the 2010 midterm elections, which is more out of place, the Republican midterm election landslide, or President Obama’s huge victory in 2008? After some soul searching, Folha columnist Clovis Rossi suggests that the 2010 U.S. elections may just be a sign that things in America are getting back to normal. For Folha, Clovis Rossi writes in part: Those of us who think “we know more” and ridicule the Tea Party didn’t realize that,...

Continuing with our global roundup of reaction to the U.S. midterm elections, this editorial from Mexico’s La Jornada expresses grave concern about the consequences of resurgent U.S. conservatism. Yesterday’s La Jornada editorial says in part: What happened yesterday in the United States is the triumphal return of political and social conservatism, vanquished in 2008 in such an overwhelming fashion that it seemed to have been a rout of lasting consequences. The inevitable conclusion...

As we have amply demonstrated, the French have a particular disdain for the Tea Party. Along the lines of that short tradition, this article from Le Monde by Jean-Christian Rostagn takes a crack at explaining the ‘Tea Baggers’ to French readers. According to Rostagn, the Tea Party’s obsession with the deficit is ‘only because it’s a convenient vehicle for expressing resentment against a president who they suspect of being guilty of the worst sins’ – or at...

Can the results of the U.S. midterm elections be credibly traced to the Obama Administration’s policy of blaming the yuan’s peg to the dollar for America’s fiscal woes? According to this editorial from Hong Kong’s Beijing-friendly Wen Wei Po, if President Obama had focused his attention on improving the competitiveness of U.S. companies and removing trade barriers with China [read loosen U.S. restrictions on the sale of weapons], the elections may not have gone the way that...

So how can one explain the massive Democratic drubbing at the polls yesterday? According to Philip Gumyi of Switzerland’s Le Temps, it all comes down to two things: the pain on Main street – and the relief on Wall street – are too great. For Le Temps, Philip Gumyi writes in part: So why such ingratitude on the part of the electorate, when such measures have prevented the U.S. from plunging into a depression like that experienced in the 1930s? And whereas growth could have become...

For those in the U.S. who have been staring at the TV fretting about the Tea Party, Le Figaro columnist Jean-Sebastien Stehli has a soothing message. According to Stehli, the Tea Party represents “nothing but a sinister bubble that will disappear as quickly as it formed.” For France’s Le Figaro, Jean-Sebastien Stehli writes in part: These bigots with their oversized waists and gas-guzzling 4x4s have taken center stage when in reality they represent only themselves – which...

Where did it all go wrong for President Obama and the Democrats? Or did it? According to columnist Jorge Camil of Mexico’s La Jornada, Obama has taken on too many battles in too short a time, all while confronting Republican and right-wing media opposition that has sought his defeat from the day he was elected. For La Jornada in our neighbor to the south, Jorge Camil writes in part: As Obama struggled with the economic crisis, against the banks and the generals who were reluctant to abandon...

Luckily for the Tea Party, Europeans don’t vote in U.S. elections. With the exception of Spain and Britain, it seems that there is little taste there for the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. Below are two articles we translated from French today that only serve to reinforce this impression. First, columnist Daniele Fonck of Luxembourg’s Tageblatt, in an article headlines Prepare for Tea Time in America, writes that European understanding for the positions of the Tea Party is extremely...

Here’s a story that if true, remains on no pundit’s radar screen: Might Native American vote be the decider in the race for Alaska senator? Author Mark Trahant, a member of the Shoshone and Bannock Tribes, writes that ‘the only way Lisa Murkowski returns to that office is if Alaska Native voters turn out in large numbers and write her name on the ballot.’ For Native American newspaper Indian Country Today, Mark Trahant writes in part: Here is one prediction you won’t...

Who deserves the credit for uncovering the Halloween parcel bomb plot? According to the editor-in-chief of Kuwait’s Al Seyassah, Ahmad Abdal Aziz Al Jarallah, that glory should go to the Saudi security services and their leader, King Abdullah Bin Abd Al Aziz. Jarallah credits the Saudi king with pursuing the most effective ways of battling the global ‘disease’ of terrorism, and referring to fundamentalist Christianity, for seeking a ‘historic dialogue between religions’...

The American left isn’t the only left angry at President Obama – just a day before the 2010 midterm elections. So what’s the takeaway lesson for Obama from what looks to be a big pick-up for Republicans? According to Swiss columnist Regula Staempfli, it’s that playing footsie with people that want you politically dead was a foolish strategy from day one. Referring to the Jon Stewart-Steven Colbert Rally at the Lincoln Memorial, for Switzerland’s News, Regula Staempfli...

As the 2010 U.S. midterm elections head toward their climax, Spanish columnist Lluis Bassets is concerned that while there remains a soft spot in the heart of many people around the world for the United States, its electoral divisions and infighting are looking ever-less appealing compared to China’s ‘well-ordered dictatorship,’ which ‘continues to make decisions that are momentous for us all.” For Spain’s El Pais, Lluis Bassets writes in small part: America...

A mainstay on the American left – and even on the right – The Daily Show has become a global phenomenon. In this article from Portugal’s Jornal de Negocios, columnist Nicolau do Vale Pais writes that there is ‘nothing more fun’ that watching the show’s host, Jon Stewart, ‘transform puppets into scarecrows.’ For the Jornal de Negocios, talking about Stewart’s recent guest, former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey, Nicolau do Vale Pais writes...

Is WikiLeaks a treasonous enterprise that should be outlawed – or is it an emerging bulwark of democracy? The conversation that commenced last summer with WikiLeaks’ release of a trove a classified documents about Afghanistan has begun all over again with the release of the Iraq War logs, which is being called the largest release of classified military information in history. For Germany’s Berliner Zeitung, columnist Uwe Vorkotter writes that WikiLeaks is an asset to democratic...

Is religion in general at the root of recent anti-Muslim feeling in the West? Columnist Patrik Etschmayer of Switzerland’s News writes that the West must defend its hard-fought freedom – not with Judeo-Christian values, which are just as responsible for wrongdoing as Islam – but with the values of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, during which Westerners had to fight tooth and nail against the Catholic Church to achieve the freedoms most people in the West now take for granted. For...

To those who thought the Tea Party was just an odd American preoccupation, it may be time to think again. According to this article from Spain’s Hispanidad, not only aren’t Sarah Palin and company ‘wing nuts,’ their ideas should be embraced and pursued by Spaniards. After going into significant detail about what a Spanish Tea Party would stand for and pointing out that Spain’s mainstream media is opposed to the idea, columnist Eulogio Lopez suggests that any Spaniard...

Could a heavy emphasis on immigration reform be just what the Obama Administration needs to snatch victory from the jaws of probable electoral defeat? For El Universal of Mexico, warning that anyone who writes off Obama ‘as another Carter’ will find themselves badly mistaken, Eduardo Valle writes in part. The costs of these two wars [Iraq and Afghanistan] have undermined the economy, when – as if that weren’t enough – the housing bubble burst, and now even property...

Are Gays in the military a hindrance, a help, or is the entire issue ultimately inconsequential? According to Jerome Leroy of France’s Causeur, Gay troops have proven themselves for thousands of years – and in ways today’s hetero-heavy soldiers might find tremendously uncomfortable. For Causeur, columnist Jerome Leroy writes in small part: Gay American soldiers can finally come out of the closet. Indeed, it is little known, but there are times homosexuals seek professional fulfillment...

The investigation into the disappearance of U.S. tourist David Hartley by narco-trafficking pirates in Mexico has raised the hackles of U.S. officials, who are exasperated by the lack of progress of the probe and the general lawlessness across the border. But according to this editorial from Mexico’s La Jornada, Mexicans hold the United States responsible – not only for Hartley’s presumed death, but for the entire drug war that may have caused it. The editorial from La Jornada...