As many of you will recall, just weeks ago in Prague, President Obama proposed his vision of a world without nuclear weapons. As we have been cataloging, not everyone thinks this is such a good idea. Now it turns out that the French, too, are ‘annoyed’ by President Obama’s plan. According to a leaked memo addressed to President Nicolas Sarkozy and obtained by Le Figaro: “Paris is annoyed at the worldwide enthusiasm unleashed by the speech on disarmament given in Prague last...

What are Iraqis feeling now, during the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion? In order to help answer that question, WORLDMEETS.US just posted this article from Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper, written by a man who witnessed the fall of Baghdad, tells of what went through his mind back then and expresses his great concern for the fate of his nation. For Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper, Warid Bader as-Salim writes in part: “In April, 2003, with my senses trembling, I believed I was witnessing...

Like Russia, the Venezuela of Hugo Chavez appears ever-more inhospitable to press freedom. But as we have demonstrated before, there are news outlets in that nation which are more than capable of letting loose a fierce barrage of criticism in the direction of their fearless leader. On the eve of the Fifth Summit of the Americas beginning April 17, this editorial from Venezuela’s Tal Cual unfavorably compares Chavez to our own Richard Nixon – and condemns him for ‘shitting on the...

Continuing with our coverage of the Arab world’s reaction to President Obama’s visit to Turkey and his outreach to the Muslim World, we’ve posted this op-ed from Syria – another Arab nation that Washington is trying to woo into turning over a new leaf. So in the opinion of the Syrian regime, how successful was the President trip in convincing Muslims that a new era in America’s relations with the Islamic World has begun? According to this article by Rasha Issa of Syria’s...

CARTOON TITLE SAYS, ‘NETANYAHU’S GOVERNMENT’ PICTURED AS A DOG AND CHASING THE ARAB BOY IS ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER, AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN To ring in the weekend, here are two cautionary articles from the Arab world that relate to President Obama’s attempt to reach out to the Arab world and the price Israel might pay for opposing his efforts and refusing to pursue peace with Palestinians. First is an editorial from Egypt’s Algomhuria that urges Arab leaders, based on...

According to this report published yesterday by Switzerland’s Le Temps newspaper, for the past six years, American, European and Iranian researchers have been meeting in secret in Geneva. The objective: to establish informal bridges to avoid “the worst.” The report, according to Le Temps, contains information apparently intended by Iranians who have taken part in the talks, to “influence the Iranian presidential elections” in June. For Le Temps, Stephane Bussard writes...

Was it a bow or just good manners? The blogosphere is bursting with debate over whether President Obama diminished his stature by appearing to bow to the King of Saudi Arabia at the G20 summit. As for the Saudis, the act was just another reflection of President Obama’s well-earned respect. According to this op-ed article from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadh newspaper, Obama’s act of respect to someone older than he reflects not only his policy of breaking with the prior administration’s...

TITLE SAYS: ‘A CHECK OF $1.1 TRILLION FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMY’ OBAMA SAYS: ‘SHALL I SIGN HERE?’ … MERKEL SAYS: … ‘ON THE BACKS OF OUR CHILDREN’ The postmortems on President Obama’s trip through Europe continue to stream in, and true to their usual style, the Dutch are cold-eyed and practical about their conclusions. This editorial by the NRC Handelsblad, the nation’s leading business newspaper, says in part: “The reception was reminiscent...

Is the United States about to confront a wave a civil protest worse than London did days ago at the G20? Writing for Folha of Brazil, columnist Fernando Canzian writes of the United States: “There is no small chance that new protests will erupt there, particularly because the general situation in the U.S. is much worse than in the rest of the developed world. … Unlike Europe and Japan, the U.S. lacks social protection or minimal security in the area of employment. And the layoffs in...

Once again the Russian newspaper Gazeta does what many of us thought couldn’t happen in the land of Putin: it excoriates the Kremlin leadership – not only for its false anti-Americanism, but for letting the nation’s military go to hell in a hand basket while feeding the population a steady diet of jingoistic bromides. Pointing out that it was the Soviets who first called America the ‘evil empire,’ For Gazeta, Yevgeniy Trifonov writes in part: “Everything is blamed...

Is there any doubt that Obama’s trip to Europe has been a monumental PR success? In a 900-word exposition on his week in Europe, Olivier Jay and Pierre-Laurent Mazers of France’s Le Journal du Dimanche au Quotidie write in part: “In five days, more than just a new leader, it is the face of a new America that has been offered to Europe. Self-assured and charismatic but without a hint of arrogance, Barack Obama has achieved a perfect score in winning the confidence and respect of...

HUNGRY MAN’S T-SHIRT SAYS: ‘NORTH KOREA’ Continuing with our coverage of the reaction to President Obama’s proposals on nuclear disarmament, this editorial from the Financial Times Deutschland is more amenable to the president’s proposals than Die Welt’s Ansgar Graw, but nevertheless, it warns that overcoming those who flout the rules with impunity will be a long, hard road. The Financial Times Deutschland editorial says in part: “In Prague, Barack Obama...

It’s been a marathon week for journalists following President Obama’s first visit to the Europe since his election. From the G20 in London, to the NATO Summit in Strasbourg, to the U.S.-E.U. Summit in Prague and now his visit to Turkey, the president’s actions and comments have made headlines around the world. Today the president’s speech on nuclear disarmament, delivered in Prague’s Hradcany Square, are triggering a very strong reaction – not all of them favorable. Ansgar...

Most American commentators and columnists were impressed with President Obama’s first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the G20 Summit. So how do the Russians see the event? Fyodor Lukyanov of the Russian newspaper Gazeta writes that both men and their nations have failed to come to grips with their diminished stature, and that in any case, no mention of the more difficult issues that stand between them was made. Of Obama and Medvedev and the reason there may...

According to this news item from The Daily North Korea, which is staffed in part by defectors, the regime’s warnings and propaganda regarding its missile test and the threat of war with the U.S. and South Korea is backfiring. Remarking on the effectiveness of recent military drills, the article quotes an anonymous Communist Party cadre as saying in part: “Since December, when North Korea’s winter military drills began, Pyongyang has been ratcheting up the level of domestic tension....

It would be hard to imagine President Obama – or any president – doing a better job wooing the continent of Europe. As part of our continuing coverage of President Obama’s tour of the Old Continent from the European point of view, we just posted this editorial from Le Figaro’s Pierre Rousselin, who writes in part: “The American president had a little more than two months to prepare for the NATO summit. That’s very little time, given the energy he has had to dedicate...

Now that the G20 Summit is over, some are beginning to question one of the major changes wrought by the event – the apparent end of the centuries-old practice of bank secrecy. According to German historian Michael Sturmer, the people celebrating today could be checking their state-picked wallets tomorrow. For the German newspaper Die Welt, Sturmer writes in part: “This farewell is cause for more than just a cynical shrug. It may already mean that data security is nothing but an empty...

Here’s something for those who fear the emergence of a one world government to chew on: According to this editorial from Le Monde, the G20 has ‘strengthened’ a little known institution called the ‘Financial Stability Forum’ which will oversee new rules for the planet’s markets. The Le Monde editorial says in part: “Ironically, it was in Washington and in London that the parenthesis of ultra-liberalism, opened twenty years ago by Ronald Reagan and Margaret...

PHOTOGRAPHER: ‘EH … I DON’T SEE THE REST OF THE 20? OBAMA: ‘WHAT 20? Continental Europe today is torn: How can it reconcile its ecstatic Obama-mania with the president’s resistance to creating a global institution to oversee financial markets and his favor for bigger deficit-funded stimulus packages to boost consumption? Francois Sergent of France’s Liberation writes in part: “It’s the paradox of Obama. Not since Kennedy has an American president been so...

There has been so much international coverage of Obama’s first day in Europe that it’s hard to know where to begin. Just for the sake of levity, here are some of the headlines of what we’ve been posting over at WORLDMEETS.US Again – most of the action today has been in the Europe section: Financial Times Deutschland, Germany: Europeans and Obama: As Though ‘Friendship Were a One-Way Street’ The Independent, U.K.: Obama’s Gift for Queen – ‘An...

WORLDMEETS.US will be covering President Obama’s voyage to Europe – from the European point of view – every step of the way. Tonight of course will be very Britain-centric. Here are just a few of the dozens of stories we’ve posted in recent hours: The Independent, U.K.: G20 Summit a Test and an Opportunity for President Obama The Independent, U.K.: Obama Aims to Lay the Ghost of Bush to Rest The Times, U.K.: ‘Disciples’ Witness the First Coming of Obama The...

CARTOON TITLE: ‘UNSTOPPABLE TRAFFIC’ MEXICAN MAN SAYS: ‘IT’S ALRIGHT! THESE ARE AIMED AT SOMEONE ELSE!’ Continuing with our coverage of the drug war from the Mexican point of view, WORLDMEETS.US presents this article from Juan Manuel Asai of Mexico’s La Cronica de Hoy, which argues for bringing Mexico’s message directly to the people of the United States by taking out ads in major U.S. newspapers and being very direct with visiting dignitaries from Washington....

Continuing with our coverage of the upcoming G20 Summit and President Barack Obama’s first trip to Europe as U.S. president, we have two translated offerings today. First up is an editorial from the Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland headlined, ‘Cowboy Capitalism to Sheriff Capitalism,’ which compliments America’s remarkable change in tack regarding regulation. The Financial Times Deutschland editorial board says in part: “The U-turn is so abrupt and radical...

João Paulo Lins e Silva, his wife Bruna and Sean, some time in 2006. When Bruna Goldman took her son Sean to Brazil, she decided to divorce her American husband David, marry another man and remain in Brazil. She subsequently died and left the boy with his stepfather, resulting in an epic international custody dispute. In this interview with nine-year-old Sean’s Brazilian stepfather from Brazil’s O Globo, João Paulo Lins e Silva breaks his silence to challenge the idea that his ‘silence...

As readers of the Moderate Voice are now aware, legendary Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon Real has asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Madrid to examine a complaint against President Bush’s legal team, including Alberto Gonzales, Bush’s White House Counsel and later attorney general; David Addington, counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney; William J. Haynes, counsel to the Department of Defense under Donald Rumsfeld; Douglas Feith, undersecretary for policy in the DoD; Assistant Attorney...