Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka: One of the most well known and respected people in Nigeria, Mr. Soyinka has sparked a storm of controversy by saying he would ’stone’ President Obama if he visited Nigeria, because this would be a kind of stamp of approval for Nigeria’s corrupt leadership. With all the global crises involving the United States that have broken out of late, one controversy that has erupted in Africa centering on President Obama has gone largely noticed. Last month, the...

To what degree can the recent election result in Lebanon and the current events in Iran be attrutible to President Barack Obama? That question is at the heart of much of the global commentary in regard to the unfolding drama in the streets of Tehran, and as we learn from this article from Lebanon’s L’Orient Le Jour, Beirut as well. For L’Orient Le Jour, Issa Goraieb writes in part: “‘Everything you know about Iran is wrong’ – that was the front page headline...

Are the Russians and Chinese now the imperialist lackeys of the United States? That’s the implication of this walk on the Stalinist wild side from North Korea’s obsessively state-controlled media. According to this article from the Korean Central News Agency, the U.N. Security Council resolution passed last week calling for toughened sanctions against the isolated regime of Kim Jong-il, ‘is a wicked offensive by the U.S. imperialists to disarm the Democratic People’s Republic...

Former Guantanamo detainees – all Uighurs from China – now residing in Bermuda With its ‘petulant’ attitude toward accepting Guantanamo detainees who are presumed innocent, is German Chancellor Merkel missing a golden opportunity to get into President Obama’s good graces? For Germany’s Die Zeit, Martin Klingst writes in part: “With a bit of goodwill from the Chancellery and Interior Ministry – America’s President would be beside himself with...

Has President Obama’s Cairo speech exposed a deep-seated European fear of ‘Islamization?’ This article from the country that houses the Vatican in part blames the Catholic Church for the phenomena. For Italy’s La Stampa, Guido Ceronetti chastises his European brethren for being too lily-livered to support a stronger European defense and stand up to oppose those they fear – and delivers an incredible broadside against the Catholic Church, for preferring religious Muslim...

COUCH SAYS: ‘MIDDLE EAST’ MULLAH GRUMBLES AS OBAMA SITS NEXT TO HIM The apparent miscarriage of democratic justice now taking place in Iran may more prove, rather than disprove, columnist Michael Thumann’s thesis – that President Obama has presented a face of America that’s much harder to demonize. For Germany’s Die Zeit, Michael Thumann writes in part: “Is the electoral defeat of Islamist Hezbullah in Lebanon the earliest sign of success for Obama’s...

OBAMA: ‘WHY DO THEY LOVE US?’ BUSH: ‘WHY DO THEY HATE US?’ Could Russia turn out to be a source of great advice about how to deal with Muslims? Whether or not one agrees with Izvestia’s Malor Stuorua, there are some good arguments to assume Moscow could, if properly motivated – help President Obama ‘reach out’ to the Muslim world with the experience the Kremlin has gleaned over the years. Hinting at, among other things, the ongoing catastrophe in Chechnya,...

What has been the reaction in the German ‘heartland’ to Obama’s visit – in particular his trip to Nazi death camp Buchenwald, his perceived ‘chemistry’ with Chancellor Angela Merkel and whether Germany should accept Guantanamo detainees? To find out, Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland took an editorial sampling from 11 smaller, regional newspapers in that country – the equivalents of say the Cleveland Plain Dealer or the Kansas City Star in the...

What seems like weakness to U.S. Republicans is actually the steely resolve of President Obama to ensure a safer world for his two young children. That’s the thesis of this article by Swiss columnist Patrik Etschmayer, who like Philippe Coste of France’s Liberation, contends that America’s opposition party is so out of touch that it doesn’t recognize real strength when its sees it. For Nachrichten, Etschmayer writes in regard to his recent trip to Egypt, Germany and France: “The...

According to Swiss columnist Patrik Etschmayer, the United States bears a striking resemble to GM just before it collapsed. For Nachrichten, Etschmayer writes in part: “The United States today seems like General Motors did not too long ago. It’s still the greatest power in the ‘market,’ but customers are beginning to turn away from the goods it offers. … Brand ‘USA’ now has some nasty blemishes.” Etschmayer then outlines the legacy he sees as lost: The...

‘OBAMA AS JESUS, CARRIES THE CROSS TO SAVE THE MIDDLE EAST. NETANYAHU PREPARES TO CRUCIFY HIM.’ By all accounts, Muslims are cautiously optimistic after hearing President Obama’s speech to Muslims, which he delivered last week from Cairo. But according to Kader Abdolah of the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, their biggest concern is that he’ll never succeed in accomplishing his goals due to resistance from Americans and Israelis. For de Volkskrant, Abdolah writes in part: “Obama...

Scientology ‘electometer’: Does this $7,000 device actually identify unwanted influences, emotions or painful traumas? The trial of Scientology, France continues, and here is the latest report on the proceedings from France’s Le Parisien magazine. According to the report, on Monday the former leader of Scientology in Lyon and a former member of the French National Assembly testified on how the Church operates, how it persuades its adherents to fork over thousands and thousands...

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the USSR’s last head of state, knows a thing or two about nuclear talks. This past weekend, Gorbachev contributed this article to Russia’s Rossijskaya Gazeta about how the world should deal with the nuclear challenge of Kim Jong-il’s North Korea. Here’s some of what Gorbachev had to say: “The goal should be to find a way to resume the political and diplomatic dialogue –...

Our Man?: Mr. Luis Posada Carriles Is the United States shielding a terrorist that is not only responsible for a number of terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a civilian airliner in 1973 and most recently an attempt on the life of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela? According to Venezuela’s state press agency Agencia Bolvariana de Noticias, a man named Luis Posada Carriles, who it has been established was a CIA operative in the 1960s and 70s, was involved in a plot to kill Chavez...

Continuing our monitoring of Muslim reaction to President Obama’s Cairo speech – now being called the ‘Cairo Declaration,’ Kharroubi Habib of Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran speaks for a huge swath of the Muslim world when he expresses appreciation mixed with skepticism – not in regard to the president’s sincerity, but whether Mr. Obama can and will make real the declarations he put forward last Thursday. For Le Quotidien d’Oran, Kharroubi Habib...

It will probably come as small comfort to the families of American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee that although the two have been sentenced to ‘twelve years of reform through labor,’ they are likely to go to one of two ’special camps’ maintained for ‘the detention of Workers’ Party officials, senior cadres and important figures who must be well-treated.’ According to this article from today’s Daily North Korea, a publication staffed by a good number...

Continuing with our Muslim coverage of President Obama’s speech to the Islamic world, we present this article from Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper. So what are Iraqis saying about President Obama’s long-awaited speech? While loathing the necessity of having Obama lecture Muslims on what they should already know about their own religion, Kitabat’s Ali Abd al-Khaleq - ‘appreciated’ Obama’s lecture to Muslim leaders, who he says are more concerned with their own well-being...

For those who are possessed of the misapprehension that the French don’t appreciate what America did for them sixty five years ago yesterday, this article by Le Figaro’s Philippe Labro expresses the tremendous gratitude that continues to be felt for the bloody sacrifice made by thousands of Americans who lost their lives along the beaches of Normandy in the name of an ideal: ‘Freedom!’ For Le Figaro, Philippe Labro writes in part: They knew nothing, or nearly nothing. They...

Why is it that U.S. Republicans have been complaining that Barack Obama failed to utter the word democracy in his speech to Muslims – and for that matter, has dropped the term ‘War on Terror’ altogether? According to Philippe Coste, who writes for the French weekly L’Express, it’s simply this: they fail to grasp that President Bush rendered them counterproductive terms to use. For L’Express, Coste writes in part: “To be frank, U.S. Republicans have responded...

Now that the United States and Europe are on the same ‘wavelength’ in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian imbroglio, is it a foregone conclusion that Israel will comply and stop building or expanding settlements on what is slated to become part of Palestine? For France’s Dernieres Nouvelles d’Alsace, Jean-Claude Kiefer writes in part: “Heard with a European ear, Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo contains, strictly speaking, nothing revolutionary. The Europeans have...

To hear subjects of a Saudi monarchy that bears precious little resemblance to a Jeffersonian democracy wax lyrical about America’s Founding Fathers is an odd juxtaposition – but nevertheless encouraging. Continuing with our Arabic coverage of Barack Obama’s speech to the Islamic world, this editorial from Saudi Arabia’s Al Madina likens the president’s address as and his approach in general as: “… tantamount to a spiritual return to American values and...

While Francois Sergent of France’s Liberation has his doubts about whether Obama’s efforts begun in Cairo will succeed, he nevertheless admires his forthrightness and clear statement of ineffable truths that needed to be said out loud by someone with the president’s credibility. For Liberation and continuing with our global coverage of the reaction to President Obama’s speech in Cairo, Francois Sergent writes in part: “The Muslim world lives on myths, attributes its...

Contrary to the narrative on the U.S. Republican right, Issa Goraieb of Lebanon’s L’Orient Le Jour asserts that President Obama’s use of his diverse background to reach out to Muslims is an excellent idea – particularly the proud usage of his Middle name ‘Hussein,’ or as Goraieb refers to it, the ‘H factor.’ Continuing with our coverage from the Arab world of President Obama’s Cairo speech, Goraieb outlines a point for his Lebanese readers that...

Once again reflecting the enduring influence of the United States in this Hemisphere – even in Daniel Ortega country – Eduardo Enríquez of Nicaragua’s La Prensa newspaper compares the Supreme Court nomination process in his country to that in the U.S. – and finds the process in Nicaragua to be badly wanting. For La Prensa, Eduardo Enríquez writes in part: “Fate has decreed that the selection of a justice to the Supreme Court of Nicaragua would coincide with the nomination...

Obama’s long-awaited speech to the Islamic world now delivered, it hasn’t taken long for his words to be thrown back in his face. This editorial from Pakistan’s The Nation focused in on one particular Koranic quote President Obama made today: ‘Whoever kills an innocent, it’s as if he has killed all mankind.’ The Nation editorial says in part: “With his choice of expressions and references to the Koran’s golden principles, he touched just the right...