The global reaction to Obama’s election triumph isn’t all, as they say ‘kittens and rainbows.’ This article from Poland’s Rzeczpospolita is in the form of a warning to the European left, that while Obama may be easier to deal with, much more sensitive the finer points of diplomatic exchange and a better listener that the widely-derided President Bush - he will still be the leader of the free world, and will expect and perhaps deserve more support from his European partners.
“It will turn out that Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States - for better or worse - is still the leader of the free world. A different leader, listening to his partners, mellower, but at the same time, more demanding. He will expect support from his partners, and they will no longer have any excuse (’that horrible Bush’) to refuse him.”
Nicolas Sarkozy has high hopes that with help - the global financial system can be overhauled for the 21st century. And according to this article from France’s Liberation - the reason he’s so hopeful is that George W. Bush - that opponent of global governance - is on his way out, and Barack Obama is on his way in.
“The next American president will find himself in a completely unprecedented situation: elected in the midst of a financial storm the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Roosevelt in 1932, he will for the first time have the European Union as his main partner - coherent, resolute and bent on reforming the international financial system. George Bush, on the other hand, hasn’t hidden his distaste for global regulation. … As the election of his successor will take place several weeks before the expanded G8 meeting [probably late in November], George Bush will fortunately play largely a role limited to protocol. It will be his successor, the president-elect, who will lead the negotiations for the American side. And all the evidence right now points to that successor as being Barack Obama. His victory would be the best chance for these reforms to succeed. ”
“In contrast, Obama is a political descendant of those who created the Bretton Woods Agreement in July, 1944 [a deal to rebuild the financial system after WWII ]. … If Obama wins, a great Europe-United States alliance could be formed to enforce prudent accounting rules, fight tax havens and regulate banks - but also insurance companies and those sophisticated derivatives that have eluded any oversight and all reason, reform the rating agencies and the funds themselves. And finally, give the IMF the means to take its proper role as overseer of financial markets; in brief, put a reasonable, stable and transparent system on its feet.”
“Le Parisien: Are you surprised by the interest in Obama’s candidacy?
Rama Yade: Obama has become a kind of world citizen. In a small way, he belongs to everyone. All of us watch America with a sort of envy - because what they’re doing, we aren’t able to do …
Le Parisien: What aren’t we able to do?
Rama Yade: To allow an to Obama emerge here! For me to enter into the government, it took all of Nicolas Sarkozy’s effort to overcome the reticence of the conservatives. They said: she’s too this, and not enough that. And, believe me, these conservatives are still there. Nicolas Sarkozy - he’s not conservative; that’s what I like about him.
Le Parisien: When you talk about Obama, why do you emphasize his age?
Rama Yade: Because that’s the first thing that strikes me about him! Do you see something else? He has three dominant traits: first, he’s very young; then, he isn’t a descendant of slaves but came, through his father, from very recent African immigration; and finally, his political career began very recently. But that man is in the process of becoming the president of the United States. Here, we have the impression that one must suffer for 40 years, be scarred and dragged through the mud before earning the right to have the highest responsibilities. And, when you get there, you don’t even have the right to be happy! But my governmental fate is in the hands of the President.”
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated and English-language foreign press coverage of the U.S. election
October 23rd, 2008 By BRIJ KHINDARIA, International Columnist
Barack Obama and John McCain are locked in the wrong battle of words over the panic stricken American economy as it slips into recession.
They are sparring over the kind of tax relief each will deliver, incentives to save jobs and regulations to curtail the greed of investment bankers and fund managers.
Though relevant for the longer term, these are mistaken prescriptions for the next 6-8 months because the fear causing financial collapse worldwide goes beyond demand issues, the US tax system, banker’s greed or even the interbank credit freeze.
Phenomena like the drop in purchasing power that might be remedied through tax relief, and the credit crunch that might be remedied through liquidity, are the results of fear not its roots.
October 2nd, 2008 By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
I agree with the The Economist that in this global crisis the governments must work together. But no one talks of the world’s ordinary people who have to bear the additional burden in the wake of this and other crisis, which in the first place can be attributed to the callousness and greed of the governments/leaders and financial institutions themselves (especially the bankers).
First the world leaders blow up trillions of dollars on unending “wars”, and then fail in their duty to monitor/regulate the questionable strategies of the financial and corporate world (especially when the governments themselves have to bail them out with taxpayers’ money). What a ‘free’ and ‘democratic’ world we live in!!!
The Economist notes: “After the (rescue) plan’s thrashing by the House of Representatives on September 29th, spurred on by voters’ loathing of ‘casino capitalism’, investors panicked. Yet as The Economist went to press, they were optimistic that, after winning the Senate’s approval on October 1st, the plan would pass.
“Even if it does, that should not be a cause for optimism. Look beyond the stock markets, especially at the seized-up money markets, and there is little to see except bank failures, emergency rescues and high anxiety in the credit markets. These forces are drawing the financial system closer to disaster and the rich world to the edge of a nasty recession (see article). The bail-out package should mitigate the problems, but it will not avert them.
“The crisis is spreading in two directions—across the Atlantic to Europe, and out of the financial markets into the real economy. Governments have been dealing with it disaster by disaster. They have struggled to gain control not just because of the speed of contagion but also because policymakers, and the public they serve, have failed fully to grasp the breadth and depth of the crisis.” More here…
Meanwhile Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of “irresponsibility” as he criticised its primary role in the economic and financial turmoil that has undermined the foundations of global capitalism across the world. More here…
And French president Sarkozy tries to rally united European response to the crisis.More here…
Now that the crisis over Georgia has subsided, where do things stand? Has Russia ‘won.’ French historian Alexandre Adler thinks not. According to Adler, while Russia has successfully maneuvered Ukraine into swearing off NATO - in almost every other way, things have gone badly for Moscow.
“The relationship between Russia and the former republics of the Soviet Union have spectacularly deteriorated … China’s has resoundingly refused to show the slightest solidarity with Moscow … there has been a massive divestment on Russia’s Stock Exchange.”
“Clearly, it’s an opportune time to avenge the strong-arm tactics that have caused such fear around over the world and for the Western alliance to negotiate an end to this crisis with Russia, which would immediately stabilize a large portion of the planet.”
Is the current financial crisis the latest bit of evidence that the final collapse of American power is at hand? If these weren’t the fears of Joschka Fischer, a former German foreign minister that knows the debt that Europeans owe the United States, one could perhaps more easily dismiss these sentiments as ‘schadenfreude‘ [taking pleasure in the pain of others].
“In a few weeks, it’ll be the 19th anniversary of the night that the Wall came down and the Cold War came to an end. In the following years, the United States stood alone at the summit of global power. Today, just 19 years later, we are witnessing the decline of American power. This decline can be traced essentially to a mixture of arrogance and blindness. … The grave crisis in the American financial system is a provisional climax in this decline in power, which can be compared in its magnitude only to the global crisis of 1929.”
“Certainly, this process didn’t begin with the election of George W. Bush as 43rd President of the United States. But since he took over in 2000 - and with him the neoconservatives of the Republican Party - the U.S. government has been headed rapidly into decline. … Under the banner of a “New American Century,” Bush and the neoconservatives chose a policy based on sole American predominance. The results are now clear to be seen:
Due to Guantanamo and torture, America has lost her moral credibility; Thanks to the Iraq War, Iran has achieved regional supremacy in the Middle East; American military power has become overstretched due to a wrong and unnecessary war; Bush inherited a balanced budget from Clinton and has since acquired a huge mountain of debt; China is now America’s largest creditor; the dollar’s role as the dominant global reserve currency is seriously endangered; the American financial system is threatened with collapse; and the only answer to this crisis, an existential threat to the entire global economy, is nationalization by Washington’s Republican government!”
“Considering the negative consequences of declining American power, one must hope that it’s only a temporary phase of weakness and not the beginning of America’s final downfall. However, we Europeans must finally wake up and unite politically and responsibly to prepare for tougher times and greater responsibility.”
Can the events that have taken place since the 9-11 attacks help to explain the planet’s aversion to Russia’s invasion of Georgia’s separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia?
Apparently so - at least to some of those who live in that nation straddling 11 time zones.
