Obama Visits His Ancestral Home in Ireland
Barack Obama, the US president, and his wife Michelle, experienced a warm welcome in Ireland - where some of Obama's distant ancestors lived.

As well as meeting the Irish prime minister, Obama made a visit to the small town of Moneygall where the president's great, great grandfather lived.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports from the Irish capital, Dublin.


THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Obama in Ireland: president searches for 'missing apostrophe' – Almost any other visitor who mauled the Irish language so severely might expect a reception as cold as the waters of the Liffey. » | Alex Spillius in Dublin | Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Barack Obama's Big Middle East Gamble

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama seems unrepentant over his comments on Israel's border and appears to think that his own personality will be enough to resolve a '100-year-old headache'.

Striding to the podium inside the Washington Convention Centre, President Barack Obama did his very best to avoid any sense that he felt intimidated by entering what was, in political terms, the lion's den.

There was tepid applause and a couple of isolated boos from the crowd of almost 10,000 members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as Aipac, the premier and most hardline mainstream group in the powerful pro-Israel lobby in the United States.

The reception was one of intense scepticism. A vast majority of delegates felt that Mr Obama had a need to explain himself after his comments that a Middle East peace deal should be based on Israel's 1967 border incorporating agreed land swaps with the Palestinians.

But if they thought that the American president was going to take back his words in Thursday's speech at the State Department's Foggy Bottom headquarters, then they were sorely mistaken.

Wagging his finger repeatedly, Mr Obama adopted the manner of a schoolmaster frustrated that his pupils were too dim or inattentive to pay attention to what he had said. Continue reading and comment » | Toby Harnden | Sunday, May 22, 2011

Barack Obama Cuts Short Ireland Trip to Avoid Ash Cloud

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama arrives at Stanstead airport having cut short his visit to Ireland to avoid being grounded by volcanic ash.

The President was due to begin his state visit to Britain today but the huge plume of ash drifting across the Atlantic from Iceland forced him to amend his travel arrangements.

His schedule was hastily redrafted as the cloud from the Grímsvötn volcano drifted towards Scotland, leading to the cancellation of 36 flights.

The White House deputy press secretary, Josh Earnest, said: “Due to a recent change in the trajectory in the plume of volcanic ash, Air Force One will depart Ireland for London tonight. The schedule for tomorrow will proceed as planned.”

The three-day visit is launched with a joint newspaper article today in which Mr Obama and David Cameron rename the special relationship between Britain and America, the “essential relationship”, vital for world security and prosperity. » | David Millward, and Andrew Porter | Monday, May 23, 2011

New Questions About Future of Mideast Peace Talks
May 23, 2011 – President Obama facing harsh criticism over Israel border proposal

Jerome Corsi: “Obama Birth Certificate 100% Forged; Hawaii Officials Forged It”

Birther Report »

O'Bama? Oh puh-lease!
TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – JAMES DELINGPOLE: Ah Bejaysus and Begorrah! Oi’ll be swearin’ boi the auld shrine to the Vorgin with the shamrocks growin’ round it next to the hill where Cuchullain slew the Great Leprechaun of Kildare on St Patrick’s Day that Barack Seamus O’Toole Flaherty Joyce O’Bama is the most Irish US president that ever set foot on the Emerald Oisle, so he is, so he is.

Except, when he’s in Africa, of course, when he disappears into the dry ice and re-emerges with a grass skirt and a bone through his nose and declares himself to be Mandingo, Prince of the Bloodline of the Bonga People, Drinker of Cattle Urine, Father of A Thousand Warrior Sons, Keeper of King Solomon’s Mines, Barehanded Slayer of Lions, Undaunted Victim of the Evil Colonial British Empire.

And in the Middle East, where he is Al-Barak Hussein Obama, Protector of the Holy Shrine, Smiter of the Kuffar, Lion of the Desert, Tent-Loving-Aficionado-of-the-Oversweetened-Coffee, Chomper of Sheeps’ Eyeballs, Restorer of the Caliphate.

Etc.

Tony Blair used to do this trick too, his accent mutating from broad Glaswegian to genteel Edinburgh to Mummerset to Estuary to Richard E Grant to Sarf London Grime – often in the course of one Downing Street reception – the better to persuade his target audience that he was their kind of guy. And it is, of course, the hallmark of an unutterable charlatan. » | James Delingpole | Monday, May 23, 2011

CACTUS THORNS: Wait a second Steven, his nibs is claiming to be Irish? This changes everything » | Dan Obrien | Friday, May 06, 2011

This Week, Obama and Cameron Should Compare Notes – and Then Wake Up

THE SLOG: This is the last chance to put our banks back in the cage

For a few days starting tomorrow, President Obama will smile at the well-wishers in Britain, show deference to the Queen, and generally pretend to like us. While he’s around (and I’m not breaking any injunctions here) I understand he’s going to have an economics session with Prime Minister David Cameron.

If and when that meeting of barren minds takes place, they should be able to reach a simple conclusion: no matter how hard you try to get banks to behave like social animals, they will screw you and pump up their bonuses.

Obama tried to get help to the repossession sector of the US housing market, using Federal funds. The idea was ill-conceived (chucking good money after bad) but at least three major banks used the funds fraudulently, and are now the subject of SEC investigations. His man Bernanke has been pumping Fed funds into the banking sector, in an effort to increase liquidity into the economy, for nigh on two and a half years – depending on who you believe about when it stopped, or if it ever stopped. This ‘POMO’ (Permanent Open Market Operations) scheme’s main achievement has been to send the Dow through the roof: the banks used the money for two purposes – to underwrite multinational megamergers, and buy stocks on behalf of their clients. Jobs have been lost, not created, as a result of this double-cross.

Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne first of all tried to get the banks to set an example, and forego bonuses for 2010. Bob Diamond explained that this item would not be on the agenda, and they ended up paying themselves more than ever. Almost no money has filtered through to the small business sector after QE, and the financial sector – that’s the banks, remember – is still the only bit of the economy holding its end up. Not hard when you consider they’ve been doing it mainly with taxpayers’ money. Manufacturing has grown, but much as the Government tries to hype this, growth on a base of 12% of all economic output is a spit at the tornado of problems we face. » | John Ward |Monday, May 23, 2011

Obama to Address Pro-Israel Group AIPAC
Barack Obama will make his first appearance as US president at the annual conference of America's largest Jewish lobby.

His speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee comes days after the Israeli prime minister publicly rejected Obama's views on the Middle East peace process.

Al Jazeera's Tom Ackerman reports.

US 'Would Repeat Bin Laden Raid'
BBC: The US President Barack Obama has spoken exclusively to the BBC's Andrew Marr ahead of his visit to the UK and Ireland.

The president spoke about the raid in Pakistan which led to the death of Osama Bin Laden, and Afghanistan's future.

Andrew Marr also asked Mr Obama what it was like meeting the Queen. (+video: Full Interview) » | Andrew Marr | Sunday, May 22, 2011

Here is the full transcript of the BBC's interview with President Barack Obama. »

Barack Obama's State Visit to Britain Hit by Splits over Libya

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Tensions over the military campaign against Libya have cast a cloud over President Barack Obama’s state visit to Britain this week, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

Military and diplomatic sources in both Britain and the US are privately critical over the other side’s role in the action which has hit a damaging “stalemate” and left Colonel Muammar Gadaffi clinging to power.

Britain wants the US to take more of a defined role in the campaign, with UK military chiefs protesting that the effectiveness of bombing raids is being lessened by the absence of American leadership.

US diplomatic sources, meanwhile, have criticised Britain as a “skittish” and unpredictable ally which frequently issues a “red card” -- effectively vetoing a target, causing confusion and greatly hampering proper planning.

Mr Obama emphasised the differences between the two allies yesterday, describing the action against Libya as “limited” in a letter to US lawmakers.

Mr Cameron is expected to pass on the frustration over the lack of leadership from the US when he holds talks with Mr Obama at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, although Downing Street sources last night denied there were tensions.

Both London and Washington are keen to proclaim a new era for the “special relationship” between the two nations on the eve of the trip, which will see the president and his wife, Michelle, spend two nights in Britain, with the programme including a state banquet at Buckingham Palace and a speech by Mr Obama to both houses of parliament.

It will also feature a barbecue in No 10’s rose garden on Wednesday, hosted jointly by Samantha Cameron and Mrs Obama, which both leaders are expected to take time out of their schedules to attend. » | Patrick Hennessy, Philip Sherwell and Andrew Gilligan | Saturday, May 21, 2011

My comment:

Has it come to this? That the UK can't wage an effective war against a country like Libya without 'Big Daddy' helping in the background? Only seventy years ago, we could put up a damn good fight against the military might of the Third Reich – alone. Now, we can't take on even Qadhafi alone!

But for Cameron's vanity, we wouldn't have started a war against Libya anyway. We have no business being there. It is wrong to interfere in an internal revolution. That's what revolutions are all about: upheaval in the internal affairs of a nation. And as for all the crap about protecting civilians – sheer nonsense! Nato, the UK, and France have inflicted more pain and suffering on civilians than Qadhafi ever did.

Qadhafi is an evil man. Of that there is no doubt. But should we really have gone in there to 'sort them out' when we turn a blind eye to equally unpalatable atrocities in Bahrain and Syria, to name but two examples? Indeed, it was only yesterday that Cameron gave us a photo shoot of himself with the Crown Prince of Bahrain, the man some are calling the "torturer-in-chief". And boy, didn't Cameron look weak! And such hypocrisy! One thing is for sure: This is not the UK's "finest hour".

Lastly, whilst I have every respect for the US, and even though I frequently visit that fine country, I find it rather unacceptable, rather nauseating, that we have to look for US approval for everything. We have to follow their lead all the time, and follow their trends. Isn't it about time that the UK grew a backbone? – © Mark

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Pro-Israeli Lobby Urged 'Not to Boo['] Barack Obama after Middle East Peace Address

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama and Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, are squaring up for another clash on Sunday as relations between the two countries plunge to their worst level since the founding of the Jewish state.

The two men will both address the leading pro-Israel lobbying group, the American-Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), two days after Mr Netanyahu publicly rebuked Mr Obama's peace plans for the Middle East from inside the Oval Office.

Such is the controversy aroused by Mr Obama's stance that AIPAC's leader, Lee Rosenberg, has been forced to write to members begging them not to boo the president when he addresses them.

Mr Obama's clash with Mr Netanyahu, who accused his host of wanting a "peace based on illusions", has sent a sharp divide down American, Israeli and international opinion.

Mr Netanyahu objected to Mr Obama's demand in a speech on Thursday for a Palestinian state based on borders from before the 1967 Six Day War, with revisions to take into consideration security concerns and some of Israel's settlements.

Mr Obama was immediately backed by the Middle East "Quartet", the mediation body comprising the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union. It issued a statement expressing its "strong support". » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Saturday, May 21, 2011

Negotiating with Hamas 'Unacceptable'
Mark Regev is the spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. He says negotiating with a Palestinian government that includes members of Hamas is unacceptable.

Heftiger Streit Amerikas mit Israel

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Israels Präsident Netanjahu hat dem amerikanischen Präsidenten Obama die Gefährdung der Existenz Israels vorgeworfen. Im Weißen Haus protestierte er gegen Obamas Vorschlag für einen Palästinenserstaat in den Grenzen von 1967. In diesem Fall könne das Land „nicht verteidigt“ werden, warnte Netanjahu.

Der israelische Ministerpräsident Benjamin Netanjahu hat Präsident Barack Obama vorgeworfen, mit seiner Forderung nach einem palästinensischen Staat in den Grenzen von 1967 die Existenz Israels zu gefährden. Sollte sich Israel tatsächlich auf die vor dem Sechstagekrieg vom Juni 1967 bestehenden Grenzen zurückziehen, könne das Land „nicht verteidigt“ werden, warnte Netanjahu am Freitag.

Ein mehrstündiges Gespräch zwischen ihm und Obama war am Freitag in Washington ohne eine Annäherung zu Ende gegangen. Es gebe Unterschiede in der Beurteilung einer möglichen Ausgangsposition für neue Verhandlungen, sagte Obama nach dem Treffen im Weißen Haus. „Offensichtlich haben wir Differenzen in präzisen Formulierungen und in der Sprache“, solche seien aber „unter Freunden“ normal. Netanjahu erklärte, dass Israel durchaus zu Zugeständnissen bereit sei. Ein Rückzug hinter die Grenzen von 1967 sei jedoch unmöglich. „Damit es Frieden gibt, müssen die Palästinenser bestimmte fundamentale Realitäten akzeptieren“, sagte Netanjahu weiter. „Wir haben keinen großen Spielraum, denn die Geschichte wird den Juden keine zweite Chance geben“, fügte er hinzu. » | FAZ.NET | Freitag, 20. Mai 2011

Related »

Benjamin Netanyahu Rebukes Barack Obama Over 1967 Plan

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has issued a public rebuke to Barack Obama's face, telling the US president his proposed border for the Jewish state would be "indefensible" and not based on reality.

Mr Netanyahu told Mr Obama that to suggest a return to Israel's pre-1967 borders did not "take into account certain changes that have taken place" in the intervening 44 years.

The president said that the talks, which had overrun in the Oval Office by more than 90 minutes, had been "extremely useful" and although he did not mention the pre-1967 borders, he reiterated the need for "a contiguous, functioning" Palestinian state.

It was the seventh Obama-Netanyahu meeting and came after Mr Obama's speech on Thursday calling for the creation of a Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders triggered uproar in the Israeli government.

During the frosty public show, the Israeli premier told Mr Obama that any peace deal "based on illusion will crash on the rocks of Middle East reality". Israel, he insisted, "can't go back to the 1967 lines".

Mr Netanyahu also warned that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, would have to choose between a new unity pact with the militant group Hamas or peace with Israel. Mr Obama agreed with Mr Netanyahu that the Palestinians would have to answer "some very difficult questions" about the recent reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah – Hamas still denies Israel's right to exist.

Mr Netanyahu's anger was compounded by the fact that he had been taken by surprise, learning the contents of Mr Obama's Thursday speech about the future of the Middle East just a few hours before it was delivered. » | Toby Harnden, Washington and Adrian Blomfield | Friday, May 20, 2011

Interview: Robert Fisk on Obama Speech
Robert Fisk reacts to US President Barack Obama's May 19 speech on the Middle East, North Africa, and discusses 1967 Israel/Palestine borders with Tony Harris from Al Jazeera's headquarters in Doha

Obama and Netanyahu Admit 'Differences' on Middle East
BBC: US President Barack Obama and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu have admitted to "differences" on the path to Mid-East peace, after they met in Washington.

The talks came after Mr Obama said in a key speech that any future Palestinian state must be based on the borders that existed prior to the 1967 war.

A defiant Mr Netanyahu said there may be some concessions but stressed the 1967 lines were "indefensible".

He said that there could be no peace "based on illusions".

"[It] will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle East reality," Mr Netanyahu said.

After the talks, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas urged Mr Obama to continue pressing Mr Netanyahu on the 1967 borders plan, AFP news agency reported. (+videos) » | Friday, May 20, 2011

Israel: US 'Does Not Understand' What We Face
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama demonstrated in his latest Mideast policy speech that "Washington does not understand what we face," according to a senior Israeli official.


The official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was disappointed the speech did not address the Palestinian demand to repatriate to Israel millions of Palestinians, most descendants of people who were driven from or fled homes in the war over the Jewish state's 1948 creation.

Speaking ahead of Mr Netanyahu's White House meeting with Mr Obama, the official said, "There is a sense that Washington does not understand the reality, that Washington does not understand what we face."

Mr Obama last night ordered Israel to accept Palestinian demands in a peace deal as he pledged American support for human rights in the Middle East.

Mr Obama was more explicit about the parameters of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that ever before. He said Israel had to accept the Palestinian demand for it to accept the 1967 borders.
A Jewish state "cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation" of Palestinian lands," he said.

"Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognised borders are established for both states," he said. "The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state."

The embrace of a key Palestinian demand is likely to anger Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli premier, on the eve of his visit to the White House on Friday. » | Friday, May 20, 2011

My comment:

Obama is a greenhorn. He's fond of talking, but that's about all. I think the world has already started switching off when he speaks. Even the Saudis summed up his Mideast speech in two words: "meaningless drivel"! Obama certainly doesn't understand Israel's dilemma, nor does he comprehend the realities of life there for Israelis on a day-to-day basis. The power of Obama is on the wane. He's a spent force. – © Mark

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Saudis Call Obama Speech Meaningless Drivel
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH/DAMMAM: Saudis dismissed US President Barrack Obama's much-anticipated "Arab Spring address" as meaningless, predictable drivel while Egyptians and other Arabs, to whom Obama offered some sops, also did not find anything new in the speech, which according to them focused on US interests.

"He did not say anything of consequence," said Riyadh-based historian Hatoon Al-Fassi. "It was a long speech and what I remember the most is his defense of Israel. Till he uttered this sentence, 'US commitment to Israel's security is unshakable', I had some hope, but when he said that I lost all interest. All his words after and before just rang hollow."

Al-Fassi said people in the Arab world had high hopes after his speech in Cairo two years ago, "but when it came to action he turned out to be a hypocrite like all previous American presidents. So I did not have any expectations anyway. His words did not move me because they were all couched in diplomacy and hypocrisy, and nothing more."

"Katheeran min kalaam khalil min al-amal." That is how Dammam-based political analyst Mutlaq Al-Anazi described Obama's speech: "Too much talk and no action."

"There was nothing in his speech except a robust defense of Israel," said Anazi. "When you support Israel then you lose the moral high ground that we expect American presidents to take when dealing with the Palestinian-Israeli issue."

Anazi said Obama has the gift of gab. » | Siraj Wahab, Maher Abbas & Ghazanfar Ali Khan | Arab News | Thursday, May 19, 2011

Arabs See Obama Speech as Late, Not Enough

AL MASRY AL YOUM: US President Barack Obama's speech on uprisings sweeping the Arab world show Washington is struggling to guide democratic movements that took it by surprise, Arab analysts said, threatening US regional allies.

Obama went to Cairo University to address the Muslim world in a landmark speech in 2009 that promised support for democracy that Washington assumed would come thanks to outside pressure on entrenched rulers in countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

But on Thursday he stood at a State Department podium in Washington to discuss protest movements that have been mainly peaceful and driven by ordinary Arabs, removing autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt but so far failing to bring change in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria or Libya.

The stark contrast in settings said much about a confused US reaction to Arab revolts where it has appeared to be irrelevant, and its challenge now in nudging them towards conclusions compatible with US foreign policy goals.

Those include isolating Iran, ensuring continued Gulf Arab oil supplies and promoting Arab ties with Israel. Obama's failure to end Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians seek statehood, has done much to quash the hope many Arabs had in him two years ago. » | Reuters | Friday, May 20, 2011

"My prediction on Obama's speech: Arab leaders won't like it much. Arab reformers won't like it much. This is the Obama style: Try to appeal to everyone and end up disappointing everyone." – Shadi Hamid, Brookings Centre in Qatar on Twitter

Inside Story: Obama's Middle East address
On Thursday, President Barack Obama spoke of a change of strategy towards the Arab world.

This special edition of Inside Story takes a closer look at what the US president's speech means for the future of the Middle East.

Inside Story with presenter Shihab Rattansi, discusses with Hillary Mann Leverett, former state department official; Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat chair at the University of Maryland; and Daniel Levy, former senior adviser to the Israeli government.

This episode of Inside Story aired from [sic] Thursday, May 18, 2011.