Merkel trifft Obama: „Intensiver Meinungsaustausch“

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Arabellion, Afghanistan und die Euro-Krise standen auf der Agenda: Der amerikanische Präsident Obama hat sich mit Kanzlerin Merkel zum Auftakt ihres Besuches in Washington in einem Restaurant in Georgetown getroffen.

Der amerikanische Präsident Barack Obama hat mit Kanzlerin Angela Merkel zum Auftakt ihres Besuches in Washington vertraulich über das deutsch-amerikanische Verhältnis gesprochen. In einem Restaurant in Georgetown erörterten sie am Montagabend (Ortszeit) ferner die Lage in Nordafrika und Afghanistan sowie den Nahost-Konflikt und die Euro-Krise, verlautete aus deutschen Regierungskreisen. Es sei ein „gelungener, intensiver und freundschaftlicher Meinungsaustausch“ gewesen, hieß es.

Anlass der Reise ist die Verleihung einer „Medal of freedom“ durch den amerikanischen Präsidenten Obama. Es handelt sich um den höchsten zivilen Orden der Vereinigten Staaten, den einst auch Helmut Kohl erhalten hatte. Frau Merkel ist die erste europäische Regierungschefin, der Obama in seiner Amtszeit als Präsident diesen Orden verliehen hat.

Der Festakt dazu findet - nach amerikanischer Zeit - am Dienstagabend im Rosengarten des Weißen Hauses statt. Die Eheleute Michelle Obama und Joachim Sauer werden an dem Festakt teilnehmen. Anschließend fliegt Frau Merkel zurück nach Berlin, wo sie nach Plan am Mittwoch zur Mittagszeit eintreffen wird.

Hinsichtlich des protokollarischen Ablaufs enthält die Reise Frau Merkels Elemente eines Staatsbesuches. Am Dienstagvormittag ist nochmals eine Unterredung Frau Merkels mit Obama vorgesehen, von dem sie mit militärischen Ehren begrüßt wird. Am Nachmittag kommt Frau Merkel mit Vizepräsident Joe Biden und Außenministerin Hillary Clinton sowie Senatsmitgliedern zusammen. Westerwelle: „Vorzügliches Verhältnis“ » | FAZ.NET mit dpa | Dienstag 07. Juni 2011

Bin Laden Bounce Definitely Over for Obama

MAIL ONLINE: Those who forecast Barack Obama had sealed his second term as president with the killing of Osama Bin Laden look to be wrong.

According to a new poll, the 'Bin laden bounce' has already evaporated[.]

Obama's approval rating surged to 56 per cent in the aftermath of the terrorist's death but now just 47 per cent think he is doing a good job.

But it is domestic policies - notably Obama's handling of the economy - that is driving the frustration of the American public, according to a joint poll conducted by The Washington Post and ABC news.

Fifty-nine per cent, a new high, gave Obama negative marks for his handling of the economy, up from 55 per cent a month earlier.

Obama's approval rating on the deficit issue has also hit a new low of 33 per cent, a drop of 6 per centage [sic] points since April.

The state of the economy poses a huge challenge for the president, whose re-election in 2012 may depend on his ability to convince voters that his economic policies have been successful. Bin Laden bounce definitely OVER for Obama as new poll shows he could lose the presidency over the economy » | Daily Mail Reporter | Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Opinion Journal: What Is Obama Smoking?
Charles Stimson of the Heritage Foundation on reducing sentences for drug offenders

USA muß Sparen
In den USA geht die Angst vor einer neuen Rezession um. Grund dafür sind die schlechten Wirtschaftsnachrichten. In Washington ist deshalb Sparen angesagt. Präsident Obama versucht dem Land Mut zuzureden

Who Cares in the Middle East What Obama Says?

THE INDEPENDENT: President Obama has shown himself to be weak in his dealings with the Middle East, says Robert Fisk, and the Arab world is turning its back with contempt. Its future will be shaped without American influence

This month, in the Middle East, has seen the unmaking of the President of the United States. More than that, it has witnessed the lowest prestige of America in the region since Roosevelt met King Abdul Aziz on the USS Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake in 1945.

While Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu played out their farce in Washington – Obama grovelling as usual – the Arabs got on with the serious business of changing their world, demonstrating and fighting and dying for freedoms they have never possessed. Obama waffled on about change in the Middle East – and about America's new role in the region. It was pathetic. "What is this 'role' thing?" an Egyptian friend asked me at the weekend. "Do they still believe we care about what they think?"

And it is true. Obama's failure to support the Arab revolutions until they were all but over lost the US most of its surviving credit in the region. Obama was silent on the overthrow of Ben Ali, only joined in the chorus of contempt for Mubarak two days before his flight, condemned the Syrian regime – which has killed more of its people than any other dynasty in this Arab "spring", save for the frightful Gaddafi – but makes it clear that he would be happy to see Assad survive, waves his puny fist at puny Bahrain's cruelty and remains absolutely, stunningly silent over Saudi Arabia. And he goes on his knees before Israel. Is it any wonder, then, that Arabs are turning their backs on America, not out of fury or anger, nor with threats or violence, but with contempt? It is the Arabs and their fellow Muslims of the Middle East who are themselves now making the decisions. » | Robert Fisk | Monday, May 30, 2011

Washington Should Plan for a Post-Assad Syria

YA LIBNAN – EDITORIAL: Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama gave Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an ultimatum: Lead a transition to democracy, or, in Obama’s words, “get out of the way.”

The speech recognized an inconvenient truth for Washington: Although the Assad regime has not yet reached a tipping point like that of the Ben Ali and Mubarak regimes, nearly three months of protests across Syria have shaken the Assad regime to its core.

Government forces have killed 1,000 protesters and arrested another 10,000, yet demonstrators continue to fill the streets demanding the fall of the government.

Assad is now caught in a dilemma: He can continue relying on his fellow Alawite security chiefs and the minority system they dominate to persecute the predominately Sunni protesters, or he can enact deep political reforms that could convince the protesters to return home but would end the Alawite-led system on which he so heavily relies. Either way, the Assad regime as it has existed for more than four decades is disintegrating.

Now, to follow through on his bold declaration last week, Obama and his advisers must plan for a Syria without the Assad regime as it currently exists. To do so, Washington should try to push Assad from power while pulling in a new leadership.

As a start of this “push” strategy, Obama must go even further than he did in his speech last week and publicly state that Assad must go. Such a move would signal that the United States will no longer deal with Assad. Put bluntly, high-level U.S. officials would no longer plead for Assad’s support on questions of U.S. interest in the region, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. » | Mara Karlin and Andrew J. Tabler | Editorial | Monday, May 27, 2011

Obama and Cameron Kissing

NOW LEBANON – BLOG: A “special relationship,” indeed.

Is it weird to be slightly turned on by an image of US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron kissing?

What’s the verdict, peeps: is this Photoshopped? Read on and comment » | Angie Nassar | Monday, May 30, 2011

Israel Can’t Trust Obama

YNET NEWS: Op-ed: President Obama’s recent speeches highlighted his affinity for the Palestinian cause

When President Obama announced his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines as the starting point for negotiations, he in effect adopted the PLO Phased Plan for the gradual destruction of Israel.

While Hamas adopted the position of destroying Israel in one step through constant armed struggle, the PLO, led by Fatah adopted in 1974 a new political method of achieving that goal through two steps. According to the plan, the first step is the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders; the second step is the liberation of all of Palestine by destroying the Jewish state through armed struggle or through the “the right of return” of millions of Palestinians to Israel, thus demographically and democratically causing Israel to lose its Jewish majority and character.

In his Middle East speech, Obama divided the core issues of the negotiations into two phases. According to the order set by the president, he in effect demanded of Israel to give up its only bargaining chip of land, based on the 1967 lines with “mutually agreed swaps” in the first phase, before negotiating t[he] other substantive questions such as the “right of return,” the Hamas-Fatah alliance, and recognition of Israel as the Jewish state.

Obama argued that by mentioning “land swaps,” he did not actually call for Israel to withdraw to the indefensible ‘67 lines, as Israel can trade off other land to avoid the ‘67 lines. But in reality the president handed the Palestinians a tremendous victory by embracing their assertion that they somehow have the implicit right to every square inch beyond the Green Line and thus must be compensated on a 1:1 basis for any adjustment. This means that if Israel wishes to keep the Western Wall or the Jewish Quarter in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians would have to agree first and then in return Israel would have to compensate them with a land swap from inside tiny Israel.

Furthermore, when the president mentioned in his speech “the fate of the Palestinian refugees”, he did not say that there will be no “right of return” to Israel proper and that the Palestinian refugees and their descendants will have to find their home in a future state of Palestine. » | Shoula Romano Horing | Sunday, May 29, 2011

Janet Daley: Is President Obama All Talk and No Action?

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The US President has produced little of substance to underpin his high-flown rhetoric about being willing to stand up for freedom, argues Janet Daley.

So what, after all that, are we to make of the great Obama-Cameron concord? What message exactly are we supposed to take from the speeches, the statements, the press conference and the ecstatic briefings? There was certainly an over-arching theme that no one was intended to miss: as a former US president might have put it, the torch has been passed to a new generation. These two national leaders who inherit the most effective alliance in modern history are significantly different from their immediate predecessors: we are not, repeat not, Bush and Blair, but that does not mean that we are about to funk the responsibilities which those men saw as defining their world role. So the question is: when the similarities are added up and the differences subtracted, what is the sum that remains? Is this really a revival of liberal interventionism, or a retreat from it that is being obscured by a lot of high-flown rhetoric?

The commitment to upholding the values of liberty and democratic freedoms as universal human rights was reiterated again and again in terms as unequivocal as any that the previous holders of their offices could have wished. No patronising cynicism about certain races and certain regions of the globe being insufficiently rational to cope with the modern idea of a free and liberal society. (George Bush and Tony Blair were the ghosts at the barbecue, you might say.)

Certainly, the moral obligation to spread the doctrine of democratic government and to support the efforts of any people who seek to liberate themselves from tyranny sounded uncannily like a revival of the Bush doctrine. It would be easy to conclude, as Amity Shlaes puts it in the current issue of Standpoint magazine, “…the reality is that we are all neo-cons now”.

But in fact there was nothing in Mr Obama’s comment that “the longing for freedom and human dignity is not English or American or Western – it is universal” that was the least bit contentious in American terms: the principle that all men are created equal and are born with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is written into the nation’s sacred founding documents. Read on and comment » | Janet Daley | Saturday, May 28, 2011

My comment:

Despite the rhetoric, the US is going to hell in a handbasket! The economy is in the tank, and Obama has little hope of doing anything meaningful to stop it disappearing into the abyss. Obama is a good-timer, a poseur, and is work-shy to boot. Instead of flitting here and flitting there, he should stay at home and do some real work for a change, in order to sort out the appalling mess that is the American economy.

Moreover, once upon a time, America was 'The Land of the Free.' Alas, no more! Everywhere you turn in the States these days there are restrictions. New York under Tyrant Bloomberg is the best example of how a people can lose its freedom to satisfy the prejudices of one physically-challenged dictator. To talk about America and freedom in the same breath when a smoker can't even light up in a park for fear of breaking the law (I write as a non-smoker), is absurd. Similar laws are being rolled out across the nation, from coast to coast. Then there are the restrictions on so many other things too.

And all this talk of democracy. Empty rhetoric when you don't have it yourself. In any case, the US is technically not a democracy; rather, it is a republic. The people have very little actual say in the day-to-day governance of their once great nation.

Dubya started spending the US into the ground; BHO's grand economic schemes and spendthrift ways have only accelerated the the process. With America's new-found propensity for over-governance, if the torch of freedom is not to be doused, then some other nation will have to take it and run with it. It's doubtful America will be able to keep it alight; Americans, it seems, have forgotten what freedom is. – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Barack Obama: US and Poland Relationship Has 'Never Been Stronger'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama said that relations between his country and Poland have 'never been stronger' as he confirmed that he and the Polish President had discussed the visa regime for Poles.

The visa issue is the main irritant in traditionally cordial relations between the two Nato allies, though the US President will need the support of Congress to make the change.

Obama said: "We discussed how we can more regularise the visa process between our two countries and I indicated to him the work we are doing in the US to be able to achieve that.

"In sum, I think the relationship between our two countries has never been stronger. I am very proud to come here in order to say thank you to the Polish people for their friendship." (+ video) » | Saturday, May 28, 2011

Muslims Rally Against the Tyrant Barack Obama with Special Guest Speaker Anjem Choudary
24th May 2011 - Demonstration against Barack Obama and Allies, organised by the International Shariah Court, outside 10 Downing Street

UK Palace Goes All-out for Obama State Dinner

SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER: LONDON — For President Barack Obama, a state dinner hosted by the British queen is much more than a chance to dine on Windsor lamb washed down with 50-year-old port. It's also an opportunity to bask in the grandeur of Britain's monarchy, still glowing from the success of a princely wedding watched around the world.

Large British and American flags lined the Mall, where, less than a month before, Prince William and his new bride, the Duchess of Cambridge, rode to Buckingham Palace. The nearby Green Park still bore large bare patches where the world's media had camped out for the marriage.

Inside the palace, the crimson-carpeted ballroom was laid out with 19th-century silverware, Louis XVI porcelain and fragrant floral arrangements more than 12 feet (four meters) tall. Every gilded ornament had its own rich history — the Rockingham dessert service, for example, was first used for Queen Victoria's coronation in 1838.

The 170 or so guests joining the Obamas for dinner include Britain's prime minister, senior royalty, ambassadors, business leaders, top brass, leading academics, prominent nobility and even the archbishop of Canterbury — who officiated at William's April 29 wedding.

No white-tie state dinner would be complete without a side helping of celebrity. Tom Hanks was on the guest list, as was Tim Burton, Kevin Spacey and Helena Bonham-Carter — who won plaudits for her recent portrayal of the queen's mother in the Academy Award-winning movie "The King's Speech."

The menu, printed in French on dainty white cards, included sole, Windsor lamb with basil, green bean panache and Charlotte a la Vanille for dessert. Wines include Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2004 and Royal Vintage Port from 1963. » | Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press | Tuesday, May 24, 2011

State Banquet Menu for President Obama »

Related »

Queen Elizabeth II. und US-Präsident Barack Obama an Bankett
US-Präsident Barack Obama und der britische Premierminister David Cameron sind in London zu Gesprächen zusammengetroffen. Im Zentrum der Gespräche stehen dürften die Libyen-Krise, der Nahost-Konflikt und das weitere Vorgehen in Syrien. Gestern Aband war das amerikanische Präsidenten-Paar Gast beim Bankett der Queen im Bukingham Palast

King Abdullah Greets President Obama at the White House (Jun 29, 2010)

Inside Story: Obama's Push against UN-approved Palestine
Inside Story, discusses with, Reuel Marc Gerecht, senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defence of Democracy; Patrick Seale, author of Struggle for Arab Independence; and Ezzedine Choukri Fishere, professor of politics, American University, Cairo. This episode of Inside Story aired on Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Obamas große Ehre

The Less Than Scintillating Speech of Barack Obama
Did Kenneth Clarke fall asleep during Barack Obama's speech? His charisma and charm is usually enough to send any crowd into a frenzy but Barack Obama's speech at Westminster Hall left one politician feeling quite drowsy.
Watch Telegraph video here

Obama Fluffs It!

Queen Greets President Obama on First UK State Visit
BBC: The Queen has greeted US President Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle, at the start of his first UK state visit.

The Obamas also met Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and spent 20 minutes with newlyweds the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

They have laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey and will attend a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

It came after David Cameron and Mr Obama spoke of "essential" UK-US ties.

'Common interests'

In a joint article in the [sic] Times [£], Mr Obama and Mr Cameron said of their countries' relationship: "Ours is not just a special relationship, it is an essential relationship - for us and for the world.

"When the United States and Britain stand together, our people and people around the world can become more secure and more prosperous.

"The reason it thrives is because it advances our common interests and shared values. It is a perfect alignment of what we both need and what we both believe."

The presidential pair's visit to Westminster Abbey included an impromptu meeting with choirboys, when Mr Obama was teased by his wife for his lack of singing talent.

"He insisted on speaking to each one of them and shaking their hands," the Dean, Dr John Hall said.

"He said that he liked to think he could sing and Mrs Obama said 'Well, he can't really, he can dance'." (+ video) » | Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Obama in London: Mehr Lob, mehr Last

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Die Briten freuen sich über das wieder erwachte Interesse Amerikas, dessen Präsident in London nicht müde wird, das bilaterale Verhältnis zu rühmen - und fragen nach dem Preis dafür.

Die „besondere Verbundenheit“ zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und dem Vereinigten Königreich ist anlässlich des Staatsbesuches des amerikanischen Präsidenten in London um eine ganze Handvoll weiterer Attribute bereichert worden. Es sei nicht nur eine besondere, sondern eine „unentbehrliche“ Partnerschaft, beteuerten Präsident Obama und Premierminister Cameron in einem gemeinsamen Zeitungsartikel, ja es sei eine „natürliche Partnerschaft“ und eine „felsenfeste“ dazu.

Der britische Außenminister Hague hatte zuvor in einer Begegnung mit seiner amerikanischen Kollegin Clinton die Adjektive „einzigartig“ und „außerordentlich“ verwendet, auch ein „unverzichtbar“ probierte er aus, welches von Hillary Clinton alsbald wiederholt wurde. » | Von Johannes Leithäuser, London | Dienstag, 24. Mai 2011

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