| 26.01.2009 |
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| I had the chance to interview Malcolm Gladwell about his new book "Outliers" today. But obviously I had to ask him about the effect President Barack Obama would have on America's standing abroad. "It can only go up," Gladwell who described himself as a centrist Democrat, answered, pointing out that while it is very early to make a call on that, the decision to close Guantanamo was an important step in the right direction. After the full interview goes online at DW-WORLD.DE, I'll link to it from here. |
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| 22.01.2009 |
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| German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had a busy day today and was involved in at least two major international news stories. First, he talked to his new American counterpart Hillary Clinton to offer his congratulations. Clinton and Steinmeier agreed to meet soon. And second, according to German tabloid bild.de, Steinmeier and German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble agreed to meet in the next few days to iron out their publicly voiced dispute about whether Germany should consider taking inmates from Guantanamo. While Steinmeier said Germany should consider such a move, Interior Minister Schaeuble said he could not see why EU countries should grant sanctuary to people who are too dangerous for the U.S. |
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| 20.01.2009 |
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| Recently I wrote about the new president's travel plans and the race between European leaders to be the first to visit Barack Obama in the White House. While there is still no news on the latter, German magazine Focus reports that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Berlin in April. According to the report, Obama's staff is preparing a trip to the German capital after participating in a NATO summit on April 3-4 in Baden-Baden and Strasbourg. With his trip to Berlin, Barack Obama intends to thank Berliners for their support during his big speech there last year. No word whether President Obama will be allowed to do what candidate Obama was not: Give a speech at Brandenburg Gate. | ||||||||
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| 19.01.2009 |
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| Finally, transition time will officially come to end on Tuesday with Barack Obama's inauguration. It's about time. Putting the -elect every time after President for almost three months is really long enough. I think many journalists share this feeling. So before all the hard work begins for soon-to-be President Obama, it's time to party. If you are in Washington, DC on Inauguration Day, you probably cannot escape some sort of party or another. Still not sure where to go to though? Then just click here for a whole slew of party offerings in the U.S. capital. In Germany, probably one of largest inauguration party's outside the U.S. will kick off at Club Goya in Berlin at 4 p.m. The event is hosted by Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad. Around 1500 guests are expected, including staff from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. While there are lots of other partys in most major German cities, Munich will be the first German city to stage an Inaugural Ball hosted jointly by Democrats and Republicans abroad. It happens at the Arabella Sheraton starting at 4 p.m. For tickets (75 Euro), send a mail to munichinauguralball2009@gmail.com. Elsewhere in Europe, Austrians are celebrating Obama's inauguration at the Vienna Marriott, while Luxembourg's inauguration fest will take place at the hotel Sofitel. For parties in other cities in Europe and around the globe, check out the homepage of Democrats Abroad and select a country. Have fun! |
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| 16.01.2009 |
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| Not only in the U.S. are President-elect Barack Obama's books bestsellers. As German daily Die Welt reports, Chinese readers apparently just can't get enough of Obama and his writings. A collection of Obama aphorisms is a huge success in Beijing's bookstore Sanlian, only to be topped by John Talbott's "Obamanomics". According to Die Welt, the President-elect's "The Audacity of Hope" sold more than 100,000 copies. There are more than 20 Obama biographies – most of them unauthorized – on the market as well. For a comparison: Five biographies deal with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, three with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. | ||||||||
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| 15.01.2009 |
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| A new global poll compiled by Austrian research company Triconsult right before the U.S. election (October/November 2008) provides some interesting data. It is essentially another confirmation of America's declined global image and the high hopes for President-elect Barack Obama. Here's a quick snapshot: -Western Europeans (Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Finland) think that the U.S. will pay more attention to human rights under President Barack Obama and that America's image abroad will improve. -Western Europeans believe Americans are more conservative and traditional than Europeans. -In every country polled, a majority of people think poverty in the U.S. will tend to decline under Obama rather than increase. Americans also are of that opinion, but to a lesser extent than all the other countries. -In every country but Russia people are convinced that environmental issues in the U.S. will improve under President Obama. -Every country has higher hopes than the U.S. that the chances for world peace will improve under Obama. However, even in the U.S., more people agree rather than disagree with that view. -A large majority (90 percent) of Western Europeans (75 percent of Americans) think that tensions between Muslims and Christians will remain the same or decrease. -Three out of ten Americans think that the threat of terrorism will increase. Only one out of ten Western Europeans is of that opinion. -Only in Turkey and Georgia do more people believe that America's influence in the world has increased. All other countries see the opposite. You can get all the details and figures, as well as a lot more fascinating polling factoids here (in German). |
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| 13.01.2009 |
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| In a good post over at the New Atlanticist, James Joyner outlines and analyses President-elect Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo prison and the difficulties it presents. One of them is, as the AP reports, judging the mixed group of more than 200 inmates currently detained at Guantanamo. Another difficult step is to find countries willing to take the prisoners. Britain, who has been asked by the U.S. to take prisoners, said it was only inclined to do so if joined by other European nations. The UN has also called upon countries to accept prisoners. Not surprisingly, takers are not exactly lining up. But in an interesting twist, Finland, which has no nationals detained in Guantanamo, has offered to take up to sixty inmates. For a list (published in 2006) of prisoners at Guantanamo and their countries of origin click here. |
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| 12.01.2009 |
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| As Tim wrote, Barack Obama, in keeping with tradition, chose neighboring Canada as his first country to visit. On that note, it will be interesting to see who will be the first European leader to visit the new President in the White House, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown being the obvious favorites. After Obama's big fanfare trip to Berlin last year didn't go down well with the French and the British, let's see which European country is picked to receive the first presidential visit. According to media reports, Poland is not faring too badly, having already secured a visit by President Obama in June. For an interesting perspective on how President George W. Bush prioritized his foreign trips click here. |
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| 09.01.2009 |
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| How will China-U.S. relations fare under President Barack Obama is a topic many commentators have been tackling recently, going beyond the latest news that U.S. debt is becoming less appealing to China. Howard LaFranchi deems it likely that Obama may pursue a tougher stance on China than the Bush administration because of an increased focus on human rights and statements criticizing Beijing's monetary policy. That puts Chinese officials in a tight spot. While they felt comfortable with the outgoing Republican administration, the Chinese people are rather fond of Barack Obama. China expert David Shambough, in an article in the International Herald Tribune, presents a brief history of Sino-American relations calling them a marriage of convenience. In his opinion, relations between both countries are currently the best since the Tiananmen crackdown of 1989. Focusing on the most critical issue between the U.S. and China - Taiwan -, Bonnie Glaser offers eight policy objectives that she thinks are likely to be pursued by the Obama administration. Among the points mentioned are a possible change of rhetoric, not substance of Washington's "one China" policy and firm support for a larger Taiwanese role in international organizations. In an editorial for Forbes, Gordon Chang presents his rather gloomy outlook on China for 2009. He argues that the ability of China's leadership to govern the country effectively is starting to erode, which leaves Chinese officials little margin of error. According to Chang, with three historic anniversaries coming up, 2009 will be a crucial year for China. |
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| 08.01.2009 |
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| Yesterday I wrote about how Rotterdam's new mayor has sparked comparisons with President-elect Barack Obama. Today, in another sign how the former Democratic Senator from Illinois and his campaign resonate with Europeans, the German Social Democrats (SPD), the country's oldest major party, officially launched their new and improved homepage in preparation for Germany's general election this fall. And who do you think inspired the SPD in their efforts? Yep, that's right, Barack Obama. "The online campaign will become the heart of our general election campaign," Kajo Wasserhövel, in charge of the Social Democratic election campaign said. Taking a page out of Obama's hugely successful online campaign, the SPD has decluttered its old internet site, which looked like old newspaper articles that were cut and pasted online, as Germany's tageszeitung mocked. No more. The new site comes with lots of large pictures, buttons for online donations and links to social networking sites. And it's not just the new internet site that smacks of Obamamania. Want to know how the party's Germanized stab at "Yes we can" sounds? "Anpacken. Für unser Land" (Let's tackle things. For our country). According to campaign manager Wasserhövel, the Social Democratic homepage is only the start. The next relaunch is just a matter of time. German Foreign Minister and Social Democratic candidate for Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier's personal internet site is scheduled to get a makeover soon too. To compare, check out the SPD's new homepage here and an old version from last January here. You can find Frank-Walter Steinmeier's personal internet site here. And here's the original: You can find Barack Obama's internet site here and the Democratic Party's homepage here. |
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| 07.01.2009 |
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| Amid all the major doom and gloom stories about the global economic crisis, the war in Gaza and Russia's power play with its gas exports, an important piece of good news was barely noticed by the international press. For the first time a major European city is being governed by a muslim immigrant. Ahmed Aboutaleb, Morrocan-born, was sworn in on Monday as mayor of the Netherland's second largest city Rotterdam. Aboutaleb, who has been dubbed "Obama from the Maas" by Dutch media, is a Social Democrat who previously served as Secretary of State for Social Affairs in the Dutch government. The new mayor of Rotterdam was 14 years old when he immigrated to the Netherlands from Morroco. His job won't be easy: Rotterdam has the largest immigrant population among all Dutch cities and was the base of Pim Fortuyn, the right wing politician who was killed in 2002. |
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| 06.01.2009 |
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| With his decision to nominate Leon Panetta to head the CIA, President-elect Barack Obama has scored a huge surprise. While some politicians working on intelligence matters scratch their heads over the choice, other voices argue that intelligence experience may not necessarily be the most important credential for the job these days. And as former CIA director John Deutch told The Caucus, some of the most successful heads (George Bush senior being one of them) of the CIA possessed little or no intelligence experience. By putting Leon Panetta in charge of the CIA, I think Barack Obama wants to achieve three things: He wants someone at the helm he can trust absolutely; he wants that person to put an end to interrogation/torture practices established unter the Bush administration; and he wants to symbolize a break from the past publicly. With Leon Panetta, there is a good chance he can fulfill all three tasks. While the CIA, with its focus on human intelligence, is certainly the most widely known spy agency, the NSA with its focus on signals intelligence is arguably the more important one. Considering the recent warrantless surveillance scandal, it might be even more interesting to find out who Barack Obama picks to head the NSA. |
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| 02.01.2009 |
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| Instead of looking back and writing a year-in-review kind of post as many others have done, I prefer to offer readers a few foreign policy-related predictions for 2009 from across the web. Kathleen McFarland at The Fox Forum predicts: - A resurgent Russia will lead Ukraine to cancel its plans for membership in the European Union and fall back under the Russian sphere of influence. Europe will do nothing about it. - China will see social unrest by the end of the year. The Chinese government will quell the unrest and restore order. Charlie Edwards at Global Dashboard predicts: - Britain will increase its troops in Afghanistan by spring. Germany, France and Italy will do so as well in October after a deal with the Obama administration. - The U.S. or France will fight a brief, but intense, war in Somalia. - Benjamin Netanyahu will win elections in Israel in February. - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be voted out in elections in Iran in June. - Prime Minister Recip Tayyin Erdogan will end Turkey's bid to join the EU and turn east instead. - Mexico, the world's leading narco state, will descend into total chaos and destabilize the region. Janet Daley at the Daily Telegraph predicts: - No dramatic foreign policy shift vis-a-vis Russia, the Middle East and Islamist terrorism under President Barack Obama. - No significant international agreement for global financial regulation will be reached. Michael Goodwin at the New York Daily News predicts: - Stories about friction between President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will surface within six months. - Pakistan or Iran, not Gaza, will be involved in a serious international crisis. Agree or disagree? What are your predictions for 2009? |
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