Apr 26, 2009
Quote of the week
"It's a great ruling, and we're thrilled for Iowans. You can get married in Iowa, invite 100 people, and show us your slides when you get back. But when you get back to Illinois, in the eyes of the law, you are strangers."
Premier Wants Iceland to Join European Unnion
April 27, 2009
Premier Wants Iceland to Join European Unnion
By JOHN F. BURNS
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Buoyed by an election victory that gave a strong popular mandate to her three-month-old caretaker government, Iceland’s prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, told cheering supporters early Sunday that she would move to protect the country’s battered economy by applying for membership in the European Union as soon as possible.
Final results of the election on Saturday gave the two leftist parties in the caretaker government — ushered into power by street protests in January — 34 seats in the 63-seat Parliament. The conservatives of the Independence Party, the country’s traditional governing group, were punished for their role in the economic collapse by being reduced to 16 seats, the party’s worst performance since it was founded 80 years ago. As is usual here, turnout for the vote was high, at more than 85 percent.
Though the results gave Ms. Sigurdardottir’s Social Democrats and her coalition partner, the socialist Left-Green party, only a narrow parliamentary margin, the outcome was decisive in confirming the primacy of Ms. Sigurdardottir, the country’s first female prime minister and, Icelanders say with pride, the first openly gay politician to head any government in the modern world.
Her party’s dominant position in the coalition, with 20 seats to the Left-Green’s 14, appeared to give her a strong hand in resolving the parties’ differences over joining the European Union. Ms. Sigurdardottir, 66, argues that membership, together with abandoning Iceland’s currency, the krona, for the euro, would provide a shield for Iceland as it seeks to work its way out of the financial crisis.
With opinion polls showing views on European Union membership about equally divided among the 320,000 people in this remote land on the edge of the Arctic Circle, Ms. Sigurdardottir has linked her political future to gaining entry to the 27-nation union. She said Saturday at a news conference that applying for entry was an overriding priority for the Social Democrats, and that she hoped that terms for Iceland’s membership could be agreed to within 12 to 18 months.
“We want Iceland as soon as possible to join the European Union and adopt the euro,” she said. She added brusquely, “I should emphasize that this is a priority issue for the Social Democrats.”
That appeared to be a challenge to the Left-Greens and their leader, Steingrimur J. Sigfusson, a former truck driver and geologist with hard-left views who has served as finance minister since the caretaker coalition took office in January.
The Left-Greens’ reluctance to join the union is based on fears, widely shared in Iceland, that the country would lose control of its exclusive fishing waters off its coasts and of its other natural resources. It is an issue that has deep resonance in a country that has fashioned its national consciousness around a tradition of gritty independence and an ability to survive in one of the world’s toughest natural environments.
The party’s resistance to European Union membership has translated into an insistence on a drawn-out procedure that would have Icelanders approve any entry application in a referendum first, and then have a second referendum on entry terms agreed on with Brussels. The Social Democrats have insisted on a simpler and potentially much faster route, with an application for entry within weeks, and a single referendum on whatever terms are negotiated.
Mr. Sigfusson, the Left-Greens’ leader, has hinted that his party may compromise on the referendum issue to keep the coalition together, while retaining the option of campaigning against European Union entry when the issue comes to a vote.
As early election returns became known Saturday night, Ms. Sigurdardottir appeared to tighten the screws on Mr. Sigfusson by noting, in an interview on the state television network, that there would be “a parliamentary majority” in favor of European Union entry — a pointed reminder that the Social Democrats could turn to other pro-European Union parties for approval of the single-referendum formula if the Left-Greens tried to block it.
At the Saturday news conference, Ms. Sigurdardottir said her aim would be to seek to replace the battered krona with the euro within four years, the duration of the parliamentary term she secured in the election, assuming there was no new political crisis. The krona is currently trading at 40 percent and more below its value before the economic collapse, just one measure of a crisis that has seen Iceland plunge since last fall from giddying prosperity to widespread unemployment. Inflation is running above 15 percent, and mounting state debt in the wake of October’s banking collapse has left the government with foreign debts approaching $10 billion.
Ms. Sigurdardottir said that with European Union membership, Iceland, “the first country to have an economic crisis on this scale,” would also be the first to emerge. But she also said how “difficult” it would be to meet the demand from the International Monetary Fund for a one-third cut in the government’s annual budget within three years — one of the terms of a $2.1 billion emergency loan that helped keep Iceland afloat, together with $3.1 billion in loans from other Nordic countries, after the country’s three biggest banks collapsed and were nationalized last fall.
A cut of that severity in the government’s expenses, the prime minister said, would be hard to make while protecting the unemployed, pensioners and other underprivileged groups — precisely the constituency Ms. Sigurdardottir, the daughter of a prominent labor leader, made her own during her years as the country’s minister of social affairs. She hinted that the I.M.F. terms might be eased or offset by European Union assistance once Iceland was able to show it was committed to stabilizing its economy and paying its debts.
In the meantime, she said, the act of applying for European Union membership would create new confidence in Iceland abroad, helping to speed economic recovery.
Commentators in Iceland have given high ratings to Ms. Sigurdardottir’s performance in her 80 days in office, and in the election campaign, saying she has steadied the country’s faltering self-confidence in the wake of the banking collapse and turbulent January street protests, the first political violence in Iceland since protests over the country’s decision to join NATO in 1949.
Personal comment:
This article is about Iceland. The new prime minister wants the country to join the European Union. I have chosen this article for this weeks Current World Affair class because it shows a different result of the financial crisis.
During the first period of the financial crisis the situation in Iceland deteriorated on a fast speed, financially seen. Banks became bankrupt and a lot of the inhabitants lost their savings.
The people of Iceland blamed it on the government. During the new elections they choose for a different party. New insights and new ideas compared to the old government.
The new prime minister however wants to join the EU since it could stimulate the economy of Iceland. The locals feel that joining the EU could worsend their natural resources. Fishing waters have to be shared with different European influences.
For me as a European, i believe that it is a good thing if Iceland joins the EU. Ofcourse they have to meet all the standerds that the EU requires first. Iceland is different then a country like Turkey. There are less problems on the side of human rights. Therefore I believe that the new Iceland prime minster had the right ideas.
Premier Wants Iceland to Join European Unnion
By JOHN F. BURNS
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Buoyed by an election victory that gave a strong popular mandate to her three-month-old caretaker government, Iceland’s prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, told cheering supporters early Sunday that she would move to protect the country’s battered economy by applying for membership in the European Union as soon as possible.
Final results of the election on Saturday gave the two leftist parties in the caretaker government — ushered into power by street protests in January — 34 seats in the 63-seat Parliament. The conservatives of the Independence Party, the country’s traditional governing group, were punished for their role in the economic collapse by being reduced to 16 seats, the party’s worst performance since it was founded 80 years ago. As is usual here, turnout for the vote was high, at more than 85 percent.
Though the results gave Ms. Sigurdardottir’s Social Democrats and her coalition partner, the socialist Left-Green party, only a narrow parliamentary margin, the outcome was decisive in confirming the primacy of Ms. Sigurdardottir, the country’s first female prime minister and, Icelanders say with pride, the first openly gay politician to head any government in the modern world.
Her party’s dominant position in the coalition, with 20 seats to the Left-Green’s 14, appeared to give her a strong hand in resolving the parties’ differences over joining the European Union. Ms. Sigurdardottir, 66, argues that membership, together with abandoning Iceland’s currency, the krona, for the euro, would provide a shield for Iceland as it seeks to work its way out of the financial crisis.
With opinion polls showing views on European Union membership about equally divided among the 320,000 people in this remote land on the edge of the Arctic Circle, Ms. Sigurdardottir has linked her political future to gaining entry to the 27-nation union. She said Saturday at a news conference that applying for entry was an overriding priority for the Social Democrats, and that she hoped that terms for Iceland’s membership could be agreed to within 12 to 18 months.
“We want Iceland as soon as possible to join the European Union and adopt the euro,” she said. She added brusquely, “I should emphasize that this is a priority issue for the Social Democrats.”
That appeared to be a challenge to the Left-Greens and their leader, Steingrimur J. Sigfusson, a former truck driver and geologist with hard-left views who has served as finance minister since the caretaker coalition took office in January.
The Left-Greens’ reluctance to join the union is based on fears, widely shared in Iceland, that the country would lose control of its exclusive fishing waters off its coasts and of its other natural resources. It is an issue that has deep resonance in a country that has fashioned its national consciousness around a tradition of gritty independence and an ability to survive in one of the world’s toughest natural environments.
The party’s resistance to European Union membership has translated into an insistence on a drawn-out procedure that would have Icelanders approve any entry application in a referendum first, and then have a second referendum on entry terms agreed on with Brussels. The Social Democrats have insisted on a simpler and potentially much faster route, with an application for entry within weeks, and a single referendum on whatever terms are negotiated.
Mr. Sigfusson, the Left-Greens’ leader, has hinted that his party may compromise on the referendum issue to keep the coalition together, while retaining the option of campaigning against European Union entry when the issue comes to a vote.
As early election returns became known Saturday night, Ms. Sigurdardottir appeared to tighten the screws on Mr. Sigfusson by noting, in an interview on the state television network, that there would be “a parliamentary majority” in favor of European Union entry — a pointed reminder that the Social Democrats could turn to other pro-European Union parties for approval of the single-referendum formula if the Left-Greens tried to block it.
At the Saturday news conference, Ms. Sigurdardottir said her aim would be to seek to replace the battered krona with the euro within four years, the duration of the parliamentary term she secured in the election, assuming there was no new political crisis. The krona is currently trading at 40 percent and more below its value before the economic collapse, just one measure of a crisis that has seen Iceland plunge since last fall from giddying prosperity to widespread unemployment. Inflation is running above 15 percent, and mounting state debt in the wake of October’s banking collapse has left the government with foreign debts approaching $10 billion.
Ms. Sigurdardottir said that with European Union membership, Iceland, “the first country to have an economic crisis on this scale,” would also be the first to emerge. But she also said how “difficult” it would be to meet the demand from the International Monetary Fund for a one-third cut in the government’s annual budget within three years — one of the terms of a $2.1 billion emergency loan that helped keep Iceland afloat, together with $3.1 billion in loans from other Nordic countries, after the country’s three biggest banks collapsed and were nationalized last fall.
A cut of that severity in the government’s expenses, the prime minister said, would be hard to make while protecting the unemployed, pensioners and other underprivileged groups — precisely the constituency Ms. Sigurdardottir, the daughter of a prominent labor leader, made her own during her years as the country’s minister of social affairs. She hinted that the I.M.F. terms might be eased or offset by European Union assistance once Iceland was able to show it was committed to stabilizing its economy and paying its debts.
In the meantime, she said, the act of applying for European Union membership would create new confidence in Iceland abroad, helping to speed economic recovery.
Commentators in Iceland have given high ratings to Ms. Sigurdardottir’s performance in her 80 days in office, and in the election campaign, saying she has steadied the country’s faltering self-confidence in the wake of the banking collapse and turbulent January street protests, the first political violence in Iceland since protests over the country’s decision to join NATO in 1949.
Personal comment:
This article is about Iceland. The new prime minister wants the country to join the European Union. I have chosen this article for this weeks Current World Affair class because it shows a different result of the financial crisis.
During the first period of the financial crisis the situation in Iceland deteriorated on a fast speed, financially seen. Banks became bankrupt and a lot of the inhabitants lost their savings.
The people of Iceland blamed it on the government. During the new elections they choose for a different party. New insights and new ideas compared to the old government.
The new prime minister however wants to join the EU since it could stimulate the economy of Iceland. The locals feel that joining the EU could worsend their natural resources. Fishing waters have to be shared with different European influences.
For me as a European, i believe that it is a good thing if Iceland joins the EU. Ofcourse they have to meet all the standerds that the EU requires first. Iceland is different then a country like Turkey. There are less problems on the side of human rights. Therefore I believe that the new Iceland prime minster had the right ideas.
Apr 19, 2009
Venezuela’s Chavez plans to send ambassador to US
Venezuela’s Chavez plans to send ambassador to US
AP, PORT OF SPAIN Monday, Apr 20, 2009,
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday he was restoring Venezuela’s ambassador in Washington, voicing hopes for a “new era” in relations after barely getting to know US President Barack Obama at a regional summit.
Venezuela’s socialist leader told reporters at the Summit of the Americas that he would propose Roy Chaderton, his current ambassador to The Organization of American States, as its new representative in a move toward improving strained ties with Washington.The announcement crowns a week in which Obama rejected 200 years of US “heavy-handedness” toward Latin America and raised the highest hopes ever for a rapprochement with Cuba, with which it severed ties 48 years ago.Chavez expelled the US ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, in September in solidarity with leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales, who ordered out the top US diplomat in his country for allegedly helping the opposition incite violence.Washington reciprocated by kicking out ambassadors from both nations.Chavez announced his decision after a day of exchanges with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other US diplomats at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago.A State Department official said Chavez approached Clinton during the summit sessions on Saturday and the two discussed returning ambassadors to their respective posts in Caracas and Washington.Clinton “welcomes this development, and the State Department will now work to further that shared goal,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.The Americas director of the Carter Center, Jennifer McCoy, called Chavez’s announcement “surprising, but a very positive outcome of the summit.”She said Chavez may have realized he had little choice but to try to improve ties with the US given Obama’s overwhelming popularity in Latin America and elsewhere.“He can still criticize US policy,” McCoy said. “But it is much more difficult to criticize Obama the man.”Chavez had stormy relations with the former US administration and once likened President George W. Bush to the devil, but he has warmed to the new US president at the summit, though Obama has been critical of him for his alleged harboring of and financing Colombian rebels.On Saturday, Chavez gave Obama a book about foreign exploitation of Latin America and repeated in English during a luncheon speech what he told the US president the previous night at their first meeting: “I want to be your friend.”Chavez told reporters that he’d instructed his foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, to begin the process of making Chaderton his new US ambassador.“He’s my candidate,” Chavez said. “We have to wait for the United States to give the appropriate acceptance.”At the 34-nation summit’s inauguration on Friday, Obama won repeated applause with his promise to be an equal partner in the region and expressed his desire for a “new beginning” with Cuba, which has been suspended from the summit for 47 years.Chavez has led the charge for demanding that Cuba be reinstated and praised Obama’s Friday night speech.
Personal Comment:
My news story of this week is about Chavez, president of Venezuela. Less then a year ago he was in a fight with the USA and especially with Bush all the time. Calling them names in speeches or making jokes about the USA was normal.
Now Chavez wants to get a good relationship with the USA again. During a speech he even said he want to be best friends with Obama. The first way in wich he want to make his way back in to the US is by sending a ambassador again. About a year ago he kicked the US ambassador out of Venezuela.
To me this story seems to be a good thing. at the moment there are a number of disputes in the world with radical groups or countries (North Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq for example). If the US can get on a good relationship with Venezuela it might mean less worries about this part of the world. Certainly because it seems like that Cuba and the USA are improving their relationship.
The question however is; How important are the words Chavez uses? To me he seems to be a person that can change his mind in a split second. And by saying something (stupid) he can worsen a relationship.
AP, PORT OF SPAIN Monday, Apr 20, 2009,
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday he was restoring Venezuela’s ambassador in Washington, voicing hopes for a “new era” in relations after barely getting to know US President Barack Obama at a regional summit.
Venezuela’s socialist leader told reporters at the Summit of the Americas that he would propose Roy Chaderton, his current ambassador to The Organization of American States, as its new representative in a move toward improving strained ties with Washington.The announcement crowns a week in which Obama rejected 200 years of US “heavy-handedness” toward Latin America and raised the highest hopes ever for a rapprochement with Cuba, with which it severed ties 48 years ago.Chavez expelled the US ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, in September in solidarity with leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales, who ordered out the top US diplomat in his country for allegedly helping the opposition incite violence.Washington reciprocated by kicking out ambassadors from both nations.Chavez announced his decision after a day of exchanges with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other US diplomats at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago.A State Department official said Chavez approached Clinton during the summit sessions on Saturday and the two discussed returning ambassadors to their respective posts in Caracas and Washington.Clinton “welcomes this development, and the State Department will now work to further that shared goal,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.The Americas director of the Carter Center, Jennifer McCoy, called Chavez’s announcement “surprising, but a very positive outcome of the summit.”She said Chavez may have realized he had little choice but to try to improve ties with the US given Obama’s overwhelming popularity in Latin America and elsewhere.“He can still criticize US policy,” McCoy said. “But it is much more difficult to criticize Obama the man.”Chavez had stormy relations with the former US administration and once likened President George W. Bush to the devil, but he has warmed to the new US president at the summit, though Obama has been critical of him for his alleged harboring of and financing Colombian rebels.On Saturday, Chavez gave Obama a book about foreign exploitation of Latin America and repeated in English during a luncheon speech what he told the US president the previous night at their first meeting: “I want to be your friend.”Chavez told reporters that he’d instructed his foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, to begin the process of making Chaderton his new US ambassador.“He’s my candidate,” Chavez said. “We have to wait for the United States to give the appropriate acceptance.”At the 34-nation summit’s inauguration on Friday, Obama won repeated applause with his promise to be an equal partner in the region and expressed his desire for a “new beginning” with Cuba, which has been suspended from the summit for 47 years.Chavez has led the charge for demanding that Cuba be reinstated and praised Obama’s Friday night speech.
Personal Comment:
My news story of this week is about Chavez, president of Venezuela. Less then a year ago he was in a fight with the USA and especially with Bush all the time. Calling them names in speeches or making jokes about the USA was normal.
Now Chavez wants to get a good relationship with the USA again. During a speech he even said he want to be best friends with Obama. The first way in wich he want to make his way back in to the US is by sending a ambassador again. About a year ago he kicked the US ambassador out of Venezuela.
To me this story seems to be a good thing. at the moment there are a number of disputes in the world with radical groups or countries (North Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq for example). If the US can get on a good relationship with Venezuela it might mean less worries about this part of the world. Certainly because it seems like that Cuba and the USA are improving their relationship.
The question however is; How important are the words Chavez uses? To me he seems to be a person that can change his mind in a split second. And by saying something (stupid) he can worsen a relationship.
Apr 12, 2009
U.N. Council May Rebuke North Korea
April 12, 2009
U.N. Council May Rebuke North Korea
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
UNITED NATIONS — The major players on the United Nations Security Council reached a compromise Saturday to chastise North Korea for launching a rocket while avoiding tough new punishments that Russia and China had feared would drive the North away from negotiations over dismantling its nuclear program.
The Council may vote as soon as Monday on the American draft of a presidential statement, a step less forceful than a resolution, that would tighten existing sanctions by singling out specific North Korean organizations and expanding the list of banned goods related to its nuclear and missile programs.
After haggling all week, the five permanent members plus Japan agreed to the compromise in order to project unity, although the United States and Japan had initially pushed for a stronger response.
Russia and China, in calling for a measured reaction, publicly avoided characterizing the rocket launching as a ballistic missile test, and the word missile never appears in the statement. But it condemns North Korea for the event and warns the country against any further launchings.
“What the Council can do, and we hope will do, through the adoption of this statement is to send a very clear message to North Korea that what they have done under the guise of a satellite launch is in fact a violation of their obligations and indeed that there are consequences for such actions,” said Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador.
Much of the world viewed the launching as an effort by North Korea to prove it is edging toward the capability to shoot a nuclear warhead on a longer-range missile. North Korea has said the rocket was designed to propel a satellite into space.
A presidential statement must be passed by all 15 members of the Council. Although the United States considers it legally binding internationally, others deem it more of a recommendation.
Given the weight of those backing it, passage is almost assured. But Libya, a Council member, expressed reservations Saturday since it maintains that launching a peaceful satellite is the right of all nations.
American officials have said the satellite fell into the Pacific.
The Council imposed sanctions against North Korea in Resolution 1718 in 2006, after the North conducted a nuclear test and a missile launching. But the major powers focused less on enforcing the sanctions than on negotiations with North Korea, called the six-party talks, to try to dismantle the country’s nuclear program. Those talks remain the major powers’ priority.
The North had threatened to walk out of the talks if the United Nations punished it for the launching. But it has been silent on the subject recently, and analysts said Saturday that the Council response was measured enough that the North would likely continue to negotiate.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/world/asia/12nations.html?ref=asia&pagewanted=print
Comment:
After many hours of talking and negotiating the U.N. security council finally agreed on how to punish North Korea for there missile test. They decided to tell North Korea that they don't like the fact that they have launched a missile. And if they will do it agian there will be some punishment.
Too me it seems that they actually didn't had a agreement in the U.N. Security Council. Japen and the USA wanted to put a number of sanctions on North Korea. Ofcourse China and Russia didn't agree. The rebarke they decided upon is not powerfull and will not harm North Korea at all. They did it and they got away with it.
U.N. Council May Rebuke North Korea
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
UNITED NATIONS — The major players on the United Nations Security Council reached a compromise Saturday to chastise North Korea for launching a rocket while avoiding tough new punishments that Russia and China had feared would drive the North away from negotiations over dismantling its nuclear program.
The Council may vote as soon as Monday on the American draft of a presidential statement, a step less forceful than a resolution, that would tighten existing sanctions by singling out specific North Korean organizations and expanding the list of banned goods related to its nuclear and missile programs.
After haggling all week, the five permanent members plus Japan agreed to the compromise in order to project unity, although the United States and Japan had initially pushed for a stronger response.
Russia and China, in calling for a measured reaction, publicly avoided characterizing the rocket launching as a ballistic missile test, and the word missile never appears in the statement. But it condemns North Korea for the event and warns the country against any further launchings.
“What the Council can do, and we hope will do, through the adoption of this statement is to send a very clear message to North Korea that what they have done under the guise of a satellite launch is in fact a violation of their obligations and indeed that there are consequences for such actions,” said Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador.
Much of the world viewed the launching as an effort by North Korea to prove it is edging toward the capability to shoot a nuclear warhead on a longer-range missile. North Korea has said the rocket was designed to propel a satellite into space.
A presidential statement must be passed by all 15 members of the Council. Although the United States considers it legally binding internationally, others deem it more of a recommendation.
Given the weight of those backing it, passage is almost assured. But Libya, a Council member, expressed reservations Saturday since it maintains that launching a peaceful satellite is the right of all nations.
American officials have said the satellite fell into the Pacific.
The Council imposed sanctions against North Korea in Resolution 1718 in 2006, after the North conducted a nuclear test and a missile launching. But the major powers focused less on enforcing the sanctions than on negotiations with North Korea, called the six-party talks, to try to dismantle the country’s nuclear program. Those talks remain the major powers’ priority.
The North had threatened to walk out of the talks if the United Nations punished it for the launching. But it has been silent on the subject recently, and analysts said Saturday that the Council response was measured enough that the North would likely continue to negotiate.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/world/asia/12nations.html?ref=asia&pagewanted=print
Comment:
After many hours of talking and negotiating the U.N. security council finally agreed on how to punish North Korea for there missile test. They decided to tell North Korea that they don't like the fact that they have launched a missile. And if they will do it agian there will be some punishment.
Too me it seems that they actually didn't had a agreement in the U.N. Security Council. Japen and the USA wanted to put a number of sanctions on North Korea. Ofcourse China and Russia didn't agree. The rebarke they decided upon is not powerfull and will not harm North Korea at all. They did it and they got away with it.
Apr 5, 2009
Quote of the week
"The United States and Europe must approach Muslims as our friends, neighbours and partners in fighting injustice, intolerance and violence, forging a relationship based on mutual respect and mutual interest," he said.
Barack Obama
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984762.stm
Barack Obama
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984762.stm
Obamas’ Visit Eases Doubts of the Czechs
April 6, 2009
Obamas’ Visit Eases Doubts of the Czechs
By DAN BILEFSKY and HELENE COOPER
PRAGUE — The Czechs were skeptical. Some feared that the visit by President Obama less than two weeks after their government collapsed would bring out all the neuroses of their young democracy. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek had soured the mood by calling Mr. Obama’s economic policies “a way to hell.” Obama-mania seemed a foreign delusion.
That was until Sunday, when Mr. Obama addressed some 20,000 people in front of the imposing Prague Castle.
He spoke of the Velvet Revolution, which helped overthrow decades of Communism here in 1989, calling that moment of national pride “Sametova revoluce” in flawless Czech.
He invoked the memory of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the revered father of the first Czechoslovak state. Mr. Masaryk, the president noted, had spent time in his own hometown, Chicago.
The skepticism began to melt away. Even the younger Czechs, who had not grown up under Communism and were less instinctively pro-American than their parents, were transfixed.
Irena Kalhousova, 30, a lecturer in international relations, who woke up at 4 a.m. to make sure she could get a glimpse of Mr. Obama, said she had been struck by the contrast between the detached haughtiness of the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, 67, and the youthful vigor of Mr. Obama, who she said radiated “positive energy.”
“Our President Klaus looks bored, old and angry, while Mr. Obama is young, energetic and inspiring,” she said.
Later in the day, Mr. Obama met former President Vaclav Havel, one of Eastern Europe’s most celebrated former dissidents, whose inclusive brand of politics Mr. Obama has emulated. Aides said Mr. Havel warned Mr. Obama of the perils of limitless hope being projected onto a leader, noting that disappointment could boil over into anger. Mr. Obama smiled and said he was becoming acutely aware of that possibility.
The country also fell under the charms of Michelle Obama, with many Czechs saying her easy glamour and warm relationship with the president was a marked contrast to the more austere role of political spouse here. The first lady toured Prague’s Jewish Quarter, including the Old Jewish Cemetery, where she followed the tradition of depositing a wish on a small piece of folded paper near the grave of the legendary 16th-century rabbi Yehudah Loew.
She also stopped at the Pinkas Synagogue, inscribed inside with the names of Holocaust victims.
“This was a wonderful visit,” she said. “We’ll be back.”
Jan Krcmar contributed reporting.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/world/europe/06czech.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print
Personal comment:
The foreign policy of the United States of America is ofcourse a enormous operation. They are not only involved in trade. They are also active in almost every country in the world whether it is for help, war or for monitoring and advicing other nations.
To me the article above is also a form of foreign policy. A speach has in principle nothing to do with direct influence in a country. However, a speach like the one Obama has given in Prague seems to me as a way to win souls. To gain support form the locals or in this case the Czech people.
I remember thats months (maybe even a year) ago Obama gave a speech in Berlin. This speech was even for a larger audience and ofcourse a bit more controversial. To mo it seems to be some kind of 'propaganda' that is working perfectly. As you canr ead in the article. People admire Obama and his wife for who they are, and they do gain a lot of support for the USA by doing so.
Obamas’ Visit Eases Doubts of the Czechs
By DAN BILEFSKY and HELENE COOPER
PRAGUE — The Czechs were skeptical. Some feared that the visit by President Obama less than two weeks after their government collapsed would bring out all the neuroses of their young democracy. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek had soured the mood by calling Mr. Obama’s economic policies “a way to hell.” Obama-mania seemed a foreign delusion.
That was until Sunday, when Mr. Obama addressed some 20,000 people in front of the imposing Prague Castle.
He spoke of the Velvet Revolution, which helped overthrow decades of Communism here in 1989, calling that moment of national pride “Sametova revoluce” in flawless Czech.
He invoked the memory of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the revered father of the first Czechoslovak state. Mr. Masaryk, the president noted, had spent time in his own hometown, Chicago.
The skepticism began to melt away. Even the younger Czechs, who had not grown up under Communism and were less instinctively pro-American than their parents, were transfixed.
Irena Kalhousova, 30, a lecturer in international relations, who woke up at 4 a.m. to make sure she could get a glimpse of Mr. Obama, said she had been struck by the contrast between the detached haughtiness of the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, 67, and the youthful vigor of Mr. Obama, who she said radiated “positive energy.”
“Our President Klaus looks bored, old and angry, while Mr. Obama is young, energetic and inspiring,” she said.
Later in the day, Mr. Obama met former President Vaclav Havel, one of Eastern Europe’s most celebrated former dissidents, whose inclusive brand of politics Mr. Obama has emulated. Aides said Mr. Havel warned Mr. Obama of the perils of limitless hope being projected onto a leader, noting that disappointment could boil over into anger. Mr. Obama smiled and said he was becoming acutely aware of that possibility.
The country also fell under the charms of Michelle Obama, with many Czechs saying her easy glamour and warm relationship with the president was a marked contrast to the more austere role of political spouse here. The first lady toured Prague’s Jewish Quarter, including the Old Jewish Cemetery, where she followed the tradition of depositing a wish on a small piece of folded paper near the grave of the legendary 16th-century rabbi Yehudah Loew.
She also stopped at the Pinkas Synagogue, inscribed inside with the names of Holocaust victims.
“This was a wonderful visit,” she said. “We’ll be back.”
Jan Krcmar contributed reporting.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/world/europe/06czech.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print
Personal comment:
The foreign policy of the United States of America is ofcourse a enormous operation. They are not only involved in trade. They are also active in almost every country in the world whether it is for help, war or for monitoring and advicing other nations.
To me the article above is also a form of foreign policy. A speach has in principle nothing to do with direct influence in a country. However, a speach like the one Obama has given in Prague seems to me as a way to win souls. To gain support form the locals or in this case the Czech people.
I remember thats months (maybe even a year) ago Obama gave a speech in Berlin. This speech was even for a larger audience and ofcourse a bit more controversial. To mo it seems to be some kind of 'propaganda' that is working perfectly. As you canr ead in the article. People admire Obama and his wife for who they are, and they do gain a lot of support for the USA by doing so.
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