• by Mario Soares
• Tuesday, March 17, 2009
• Inter Press Service

In office only since January 20, US President Barack Obama has jumped into action so quickly he has not given adversaries or observers the time to organise criticism or attacks. Meanwhile Europeans, and in particular their political leaders, do not seem to have grasped the "Copernican revolution" that is underway in the US and appear stunned and incapable of reacting to the new developments that are taking place each day in Washington, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.

In this article, Soares writes that crafting a new foreign policy is sure to be a permanent headache for Obama. The Israeli- Palestinian conflict which, after the recent "futile war" devastated Gaza and brought the massacre of hundreds of innocent people, children in particular, left a hatred of Israel that will not go away in the near future. In Afghanistan, where NATO finds itself near defeat, the war stretches on implacably. Iran, which fortunately has not been attacked as Israel proposed, nonetheless presents a very complex challenge for negotiations. Lebanon remains in precarious condition two and a half years after another "futile war" which only sowed devastation and rancour.

The need for a break with the past and for new strategies to move ahead is equally great on the domestic front, especially with regards to the environment. It is expected the Obama will sign the Kyoto Protocol.

(*) Mario Soares is ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.

//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM//

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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