valate Posted June 4, 2009 Report Posted June 4, 2009 I just started this topic to see what everyone here thinks of the speech Obama did in Cairo. I find it was one of my most favorite speeches I have ever seen. He was to the point and frank. Obama will hopefully re-create and mend the bonds to the muslim world. They would be a great friend and allie.
»Lynx Posted June 5, 2009 Report Posted June 5, 2009 I believe that many Arabs in the region, as well as Turks and Persians are rightly ready to give him a chance, or more so let him give his countries tattered reputation a chance - however, his powerful speech, with it's waves of applause will be quickly forgotten if not followed by some good deeds. He now has four main tasks, first to persuade Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace in two states, side by side. Second, he must actually quit Iraq, as he promised, not give utopia-like statements that 'I am willing to do so, if you guys are, but I think you guys aren't, so I'm not going to'. Then he has to deal with Iran, and it's nuclear power complications - then if that's not enough, he must change the way Americans look at the middle east, to shred their naive and cynical pragmatism, to a more realistic balance. Then, he must do all of this, without alienating his autocratic allies such as Saudi Arabia, or ditching American's support for democracy and human rights. In a nutshell, the speech as a whole was very impressive, and well delivered and in theory works - but in practice, people are complicated. Countries are even more complicated, however it's inspirational that he has taken this first step, when the last moron could hardly express himself on the Palestinian issue. Kudos to Mr. Obama, let's hope his bite is as strong as his bark. -L
NBVegita Posted June 5, 2009 Report Posted June 5, 2009 I roughly agree with Lynx. Obama talked a very good speech, but the application of what he said is monstrous. Just the politics between Israel and Palestine are ridiculous, and it seems that no matter which side we endorse, we make an enemy for every enemy we lose, and the middle east is demanding we take a side. All together, if any of his speech can actually be successfully manufactured, it is great, yet I'm not so confident that it can be at this time.
»Lynx Posted June 5, 2009 Report Posted June 5, 2009 Yeah, I think a lot of the speech was overly sensational - but if that is a taste of his agenda, then I like it, and like his direction. What he can do, though, seems to be far from what he plans to do. -L
valate Posted June 5, 2009 Author Report Posted June 5, 2009 I'm pretty sure the speech was meant to direct to the future leaders. Like the teenagers and children. Hopefully their minds won't be so clouded as of their past ancestors, I'm sure in this day and age it will have some affect on them, and the speech will only put more confidence into that issue.
»Lynx Posted June 5, 2009 Report Posted June 5, 2009 That reply just shows how little we understand their systems. -L
»Lynx Posted June 5, 2009 Report Posted June 5, 2009 Hopefully their minds won't be so clouded as of their past ancestors Just because their ways of doing things is different to ours, doesn't mean that their minds are at all clouded. It just means that they have a different way of doing things, and we should respect that... To an extent. -L
SeVeR Posted June 6, 2009 Report Posted June 6, 2009 ..and it's not like we haven't done anything to make them hate us. We just don't paint that picture of ourselves in our history classes or in our media.
valate Posted June 6, 2009 Author Report Posted June 6, 2009 I understand how they do things differently to other people, but communism? I was kind of talking about that. Hopefully the new generation will create a peaceful democratic goverment. Would make a hell of a difference in the Middle-East I bet.
FMBI Posted June 6, 2009 Report Posted June 6, 2009 The speech isn't half as important as the moves Obama's been quietly making in the past few weeks - he's put a hell of a lot of pressure on Israel to back down from the settlements (this after the new government there has explicitly endorsed expansion), he's pushing Syria and Iran over the nuclear issue, and he's actually treating Muslims in general as... gasp... real people, rather than hordes of fanatics who will go crazy and kill every non-Muslim the second they get a chance. Yippee.
SeVeR Posted June 6, 2009 Report Posted June 6, 2009 All Obama needs to do is come out and say Israel is in breach of UN resolutions by building settlements on Palestinian land, and that unless they destroy their settlements they should expect action from the United States and other UN governments. This is the right thing to do and would do a world of good in generating Islamic trust.
FMBI Posted June 10, 2009 Report Posted June 10, 2009 All Obama needs to do is come out and say Israel is in breach of UN resolutions by building settlements on Palestinian land, and that unless they destroy their settlements they should expect action from the United States and other UN governments. This is the right thing to do and would do a world of good in generating Islamic trust. Actually, I think that's the wrong thing. It might spark a "Tear down everything" mindset among the Arabs Israel's been pushing around for so long, and spark a super-deadly wave of terrorism and/or a full-scale war between Israel and the usual suspects; a better way would be to just force Israel to put together some kind of 5-year plan to eliminate all settlements but then refuse to talk about it, thereby stifling it as a political issue both at home and abroad. And then, in 5 years, when the Palestinians wake up and they can actually cross their own roads, they'll be so full of goodwill for the US that they'll probably.... greet us... with flowers.... I hope.
valate Posted June 11, 2009 Author Report Posted June 11, 2009 Whatever Obama does I'm sure will be peaceful and resourceful.
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