EU-DIGEST

Labels: Barack Obama, USA

Labels: Barack Obama, US

Banks are mobilizing a smooth-running lobbying machine in Washington to ­battle Barack Obama's plans to limit the size and scope of Wall Street institutions, as financial services firms gear up to stop a shake-up that could slice away large chunks of their operations.

Their influence on Capitol Hill is broad – the top eight US banks spent euro 18.3m ($26m) on lobbying efforts last year, an increase of 6% on 2008 despite their financial woes, according to Congressional records. And in the first 10 months of 2009, the financial industry donated euro 55.3 m ($78.2m) to federal candidates and party committees – more than any other business sector – according to political research institute the Centre for Responsive Politics.

"The power of the financial services sector in this city has not dissipated at all … they've just done things in a quieter way," said Ethan Siegel, an analyst at financial consultancy The Washington Exchange, who monitors Congress for big investors. "They haven't pulled back on their lobbying just because they've become piñata [punchbags] in the press."

Labels: Barack Obama, US Economy, Wall Street

Labels: Banking Industry, Barack Obama, EU

Labels: Barack Obama, US Economy. Banking Industry

It was inevitable that disappointment would follow. Such is the reality of power. The Europeans had fallen for Obama. It was partly because he was not George Bush. It was also because they wanted America to be a place that fitted their dreams. So a year ago a new dawn broke. Almost immediately Europe nominated Obama for a peace prize. It was a gift for good intentions. Yet shortly after that Europe experienced Obama's detached cool. There was no rush to get European leaders to the White House. They were vying with each other for an invite, but Obama's world view was not Europe-centred. And then reality set in. The nuclear-free world remains but a dream. Afghanistan was going badly. President Obama faced a painful choice: to commit more troops or to scale back. While he agonised, Europe waited. When the American administration finally backed a surge of troops, Europe hesitated. To some Europeans the Obama world came to resemble much of what went before.

And then there was Copenhagen. Europeans believed they had set the agenda, they had been out in front over climate change. However, in the chaos of the conference they saw Obama do a deal with the Chinese and other emerging "giants". Europe was marginalized and felt excluded.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, US

Obama's haves-versus-have-nots message was as explicit as any political message he has delivered as president. "If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses, they are surely in good enough shape to afford paying back every penny to taxpayers," he declared. "We want our money back." To drive the point home, he also said: "My determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people, folks who have not been made whole and who continue to face real hardship in this recession."

Whether his plan stands a chance in Congress remains to be seen. House leaders and rank-and-file liberals cheered the bank tax. In the Senate, Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., also welcomed the plan. But Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Senate tax-writing Finance Committee, was more cautious.

Labels: banking sector, Barack Obama

Labels: Barack Obama, US

Meanwhile, Wall Street is restructuring (the financial equivalent of re-gifting) old toxic assets into new ones, finding fresh ways to profit from credit derivatives trading, and paying itself record bonuses -- on our dime. Despite recent TARP payback enthusiasm, the industry still floats on trillions of dollars of non-TARP subsidies and certain players wouldn’t even exist today without our help.

Wall Street’s return to robustness and Main Street’s continued deterioration are the main takeaways for 2009 that stemmed from the 2008 choices to flush the financial system with capital and leave the real economy to fend for itself. Lies that exacerbate this divide only perpetuate its growth. With that, here is my top 10 list of lies. Please consider adding your own, and let’s all hope for a more honest New Year.

1) The economy has improved.

2) If you give banks capital, they will lend it out.

3) Taxpayers are being repaid.

4) Homeowners are being helped.

5) Big banks will help small businesses.

6) The Fed values transparency.

7) History will not repeat itself.

8) The pay czar will fight against – pay.

9) The lobbyists made us do it.

10) Citigroup is the picture of health and too-big-to-fail is over.

Labels: Barack Obama, US Economy. Banking Industry, USA, Wallstreet

Labels: Barack Obama, Interpol, US

Fake "North Korean" missiles have been hurtling over the Pacific toward the U.S. for years, providing test fodder for the Pentagon's missile-defense systems. But next month, the fake enemy missiles flying over the same ocean are going to be "Iranian." The timing of the test, however, has nothing to do with a missile test-fired by Iran on Tuesday. That was a medium-range Sajjil-2 missile capable of targeting Israel or U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf. Next month's U.S. interceptor test will, instead, be aimed at the as-yet-hypothetical threat of an Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), even though such a threat has been deemed by the Obama

Labels: Barack Obama, Iran, US

Britain is the only European country President Barack Obama can really count on to respond positively to his plea for NATO to provide extra forces for Afghanistan. So why is it, then, that the Obama administration can barely conceal its disdain for a nation that, by its deeds, time and again proves itself to be America's staunchest and most reliable ally? Before he became president it was said that Mr. Obama harbored a deep grudge against Britain for its colonialist past. It is alleged that his paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was tortured by the British during the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya in the 1950s, when it was controlled by Britain. In his autobiographical book "The Audacity of Hope," Mr. Obama unflatteringly compares the British Empire to South Africa's apartheid regime and the former Soviet Union. Soon after his inauguration, he sent back to the U.K. a bust of Sir Winston Churchill that had been loaned to President George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks. The sculpture had enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office.

There is also an important ideological reason that Britain's leading policy makers find themselves increasingly shunned by the U.S. Key foreign-policy advisers to Mr. Obama are keen advocates of a federal Europe, one in which the European Commission based in Brussels is the main center of power and influence, rather than the individual capitals, such as London, Paris and Berlin. In this context, Britain's dogged attachment to a "special relationship" with America is regarded as an embarrassing relic of a previous era.

Note EU-Digest: we can only hope that this will finally convince all those Euro-skeptics in Britain that the future of Britain is not across the Atlantic, but right here in Europe.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU

Right now,as US General McChrystal has repeatedly made clear, the insurgents are actually winning. The urgency of sending reinforcements is to stop them from overrunning any population centers, to halt their momentum and ultimately to fight them to a standstill. That would give space for the development of Afghan governance and security forces, but it would also enhance prospects for some sort of political solution. Karzai has already reached out to the Taliban leadership through intermediaries in Saudi-brokered talks that have gone nowhere. It's generally acknowledged by Western officials that the outcome in Afghanistan will require a political solution that integrates most of those currently fighting for the Taliban. Right now, however, the Taliban have no interest in seeking compromise because they believe they can regain control of Afghanistan on the battlefield. Only if they're fought to a standstill, goes the argument, and if Taliban commanders see more to gain and less to lose in some form of power sharing, might they be prepared to settle for less than restoring what they lost when the U.S. invaded in 2001. Note EU-Digest: the Afghanistan war is starting to resemble the Viet-Nam war more and more.

Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, US

For a president, the unit of measurement is real life. A leader is seen by citizens through the prism of their lives -- their job, their household budget, where they live and suffer. And, in the case of the war on terror, where they sometimes die. Political dreams and yearnings for the future belong elsewhere. That was where the political charmer Obama was able to successfully capture the imaginations of millions of voters. It is a place where campaigners -- particularly those with a talent for oration -- are fond of taking refuge. It is also where Obama set up his campaign headquarters, in an enormous tent called "Hope." In his speech on America's new Afghanistan strategy, Obama tried to speak to both places. It was two speeches in one. That is why it felt so false. Both dreamers and realists were left feeling distraught.

Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama

It didn't take the Israel Lobby very long to bring President Obama to heel regarding his prohibition against further illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Obama discovered that a mere American president is powerless when confronted by the Israel Lobby and that the United States simply is not allowed a Middle East policy separate from Israel's. Obama also found out that he cannot change anything else either, if he ever intended to do so. The military/security lobby has war and a domestic police state on its agenda, and a mere American president can't do anything about it. President Obama can order the Guantanamo torture chamber closed and kidnapping and rendition and torture to be halted, but no one carries out the order. Essentially,in a sense, Obama has become irrelevant.

Labels: Barack Obama, Capitalism, US politics

If you were to come up with a very short phrase summing up Barack Obama’s core identity, you could do a lot worse than the rat pack-era term “cool cat”. The coolness is now legendary: the poise during every political earthquake in the campaign, the steady willingness not to take the Clinton bait, the refusal even to raise an eyebrow at the Palin circus and that elegant lope as he walks into a state dinner.

The paradox is: in today’s populist, emotional climate, coolness can be eclipsed in the political drama and thereby rendered moot. In many ways Sarah Palin is the extreme counter-example. She plays a short game. She deploys no substantive policy content and no interest whatever in actual government. But she channels pure emotion, identity and rage very effectively in a country where unemployment is soaring. As such, she is a political nightmare, someone whom most Americans would never entrust with actual responsibility, but a cultural phenomenon who thereby wields political power.

Labels: Barack Obama, US

Politely but firmly pressing for greater freedoms on China's own turf, President Obama spoke against censorship Monday, saying tough criticisms of political leaders should be allowed and the free flow of information on the Internet "should be encouraged." "We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation," Obama said. But, he said, such things as freedom of expression and worship, unfettered access to information and unrestricted political participation "should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any nation."Politely but firmly pressing for greater freedoms on China's own turf, President Obama spoke against censorship Monday, saying tough criticisms of political leaders should be allowed and the free flow of information on the Internet "should be encouraged."

"We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation," Obama said. But, he said, such things as freedom of expression and worship, unfettered access to information and unrestricted political participation "should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any nation."

Labels: Barack Obama, China

When Barack Obama campaigned for president, the first-term senator from Illinois set a high bar for himself. Making history as the first African-American to occupy the Oval Office almost seemed beside the point. In Reaganesque fashion, he wanted to transform America. Fast-forward to today, and President Obama faces debate about what exactly he has achieved since taking office. “Saturday Night Live” lampooned him as having checked no boxes on his “to do” list. The surprise announcement a week later that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, an award he himself said he did not deserve, only enhanced the notion that Obama was more about hope and hype than substance.

“He’s had a good first year,” says Ted Widmer, a presidential historian at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. “Two of his biggest accomplishments are easy to overlook, but they were both important. He kept the financial crisis from becoming worse. And he vastly improved the way the rest of the world thinks about America.”

Labels: Barack Obama

In the worst of times, my father always used to say, "A good gambler cuts his losses." It's a formulation imprinted on my brain forever. That no-nonsense piece of advice still seems reasonable to me, but it doesn't apply to American war policy. Our leaders evidently never saw a war to which the word "more" didn't apply. Hence the Afghan War, where impending disaster is just an invitation to fuel the flames of an already roaring fire. Meanwhile, the U.S. command in Afghanistan is considering a strategy that involves pulling back from the countryside and focusing on protecting more heavily populated areas (which might be called, with the first U.S. Afghan War of the 1980s in mind, the Soviet strategy). The underpopulated parts of the countryside would then undoubtedly be left to Hellfire missile-armed American drone aircraft. In the last week, three U.S. helicopters -- the only practical way to get around a mountainous country with a crude, heavily mined system of roads -- went down under questionable circumstances (another potential sign of an impending Soviet-style disaster).

Across the country, Taliban attacks are up; deadly roadside bombs or IEDs are fast on the rise (a 350% jump since 2007); U.S. deaths are at a record high and the numbers of wounded are rising rapidly; European allies are ever less willing to send more troops; and Taliban raids in the capital, Kabul, are on the increase. All this despite a theoretical 12-1 edge U.S., NATO, and Afghan troops have over the Taliban insurgents and their allies. In addition, our nation-building "partner," the hopeless Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- known in better times as "the mayor of Kabul" for his government's lack of reach -- was the "winner" in an election in which, it seemed, more ballot boxes were stuffed than voters arrived at the polls.

Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama

Barack Obama and globa economy - by Peter Hartcher

As the Nobel Prize committee was voting one way on Barack Obama's promise for the world's future, the global marketplace was holding a very different vote on America's future. The US dollar is falling sharply against currencies around the world. Since March it has lost 9 per cent of its value against the yen, 17 per cent against the Canadian loonie, 18 per cent against the euro and 40 per cent against the Australian dollar. And the price of gold rose to an all-time high of $1040 an ounce in the past week, partly on fears over the future of the greenback as a store of value.

The US deficit is a bipartisan disaster. It demands a bipartisan solution.

Labels: Barack Obama, Democrats. Republicans, US Economy

G-20: No Concrete Result - 'MORE BLA -BLA- BLA'

At the conclusion of the two-day summit, leaders of the G-20 nations, comprised of the largest developed and emerging countries, issued a 23-page statement that promised, among other things, to fix problems in the financial system that contributed to the economic crisis. They stated they would discourage excessive risk-taking and reduce the chance of future financial meltdowns, the leaders endorsed practices to limit bonuses and to tie executive compensation to long-term performance. European leaders had pressed for pay caps, but the idea was resisted by the United States and Britain and was never on the negotiating table, officials said.

Bottom line: once again there was lots of talk, many promises, but no real results to report. No caps on bonuses, or specific regulatory agreements were announced. Climate Change Advocate Groups which had hoped that under the chairmanship of US President Barack Obama the Group of 20 summit might agree to set aside 150 billion dollars to pay for this work and convince emerging economies to sign the deal were also disappointed. The final summit statement agreed on by the leaders, however, was extremely vague on this issue and the specifics, with only a promise they would study the matter more carefully. Pressure groups were outraged, singling out Obama and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel for particular scorn. "This is a crisis of leadership. The rich-country G20 leaders -- especially Merkel and Obama -- set themselves a deadline for a climate finance proposal, and then slept right through it," said Ben Wikler of Avaaz.

Mr. Sarkozy who had promised to go back home to France if there were no pay caps imposed on bankers bonuses, did not leave, even though the EU proposal for bonus caps was shot down by the US and Britain. Apparently, Mr. Sarkozy was pacified with the limelight given to him by being allowed to appear on stage with Mr. Obama and Mr. Brown on the unrelated G20 issue of Iran's nuclear proliferation problems. Mr Sarkozy and fellow political leaders remained in Pittsburgh for the full two days of the conference, which can only be described as another Bla-Bla-Bla meeting, paid for by the taxpayer. A sad state of affairs, as the worlds financial community continues happily on its unregulated path.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Financial Community, Financial Reforms, Financial Regulation, G20, US. Nicolas Sarkozy

Obama speaking to joined session US Congress (photo CNN)

For the complete report from CNN.com click on this link

Obama wins with speech-watchers, poll says

Two out of three Americans who watched President Obama's health care reform speech Wednesday night favor his health care plans, a 14-point gain among speech-watchers, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. national poll.Sixty-seven percent of people questioned in the survey said they support the health care reform proposals Obama outlined in his address to a joint session of Congress. Twenty-nine percent opposed the proposals. Those figures are almost identical to a poll conducted immediately after Bill Clinton's health care speech before Congress in September 1993. About one in seven people who watched the speech changed their minds on Obama's health care plan. "Going into the speech, a bare majority of his audience -- 53 percent -- favored his proposals. Immediately after the speech, that figure rose to 67 percent," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But the real question is whether those conversions will last. Bill Clinton got similar numbers after his 1993 address to Congress, but five months later a majority of the country no longer supported his plan."

More than seven in 10 said that Obama clearly stated his goals, with one in four saying he didn't express his goals clearly. Three out of four said it's very or somewhat likely that the president will pass most of his proposals on health care reform through Congress, with one in four saying it's unlikely.Seven in 10 said Obama's policies will move the country in the right direction, up 10 points from before the speech.

Labels: Barack Obama, US HEALTH CARE REFORM

Barack Obama Speaking To US Congress On Health Care Reform

EU-Digest

Obama To Explain His Vision On Remake Of US Health Care Tonight - European Interest To Focus On Similarities With EU Health Care

Tonight, in a special joint session of Congress US President Barack Obama will explain what White House spokesman Robert Gibbs during a Press briefing yesterday called,"not a bill of his own, but what he considers reform to truly be."

In Europe the interest for the US Health Care Reform has mainly focused on two issues. One being, what model US Health Care Program the US will eventually implement. Is it going to be a totally new program, or will it be modeled on an existing European Health Care Program like the Dutch have? The other issue Europeans are looking at is how Obama will emerge from this very important political battle? For additional information on the issues at hand as to the US Health Care Reform, also see the report in the Koster Insurances BV Sure publication.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Health Care Reform, Koster Verzekeringen BV, US Congress

US Economy: Obama administration adding $3 million per minute to national debt - by Jarid Brown

The Obama Administration and congressional Democrats have done an outstanding job of breaking down uninsured statistics into smaller more understandable numbers such as their 14,000 newly uninsured claim. Yet, when it comes to deficits and the national debt, no one in Washington seems to want the public to understand just how much money they are spending. Politicians talk in dollar amounts that no American, even the richest among us, will ever truly comprehend.

The Obama administration released in the past 2 weeks revised projections that the 2009 deficit will amount to just shy of $1.6 Trillion dollars and that their long term budget projections will create $9 Trillion dollars of deficits in the next ten years. More than a year ago for another organization, we excoriated the Bush Administration for years of unchecked government spending culminating in the single largest deficit in US history. At the time, that budget deficit of half a Trillion dollars amounted to over $1 million dollars a minute in new national debt; an debt level that simply is not sustainable. With no balance of power in Washington this year, the drunken spending of politicians has tripled the record breaking Bush deficit, creating a phenomenal $3 million of new national debt every single minute (not total government spending, but new government debt). As a result, during the 8 hours of time you will spend at work today, the US government will go more than $1.4 billion into debt.

With a national debt approaching $19 trillion dollars, US taxpayers would be forced to pay a minimum of $950 billion per year in interest on such debt. That amount would be based upon the US government's ability to finance debt at a 5% rate, which historically would be unlikely, considering the debt to GDP ratios. In order to finance the debt, the government would have to pay higher interest rates and as a result those interest payments alone would likely swell to as much as $1.5 trillion per year. Further complicating the nation's ability to finance the US government's lust for debt, is the fact that more than 2 years ago, rating agencies issued warnings that the United States debt ration was likely to lead to a credit rating downgrade. Such a downgrade from our AAA status, would devalue the dollar and force an even larger rise in interest rates as lenders demand higher rates due to a greater risk of default. To reiterate a point, those warnings were first issued before the record deficits of the past two years.

By 2019, the US national debt will have become so large that the very longevity of the US will be at risk. The United States is the 800 KG. giant in the world's economy and the nation that time and time again has come to the rescue of others when their monetary systems have collapsed. Unfortunately, if the US monetary system collapsed under the weight of this unsustainable debt, there will be no nation capable of rescuing the US financial system.

Labels: Barack Obama, US Economy

US Politics - Obama's Squandered Honeymoon: How botched bailouts hamper healthcare reform - by Robert Johnson

Has the Obama administration’s fumbling on finance led to a loss of faith that’s roadblocking healthcare reform? Roosevelt Institute Braintruster Robert Johnson explains what happens when a choice of government or free markets looks like no-win scenario, and calls on Obama to regain our trust. We live in an era where the effectiveness of government has been denigrated for more than 30 years. The echo chamber of the right, particularly since the election of Ronald Reagan, has sought to intimidate anyone who let the romantic notion into their head that government can help. They even denigrate the New Deal, like it was a bad dream rather than a series of programs that helped many people, and may have saved capitalism from itself. With the romance of government trampled, the void in social theory was filled by the romance of markets. The free market fundamentalists vehemently promoted the notion that markets were not just a means to achieve social goals. To their way of thinking, social goals themselves would have to be designed to curry favor with the “wisdom” of the market.

The Obama Administration’s credibility and ability to inspire has been damaged by their actions in the bailout arena. We are back to the place where we can envision good policies but no one trusts that our government can deliver and execute them. The public option suffers as a result. The Administration acts surprised –they rightly sense they have lost control of the process and are now back to beating up the left for making the public option their Waterloo. Connect the dots, ladies and gentleman of the Administration, You blew finance, so you lost control of health-care.

Labels: Barack Obama, Corporate Interest

Obama's job approval rating falls to 50% in poll

President Obama, who won the White House with an electoral college landslide and enjoyed soaring public approval for the job he was doing in the weeks following his inauguration, has fallen to a 50% job approval rating in the newest daily tracking of the Gallup Poll released just now. The new low for Obama in the Gallup Poll, which measured the president's public job approval at a peak of 69% after his inauguration in January, tracks other national polls, which recently have gauged his approval ratings at 51%. It also coincides with apparent growing public concern about a protracted debate over health-care in Washington, Gallup and other pollsters have found.

Labels: Barack Obama

Obama's wobbly August raises doubts - "Est-il faible? Is he weak"?

Shortly after the G20 summit concluded in London in April, Nicolas Sarkozy blurted out to a small group of advisers a question that weighed on him as he watched U.S. President Barack Obama glad-hand his way through the gathering: "Est-il faible?" (Is he weak?)

Initial doubts about Obama's toughness went on the shelf at the Elysée Palace and elsewhere. But the Sarkozy question has abruptly been dusted off as Obama starts hitting resistance to some of his most ambitious goals, including health-care reform, Middle East peacemaking and engagement with Iran. Is Obama making tactical retreats to gain better position on these hard cases – or is he, well, weak?

Labels: Barack Obama

Fox News: the Neocon News Channel

For the complete report from the AJC clickon this link

US Politics - The return of the vast right-wing conspiracy - by Cynthia Tucker

Remember the vast right-wing conspiracy? It’s ba-a-a-ck, turning its considerable resources to ruining health care reform and wrecking legislation aimed at curbing climate change. Despite the insistence of Republican leaders that the tea-party crowd and the town-hall protesters are merely concerned individuals who have spontaneously made the decision to shout and yell threats at public meetings, the protests are, in fact, prodded by networks of conservative activists. Richard Mellon Scaife, a Pittsburg billionaire who is the financial lifeblood of ultra-conservative activism, is a contributor, according to The Washington Post.

Ideologues like DeMint and Newt Gingrich have made it pretty clear that they’re not interested in finding the best approach on public policy or in helping Americans cope with skyrocketing health care costs. They just want to win political battles. Some of the conservatives arrayed against Obama represent corporate interests. Armey’s FreedomWorks, for example, is funded by companies such as Philip Morris, which has fought government regulations on smoking for years now.

A conservative advocacy group called Americans for Prosperity, long known for denying the scientific findings on climate change, has started an offshoot called Patients First to fight health care reform. The Post reports that it receives funding from the Koch Foundation, affiliated with a huge Kansas-based oil-and-gas conglomerate called Koch Industries. (Koch owns Georgia Pacific.) The Koch Foundation undoubtedly believes that slowing Obama down on health care reform will help to defeat his energy bill, which aims to curb carbon emissions and would affect Koch’s businesses.

Labels: Barack Obama, conspiracy, Neocons, Republicans, US

Obama's (Republican) foes turn to '60s radical for tactical tips - by Edward Luce and Alexandra Ulmer

Opponents of Barack Obama's healthcare proposals are using the tactics of Saul Alinsky, the renowned leftwing activist who helped inspire the US president when he was a young community organiser, says Dick Armey, head of Freedom Works, a group fighting against universal health care. Mr Armey, who was the Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives for most of the 1990s, said his group, which is behind many of the "tea party" protests that have disrupted town-hall meetings in the past two weeks, draws consciously on the forms of agitation pioneered by Mr Alinsky.

"What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander," said Mr Armey, who was one of the leaders of the "Contract with America" Republican landslide in 1994.

Labels: Barack Obama, Health Care Reform, Republicans, US Administration

Obama is right not to spoil Israel in the same way that Bush did- by J.J.Goldberg

Alarm bells have been ringing around the neighborhood pretty much nonstop since July 13, when President Barack Obama sat down to talk Middle East policy at the White House with a pack of leaders from a dozen American Jewish organizations. The meeting was supposed to help buff up Obama’s relationship with the Jewish community, which is bubbling lately with resentment at the president’s aggressive peace-processing. By reaching out to the community’s customary spokesmen, he hoped to build rapport and perhaps recruit a few backers for his policies. Instead, he unleashed a whirlwind of attacks against himself, his administration and the Jews who met with him.

Another frequent complaint is that the president or his buddies deliberately skewed the Jewish delegation by inviting Americans for Peace Now and J Street, “Israel-bashing groups” whose very “Raison d’être is to force Israel to make additional unilateral concessions,” or so former World Jewish Congress firebrand Isi Leibler wrote in The Jerusalem Post. But the problem with American Jews may run deeper than a few strays, columnist Caroline Glick warned in The Jerusalem Post. Israelis are wondering, she wrote, whether American Jews have already “abandoned Israel in favor of President Obama.” A Post survey in June found that only 6 percent of Israelis “view Obama as pro-Israel,” while a May Gallup tracking poll found that 79 percent of American Jews “support the president.”

Labels: Barack Obama, Israel, US

US economy - Obama braces US for bad economic figures

US President Barack Obama braced the country for more bad economic news on Thursday, saying second-quarter GDP figures would show the economy contracted and job losses were still a "huge" problem. Obama, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after a meeting with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said the US credit and banking systems had settled down - a sign the economy had stepped away from a dangerous ledge. Obama said he had not seen the GDP figures, which are to be released today, but he referred to consensus by economists that the US economy had seen a "significant slowing down of the contraction over the last several months."

Labels: Barack Obama, US Economy

Obama invites Netherlands for Sept G20 meeting- by Lalit K Jha

US President Barack Obama has invited Netherlands to participate in the forthcoming G-20 summit to be held in the US.The meet is to take place at Pittsburg in Pennsylvania on September 24-25. The invitation was personally extended by Obama to the visiting Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, when the two leaders met at the White House yesterday. The invitation was readily accepted by Balkenende. "I extended my personal invitation to the Prime Minister to participate in the next G20 summit in Pittsburgh, because we think that the Netherlands not only is one of the world's largest economies and most active internationally, but the Prime Minister has very specific expertise and experience in working with a whole range of world leaders and I think his contribution will be greatly appreciated," Obama told reporters later.

The Dutch Prime Minister said the two leaders are convinced that it's important that they are talking about not only the financial crisis, but also about the Millennium Development Goals, about the issue of energy, climate change. "So the Copenhagen summit must be successful. And therefore, it's important that we'll have a very successful meeting in Pittsburgh. And I want to thank you very much for the invitation to be there," he said.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, G20, Netherlands

USA - President Obama's popularity slipping

In a land of instant and fast food the people also seem to want instant success from their President who is tackling 8 years of Bush economic mismanagement. A recent Rasmussen poll shows hat 30% of the US voters now strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) strongly disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential approval rating of –8. Thirty-nine percent (39%) now give the President good or excellent marks for handling the economy while 43% say he is doing a poor job. Overall, 51% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance so far. Forty-eight percent (48%) disapprove.

Labels: Barack Obama, Politial, Polls, Popularity, USA

In Russia, President Obama Explains His Support for Ousted President of Honduras In Russia, President Obama Explains His Support for Ousted President of Honduras

Facing criticism for having backed the “wrong” side in the recent coup in Honduras, President Obama Tuesday tried to explain his advocacy on behalf of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. “America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies,” the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow’s New Economic School. “We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not."

The president’s remarks came in the midst of a speech in which discussed “America’s interest in democratic governments that protect the rights of their people” and supported Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s call for judicial reforms in his country.

Note EU-Digest: One can fully support this statement by President Obama.The US must also put their money where their mouth is and tell the Honduran military (which they basically control) to go back to the barracks. On the other side of this equation the conservative Wall street Journal wrote: "The military performed a law enforcement action demanded by the country's constitution, called for by the democratically elected parliament and blessed by the highest court in the land. No general took control. The military went back to being the military." It seems the Wall Street Journal does not seem to be aware or wanted to be aware that the military barricaded the airport when the elected President and a UN representative wanted to land in Honduras. Is the Wall Street Journal now supporting military takeovers as part of their editorial policy?

Labels: Barack Obama, Democracy, Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, Russia, US

President Barack Obama’s nuclear-free vision began as a student - by Catherine Philp

President Obama’s trip to Moscow to hammer out nuclear arms reductions is the first concrete step towards the fulfilment of a long and passionately held vision: a nuclear-free world. In a student magazine article written 26 years ago, at the height of the Cold War, the Columbia postgraduate weighed up how the United States and Russia might “dial down the danger humanity faces” in pursuit of total nuclear disarmament. Mr Obama is the first US President to begin setting out a step-by-step agenda for eliminating nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth.

His stance has brought him as much condemnation as approval, with opponents denouncing him as naive and dangerous in a world where more and more rogue nations are joining the nuclear race. But few people are aware of how far back his mulling of the issue goes, or how passionately it was held.

Labels: Barack Obama, Nuclear proliferation, Russia, US

Merkel and Obama don't always see eye to eye - by Howard LaFranchi

A year ago, presidential candidate Barack Obama received a rapturous welcome in Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not likely to receive a similar reception when she comes to Washington to meet with President Obama Friday. Chancellor Merkel – like Obama, a cool academic by training – continues to make digs at the US over the international economic crisis, and with Germany refusing either to send a substantial number of new troops to Afghanistan or to take any of Guantánamo's detainees, the stage seems set for polite disagreement.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, EU, Germany

US economy - When Will It Turn?

The more important point question Democrats are asking themselves: when will the trend turn? When will Obama be able to argue that he has created jobs -- or a single job? The problem is that the unemployment rate is a big political number, and a rate that exceeds 10.0 -- another artificial level -- is tough. Democrats worry that if the UI rate isn't down substantially by the time voters make up their minds -- roughly, a year from now, mid-summer, 2010, their party will suffer. It's one thing to say that voters don't blame Democrats for the UI rate now -- they don't -- and it's entirely another to presume that voters won't be angrier at the slow pace of progress by this time next year. True, the administration's top economic thinkers, like Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer, projected a much different pathway for the unemployment rate. But so did private forecasters, who are able to quietly revise their forecasts weekly. It's clear that the Obama economic brain trust did not anticipate how bad January and February would be. Then again, few policy-makers, economists or otherwise, did.

If Democrats lose their cool and their patience, they could wind up hurting themselves even more. Democratic panic will turn the economy into a political weapon that Republicans can use against the Democrats.

Labels: Barack Obama, US Economy

USA Economy: Who Would Lose Under Obama’s Financial Reforms - by Rick Newman

President Obama’s ambitious overhaul of the financial regulatory system would create a new layer of consumer protections, expand the Washington regulatory establishment and change the way America’s banks do business. The goal is to provide more stability to the financial system, which would benefit most Americans. But such abrupt change would also cause some casualties. Here’s who stands to lose under Obama’s reforms:Big Money, Overpaid CEOs,Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, S&Ls,Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, Shadow banks, and Consumers. Sure, there will be a lot of new rules designed to protect the US population, but if the government’s got our back, why bother looking out for ourselves? Financial illiteracy has been a major contributor to the economic meltdown, and for some people, more government responsibility will lead to less personal responsibility. Buyer beware, whether the government’s on the case or not.

Labels: Barack Obama, US Economy

Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni Sarkozy
For the complete report from the Blue Star Chronicles click on this link

Obama Snubs Sarkozy: Obama Refuses Dinner With French President - by Beth

Barack and Michelle Obama are in France this evening, but won’t be spending any quality time with their hosts, the President of France and his wife. It seems that French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy invited the Obamas out to dinner and the Obamas refused the invitation. This isn’t the first time Obama has snubbed Sarkozy, or the first time he’s snubbed other European leaders. In fact, it seems to be becoming a pattern. In fact, he seems to work hard at keeping European leaders at arms length …. à bout de bras. Actually, this seems to happen with anyone he doesn’t view as important to his own political advancement. In Sarkozy’s case, there was tension between the two leaders at the G20 conference. And there was the comments from Sarkozy about Obama’s inexperience. That didn’t go over well with Obama who sent a message to Sarkozy that he’d read up and do his homework next time. Obama has mastered the Chicago politics of ‘payback’ and has now put Sarkozy in the embarrassing position of having extended an invitation to another world leader and been turned down. So is it à bon chat, bon rat?

Note EU-Digest: If this is true - all one can say is that this is somewhat childish ( prima donna) behavior by Mr. Obama. After all he is not in Chicago but in France as a guest. On the other hand, which is more believable, it could also be another piece of evidence that the cash starved media, which believes it needs to revert to using sensationalist reporting to attract more readers and advertising.The fact is that Mr. Obama had a full day in Germany and only arrived back in France after 8.00 pm. He could also have been just tired. He also is facing another full day today in France.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, France, Nicolas Sarkozy, US

Obama meets Merkel in Germany

Relations between Merkel and Obama are said to be strained, but Ulrich Wilhelm, a spokesman for Merkel, insisted that since their co-operation during the Nato conference in April, the two leaders have built a strong working relationship. The two leaders are expected to discuss thorny issues such as Germany's commitment to the war in Afghanistan and possibly Berlin's reluctance to take inmates from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay.Following his visit to Germany, Obama will travel to France for talks with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. On Saturday, he will join Sarkozy on the Normandy beaches to mark the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, EU, Germany

Hamas reacts to Obama's speech - by Alex Koppelman

In the U.S. media, the reaction to President Obama's speech in Cairo is dominated by the usual reactions. Liberals -- for the most part -- liked it. Conservatives -- again, for the most part -- hated it, and are complaining that it showed a lack of backbone, or even a dangerous naivete on Obama's part. That's all well and good, but ultimately it's not the reaction here in the U.S. that matters, and Americans weren't even the target audience. The important reactions come from people like Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas. Meshal spoke with Time's Joe Klein after the speech, and he was, unsurprisingly, not overwhelmed. But he did at least sound open-minded, Klein said, and that's a start.

And when Klein asked about one section of Obama's speech condemning terror attacks, and about the deliberate targeting of civilians, a response from an aide to Meshal showed, further, the difficulty the U.S. has in being seen as the neutral arbiter it fancies itself. "But civilians die in wars," the aide said. "You call it collateral damage."

Labels: Barack Obama, Middle East

Obama vs. bin Laden: A battle for Muslim hearts - by Carlyle Murphy

Audiotapes attributed to Al Qaeda's two top leaders have sought to discredit President Obama on the eve of his much-heralded speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, declaring that he is no different from his predecessor and follows the same anti-Muslim policies.Some analysts believe the tapes suggest Al Qaeda is on its back foot – both because of Obama's overtures to the Muslim world, and because of the rise of Islamist militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Thomas Hegghammer, the moderator of jihadica.com, a blog that monitors jihadi Internet activity, also says that the fact that bin Laden's tape didn't mention the Cairo speech and was delivered straight to Al Jazeera instead of released online may suggest greater restriction of movement and access.

"The most interesting thing about it was that it was not released on the Internet. It was handed directly to Al Jazeera," he says. "It may mean that bin Laden is not in a situation to record and post his statements on the Internet, which has been the case the last few years."

Labels: Barack Obama, Bin Laden, Middle East

Last Minute Schedule Change - Obama Adds Saudi Arabia As First Stop to Mideast Trip - by Michael D.Shear

President Obama will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for a previously unannounced visit during which he will discuss Mideast peace with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, press secretary Robert Gibbs said today. The visit will take place the day before Obama is to deliver a speech in Cairo, Egypt. In the speech, he is expected to speak broadly to the Muslim world and also discuss his hopes for peace in the region. Gibbs said that Obama will hold no public events in Riyadh but will have a private dinner with the King and will spend the night in the city before heading to Egypt.

Labels: Barack Obama, Middle East, Saudi Arabia

US Economy - Quick fix today, crisis tomorrow in Obama's White House - by David Frum

The powers that the Obama administration claimed in order to arrest the financial crisis and mitigate the recession are being used and abused in ways that are underming the legal and financial stability of the United States. Investors: You are warned.In barely four months, Barack Obama has nudged the United States toward a future in which government will be bigger and more assertive -- where taxes will be higher and government unions more powerful -- where legal rights are less secure and contracts more uncertain.

Note EU-Digest: Depending if you are from the Left or the Right these policies might sound either good or bad. Fact is that the political climate in the US has certainly swung away from the Right to the Left and can swing back just as easily if the Obama policies don't work out.

Labels: Barack Obama, Economy, US

Forget Wall Street, beware the crash on Main Street

Institutional Risk Analytics overnight released stress tests of almost all US banking institutions indicating that 1575 of about 8000 are troubled. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has reported that Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and GMAC have joined Bank of America and Citigroup in the underfunded bank category. The analytics report is alarming as it reveals that a huge number of banks scored an F, indicating they are severely stressed and threatening Main Street, while the US Administration and the media have concentrated on the big 19 banks crucial to Wall Street.So with more than 1500 smaller and regional US banks slowly starving on dwindling lending income, the implications for Main Street are apparent. As the risk analytics group noted, banks do not or cannot lend as they are unsure of the viability of other companies and financial institutions. While it is vital to ascertain the viability of the big banks so money starts moving through the international credit markets, the same is true for smaller banks that fuel the real economy.

Note EU-Digest: The era of "Zombie Banks" has arrived bringing back a revitalized "Wall Street Casino". The result: a "Main Street" which remains in intensive care with life support systems shutting down.

Labels: Bank Stress tests, Barack Obama, US Economy, Wall Street

US Banking system - What the Stress Tests Didn't Tell Us - by Christian Menegatti

U.S. authorities have just released the results of the stress tests that they ran on the top 19 U.S. banks. This group holds about two-thirds of the total assets in the U.S. banking system. The health of those balance sheets has profound implications for the severity and length of this global synchronized recession.Don't be comforted by the results. That's because two different scenarios are used to stress test the balance sheets of financial institutions: baseline and adverse scenario. The baseline was designed to represent the consensus at the time in which the plan was presented. Unfortunately, current macroeconomic conditions are already worse than the adverse scenario (which is closer to the new consensus) for all the three variables of the test —unemployment, real GDP and home prices.

Labels: Bank Stress tests, Barack Obama, US Economy

Alternative Energy: White House Sets Rules for Offshore Wind Farms - by Christine Buurma

The Obama administration took a step toward boosting development of renewable energy Wednesday, announcing final rules for offshore wind-power development. The Department of the Interior announced a program to grant leases, easements and rights of way for the development of offshore wind farms. The program also puts in place methods for sharing revenue from offshore renewable energy projects with coastal states.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Barack Obama, Offshore Windparks, US

Obama Signals 'Not Business as Usual' to Israel

The first sign was President Barack Obama giving an interview to Al Arabia Television right after he came to office in January. Now after his speech in Turkey and his meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan in the White House, Arab media are suggesting that Obama is going to play a more balanced role as mediator between Israelis and Palestinians than his predecessor. It is important to note the U.S. position has not really changed. The two-state solution also was part of the Bush administration’s Middle East policy. What is new, said Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst with Al Jazeera English “is that the Obama administration considers reconciliation and peace part of its national security. Under the Bush administration, conflict and war on terror were part of its national security.” However Obama’s vision for the Middle East is on a collision course with that of the Israeli right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Obama wants to move the peace process forward because he feels that the situation may explode at any moment. He said, “new missiles may land in Tell Aviv, Israel may invade Gaza again, and other problems may rise in Lebanon.” Atwan said that Obama would not tolerate Netanyahu’s rejection to the two-state solution. Obama is already signaling his displeasure, according to the media. Former U.S. diplomat Hillary Mann Leverett told Al Jazeera English, “ During the eight years of the Bush administration and even during the eight years of the Clinton administration where I served, Israeli presidents and prime ministers would be able to come whenever they want with even just a phone call notice.” But according to the Israeli Radio Station(IDF Radio), Netanyahu had to cancel his appearance before AIPAC after learning that Obama would not be able to meet with him during the conference.

Labels: Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, US

US Politics: President Obama and the Big Dogs- by William Greider

"What we are witnessing is a high-stakes melodrama of glandular politics. This rival power center, though gravely weakened, is contesting for control with the president. For three decades, the Wall Street guys in good suits have ruled the economy, demanding deference from the political system and from corporate managements, too. Those who failed to follow them were punished, either through stock prices or election financing. Despite their catastrophic failure, the surviving bankers and financiers are trying to hold on to their thrones. Obama wants to govern through public-spirited cooperation. The financial titans play hardball in return. I say "seems" because we do not yet know about Obama and how he will resolve this mess. The administration has been stalling action on the troubled banks, as if it believes in its own wishful forecasts about an early recovery for the economy.

The financial crisis poses the first great moral dilemma of the Obama presidency. Sometime in the next few months, he will be compelled to choose between his technocratic inclinations--rescuing certain financial institutions deemed "too big to fail"--and the obvious moral wrongness of his policy of rewarding the very players who caused our national disaster. The broad public does not doubt that this is morally wrong. I saw a Zogby opinion poll the other day that said only 6 percent of the public supports the financial bailouts. Obama is on the wrong side of that bipartisan consensus."

Labels: Banking Industry, Barack Obama, Financial Community, US, Wall Street

The wailing 1% - And The Rage of the Privileged Class As It Loses Its Privileges -- by Gabriel Sherman

In a witch hunt, the witches have feelings, too. As populist rage has erupted around the country, stoked by canny politicians, an opposite rage has built on Wall Street and other arenas where the wealthy hold sway. Its expression is more furtive and it’s often mixed with a kind of sublimated shame, but it can be every bit as vitriolic. “No offense to Middle America, but if someone went to Columbia or Wharton, [even if] their company is a fumbling, mismanaged bank, why should they all of a sudden be paid the same as the guy down the block who delivers restaurant supplies for Sysco out of a huge, shiny truck?” e-mails an irate Citigroup executive to a colleague. It is difficult to sympathize with these people, their comments laced with snobbery and petulance. But you can understand their shock: Their world has been turned on its head. After years of enjoying favorable tax rates, they are facing an administration that wants to redistribute their wealth. Their industry is being reordered—no one knows what Wall Street will look like in a few years. They are anxious, and their anxiety is making them mad.

It should come as no surprise that being a banker—indeed, simply being rich—is going to be a lot less fun under an Obama administration. In winter 2007, as the Democratic-primary contest got under way, Obama showed up at a Goldman Sachs client meeting to explain his economic agenda to a conference room full of potential campaign contributors. When he opened up the session to questions from the audience, one attendee lobbed the question that was surely on the mind of everyone in the room. “Are you going to raise my taxes?” Obama looked out across the millionaires sitting around him. “Yes,” he answered, without a flicker of hesitation, according to a person familiar with the meeting. The greed won’t disappear, of course. “The smart people are going to make money in good times and bad times,” one investment adviser tells me. “They’ll figure out how to game the system,” says the former Bear Stearns managing director. “You may get a new set of players. This may be a movement back to partnerships and boutique firms. This could be their moment.”

Note EU-Digest: Mr. Obama so far is delivering on his campaign promises and that is very rare for a politician.

Labels: Barack Obama, US Economy, Wall Street

Obama urges Turkey, Armenia to normalize ties soon.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia during a meeting on Monday to complete talks aimed at restoring ties between the two neighbors, a U.S. official said."On the margins of tonight's UN Alliance of Civilizations dinner, the president met the foreign ministers of Turkey, Armenia and Switzerland to commend their efforts toward Turkish-Armenian normalisztion and to urge them to complete an agreement with dispatch," a senior U.S. official told reporters in Istanbul.

Obama told reporters earlier in Ankara that he stood by his views on mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915, which he has termed genocide, but said he expected a breakthrough in talks between Turkey and Armenia. A breakthrough between Turkey and Armenia could help shore up stability in the volatile Caucasus, criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines which make it of strategic importance to Russia, Europe and the United States.

Labels: Armenia, Barack Obama, EU, Turkey

Hope, Criticism Greet Obama in Turkey - by Kevin Sullivan

At the tail end of a maiden overseas trip that has stretched from London to the western fringes of Asia, President Obama arrived there Sunday night amid widespread Turkish hopes for improved relations with the United States, a powerful show of police force and plans for demonstrations against U.S. policies. A staunchly secular nation of nearly 77 million Muslims, Turkey is a key player in regional politics, particularly with regard to countries such as Syria and Iran, with which Obama is trying to create openings for dialogue. As Obama arrived Sunday night, police barricaded roads around the round tower of the Sheraton Hotel, where Obama was to stay. Large trucks were parked across the main access road, snipers were posted on rooftops, and police armed with automatic weapons were stationed every few feet. Pasted to a utility pole, was a flier featuring Uncle Sam with Obama's face and the slogan "Yankee Go Home." The poster also featured a shoe stuck on the end of a pole and said, "Obama is coming, prepare your shoes."

Turkish attitudes toward the United States tumbled under the Bush administration, falling from 52 percent favorability in 1999-2000 to 12 percent last year, according to the Pew Global Attitudes survey. But the vast majority of Turks in this cheerful, bustling city seemed to eagerly welcome Obama on his first visit as president to a predominantly Muslim country.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Turkey

Why Is Obama Paying So Much Attention To Turkey? - by Charles Recknagel

In Turkey, Obama has a venue for addressing a number of problems at once -- from Iraq, to the Caucasus, to Iran. And he can highlight the apparent readiness of Ankara -- a major regional power -- to endorse his drive to explore diplomatic solutions to ease regional tensions. For Iraq, Washington wants Ankara and other neighborhood states to help create a stable political environment as the United States looks to withdraw troops. In the Caucasus, Washington wants to counter Russian moves to cow Georgia and bring it back into Moscow's orbit. The White House welcomes signs that Turkey may reopen its border with Armenia and play a larger role overall in the Caucasus, where the United States and Turkey, as well as Russia, have major energy interests. And Washington may want to explore more direct cooperation with Turkey's own efforts to use its economic and political clout to become a broker for talks between such varied players as Syria and Israel, or Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr. Obama will be walking a tight rope because if he makes common cause with Erdogan, there is a danger that in Turkey he may be seen as showing too much confidence in a leader whose populist Islamist party is heavily criticized by Turkey's huge secular establishment.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Turkey, US

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Turkey, US

Leave Turkey’s bid to join EU to us, Nicolas Sarkozy warns Barack Obama - by David Charter

The love-in between Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama proved short-lived after the French President warned his US counterpart yesterday to keep his nose out of the issue of Turkey’s membership of the European Union. President Obama used his first EU-US summit, on the eve of his visit to Turkey, to encourage European leaders to embrace the Muslim country and “anchor it in Europe”. However, Mr Sarkozy, a long-standing opponent of full membership for Turkey, rebuffed the US leader in language that seemed to sour the revival of Franco-US relations. Support for Turkey in joining the EU, a process that it began formally in 2005 and hopes to complete before 2020, has long been an American foreign policy goal.

Mr Sarkozy, who has talked of offering Turkey a privileged partnership rather than membership, did not wait to hit back. “I have been working hand in hand with President Obama but when it comes to the European Union it is up to member states of the European Union to decide [on membership],” Mr Sarkozy said in an interview on French television. “I have always been opposed to this entry and I remain opposed,” he added.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, EU enlargement, France, Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkey, US

President Obama's Easter card - by Bobby Amadeus

There is a card currently for sale at Target in the US that displays a proud picture of the US highest elected official, President Obama, with the words “On Easter, there is nothing more important than HOPE!” Bobby Amadeus writes: "reading it, I actually paused to reconsider my impression of the man because he is right.

On Easter (as well as any other day), “there is nothing more important than HOPE!” So when I saw the card on the rack proclaiming “On Easter, there is nothing more important than HOPE!” I slowly picked up the card, opened it, and read the inside: HOPE the EASTER BUNNY visits you… HOPE you get TONS of CANDY…HOPE you get LOTS of CHOCOLATE… After reading the inside, I paused again. I took a deep breath. I put the card back on the shelf."

Note EU-Digest: "It is amazing to see to what length some of the Christian churches and also those of other denominations in America are still going to put politics into their sermons. For some reason especially the conservatives in US religious communities have come to the believe that Christ belongs only to them. How wrong they are".

Labels: Barack Obama, Easter, Politics, Religion, US

WELCOME TO EUROPE MR.AND MRS. OBAMA - the G20 Summit Build-up

As Mr. and Mrs. Obama arrived in Europe to participate and lead in the G20 Summit, Mr. Obama will find that at least 17 of the participating nations, including the United States, who had promised to fight protectionism at the last G20 Summit, have taken some preliminary actions to limit imports or to make sure that their stimulus money is spent at home.

Mr. Obama therefore has a very difficult task ahead as leader of the worlds most important economic nation in trying to honor his campaign promise for a new form of engagement on the international scene. He and his aides have been working dilengently these past weeks to find, among all the domestic problems they are also facing, a right mix which expresses not only humility but also exercises the US power of influence. It certainly will be a delicate diplomatic posture for Mr. Obama and what makes it even more difficult is that success is not guaranteed and failure is not allowed. Whatever the rhetoric or differences, keeping the firmly established Atlantic alliance between Europe and the US thriving is an essential pillar for the economic well being of the world. So as this G20 gets underway we welcome Mr. and Mrs. Obama and all the other leaders to the European continent - the whole world will be watching this G20 Summit and hoping the results will not be more rhetoric but a first step towards change for the better for all.

Labels: Barack Obama, Britain. EU, Europe, G20, US

He’s not the Barack Obama Europe Knew - by Abe Greenwald

Where Ronald Reagan tore down a wall, Barack Obama has hit one – and it’s made of bricks. European support for the American president is suffering. As Gregor Peter Schmitz asserts in Der Spiegel, “it has become clear that the most contentious issues [between the U.S. and Europe] have been shelved.” This means Obama is no longer asking Europe to replicate his idea of a stimulus plan and he’s not pushing for military help in Afghanistan. On both issues European leaders have declared, “No we can’t.” When it comes to instituting a global stimulus plan, the American president is further to the Left than Europe -- and Europe still objects. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy say they favor more government regulation in lieu of more government spending. Obama sought to immediately clarify. He told the Financial Times on Sunday, "The press has tended to frame this as an 'either/or' approach. I have consistently argued that what is needed is a 'both/and' approach. We need stimulus and we need regulation." In other words, Europeans are choosing their statist options from an a la carte menu, but in the U.S. we’re going family style. Nevertheless in Europe putting blame for the global financial crisis squarely on America’s shoulders is a relished pastime, and no matter how statist Obama gets, the Continent can’t be seen to follow the U.S.’s lead.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, USA

For the complete report from the NYTimes.com click on this link

Sarkozy and Merkel Try to Shape European Unity - by Steven Erlanger and Nicholas Kulish

They are an extremely odd couple — he is short and hyperactive, she is dour and shy. He believes in the power of the state and big interventions; she believes in a softer role for the state, guiding and prodding the market. But the French president and the German chancellor find themselves in a forced marriage in these days of economic crisis. Responsible for the two largest economies among nations that use the euro, known as the euro zone, they are trying to shape European unity in the days before the Group of 20 economic summit meeting this week.

In general, when France and Germany agree, they bring the European Union along, so the two leaders’ relationship is crucial in a period of crisis. While they have produced very different national responses to the economic downturn — with Mrs. Merkel authorizing a larger stimulus package than France has — they have worked together to keep fiscal discipline in the euro zone, and resist American calls for even greater government spending. They have found common cause as well in a call for much tougher global regulation of financial markets, putting the blame for the crisis directly on the “Anglo-Saxons” — the United States and Britain, whose free-market practices, not widely copied in continental Europe, are viewed by France and Germany as not sufficiently disciplined by the state.

Note EU-Digest: The G20 could turn out to be very interesting, not only for the results it might produce, but also as it will be the first "match" opposing the eloquent populist US President Barack Obama, with his unique political showmanship qualities against the EU's pragmatic leadership team of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. To keep it in boxing terms, Obama might "sting like a bee", but Angela and Nicholas are the true "heavy weights" in this contest. Europe must rally behind them and win.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, EU, European Monetary Zone, G20, Nicolas Sarkozy, USA

EU - Obama at G-20 summit: Popular president, unpopular plan - by Christi Parsons

Across Europe, Obama's poll numbers are as high or higher than his substantial approval ratings at home. But neither popularity nor a more conciliatory approach has prevented some foreign leaders from brushing off Obama's proposals for recovery. German and French leaders have shunted aside the president's call for increased government spending to stimulate their economies. The Czech Republic's prime minister even characterized the U.S. proposal as charting "the road to hell." Instead of more stimulus spending, European and Asian leaders want more government regulation of the financial system. And they have been openly skeptical of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner's regulatory plans, suggesting they don't go far enough. Nor have foreign leaders responded wholeheartedly to Obama's call for a greater commitment to the war in Afghanistan.

"European governments, for the sake of pleasing Obama, are not going to make concessions on these fundamental interests and political requirements," said Reginald Dale, director of the Transatlantic Media Network and senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, G20

Obama not immune to criticism overseas -- by Christi Parsons

At the heart of President Barack Obama's approach to foreign policy has been a promise to end the "unilateral" strategies of his predecessor and to heal bruised relations with America's allies. But as Obama makes his presidential debut on the diplomatic stage at the G-20 summit in London this week, he faces an array of world leaders from Europe and Asia who have already rejected some of his most important proposals for rescuing the global economy. That means Obama's vision of himself as the great conciliator will face severe challenges right from the start, despite the diplomatic niceties that will surround the sessions. As Obama is discovering at home, so in foreign affairs, enormous personal popularity does not automatically turn specific policies and proposals into reality. German and French leaders have shunted aside the president's call for increased government spending to stimulate their economies. The Czech Republic's prime minister and EU President even characterized the American proposal as charting "the road to hell." Instead of more stimulus spending, European and Asian leaders want more government regulation of the financial system.

Labels: Barack Obama, Europe, G20, US

Obama to Woo European Public on Overseas Trip - by Jonathan Weisman and Stephen Fidler

Mr. Obama also intends to extend his efforts beyond official meetings. He will hold a town hall-style meeting at a sports arena in Strasbourg, France, European diplomatic officials said. And the White House is looking for a site in Prague for the first public foreign-policy speech of Mr. Obama's presidency, according to Petr Kolar, the Czech Republic's ambassador to the U.S. Turkish press reports say Mr. Obama's visit to Istanbul after the Prague summit will include a stop at the Hagia Sophia, a Byzantine-era church converted to a mosque under the Ottomans, and a stop at the national Sultan Ahmed Mosque.

The emphasis on including public events, a deliberate nod to Mr. Obama's successful tour through Europe as a presidential candidate, stands in contrast to the divisions that have opened on policy since he took office.

Note EU-Digest: Mr. Obama deserves a warm welcome from every European. He brings a refreshing opportunity for Europe and America to renew their historical close and friendly ties after the eight years of dogmatic Bush Administration policies, which in relation to the EU were based on divide and conquer tactics in relation to what the Bush Administration called the "old and new Europe". That policy has inflicted long term damage to the integration process of the new Eastern European member states into the EU family of nations. It has encouraged unilateral political, military and commercial deals between the US and the new Eastern European EU member states, without prior consultation with the EU Commission. This is still going on. In essence the US has never given any clear indication by its actions that it recognizes the EU and its institutions as a sovereign Union of Nation States. So when Mr. Obama visits Europe and politicians jockey to be seen by his side when pictures are taken they must also make sure that they ask themselves that the story they hear is not the same story "repackaged" with a more appealing ribbon around it.

Labels: Barack Obama, Eastern Europe, EU, Turkey, US

Why Europe's Criticism of the Stimulus Got Out of Hand - by Douglas A. McIntyre

There are now divisions forming in the European Union based on whether the countries in that alliance should put larger and larger sums of money into the credit and banking markets and their budgets to help slow the recession, or keep stimulus activities modest and have faith that free market systems will cause the economy to recover on its own without taking the world to Hades in the process. The debate over the ideology of saving the financial world turned ugly as Czech Republic Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek described the Obama stimulus programs as the "way to hell." Whether the comments are repudiated by other members of the E.U. now or not, the cat is out of the bag. After behind the scenes conversations about the aggressiveness of the U.S. approach, the views of a number of American allies are now crystal clear — America is spending itself into a hole which it cannot get out of, and the nation is on a course which will eventually lead to socialism.

Note EU-Digest: reading this op-ed by Mr. Douglas McIntyre in Time Magazine you quickly realize that American arrogance and superiority complex is still alive and well. Unfortunately.

Labels: Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus, EU, G20, US Administration