Inside Story - Obama's Middle East policy - Nov 10 - Part 1

America's drive to conclude a Middle East peace deal before President George Bush leaves office in January was always going to be wildly over-optimistic but Barack Obama is likely to set an equally pressing deadline to finish the job.

Barack Obama says he'll reshape US foreign policy with particular emphasis on the Middle East. He promises to put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back on the American agenda. He blames the Bush administration for having neglected the issue. But is his position really that different? And is he free to change foreign policy?

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[yycmtroyal]

Scary, hopefully Obama will not turn into another Bush. The Arabs welcomed his election. Will he be so stupid to miss this opportunity for dialogue?

[xxashyy]

Why the hell wont Obama say look Israel. If you don't make peace with you're Arab neighbors you will NOT get a dime in US Aid period. If Obama doesn't take the hardest line with Israel I'm afraid it will just be business as usual.

[MrMelon49]

Why on earth would any person or regime in the middleeast lend credence to anything BamBam has to say when, by their standards, he is apostate and would simply be stoned to death out of hand. Unless of course he is a stealth muslim. Hmm... Went to a black theology allegedly christian congregation for 20 years, yet never heard a word his "mentor" said. Dumps on the Israeli representative and people with every word and deed, then claims to be the best friend Israel has ever had in the Whitehouse.

[MrSuperspook]

what is all this b.s. about a freedom wave sweeping the middle east, this is a ploy to oust dictators that are keeping in check radical muslim factions that would unite against,anything and anyone not of their belief (jihad),so now we see B.O. sending arms and training to so called rebels,that is no surprise,wake up people!

[rosemaya48]

The REAL CHANGE IS COMING FROM THE PEOPLES OF THE MIDDLE EAST, NOT FROM OBAMA, and if the US doesn't wake up and gets its act together by distancing itself from Israel and respecting the emerging democracies of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain, and others then it is going to find itself even more isolated from the rest of the world on the Israeli-Palestine issue. The Palestine Papers proved that Israel lied about any offer for peace. Israel has always offered NOTHING so it can take EVERYTHING

[rosemaya48]

The oft repeated mantra in support of Israel is that it is a democracy and has shared values with America. BULLSHIT PROPOGANDA by Zionists. Israel defines itself as the Jewish State of Israel. It is impossible to have a democracy defined by RELIGION or ETHNICITY. Democracy is inclusive and pluralist, and every citizen is equal before the law. Australia, UK, US etc are such democracies. Israel is not. Isreal is more like the theocracy of IRAN. Zionist is an ideology that must be opposed.

[rosemaya48]

Obama has WORDS OF CHANGE but no ACTIONS FOR CHANGE. He is a big disappointment, promising so much, raising hopes of a more objective, balanced President on the Israeli-Palestine issue, but turning out to be a puppet of AIPAC. The single most important issue that is damaging US credibility in the world is it's irrational, ahistorical, immoral support for Israel. The fact is Israel's national interests and Americas are not the same, and Israel is an embarassment to the US and a financial drain.

[brucewanabe]

2 years after this conversation, the other two guests' prediction is more accurate than the optimistic Dr. Zunes. Obama is a better orator but I am afraid the foreign policy will be just the same. Palestinians won't have their on independent, contiguous state of their own when Israel is continuing taking over more land. sad sad really.

[habibullah48]

Obama is just another US president the US foreign policies remain the same as long as the US media is controlled by the jews and most of the big US companies are owned by the jews in the US. So the money is flowing from one zionist group into another and both are terrorist and the sad part is that the money is coming out of an average American citizen's pocket.

[GalCable]

Under Obama's shift, Turkey has secretly allied with Iran.

That's why Israel is too scared to give up on the West Bank. It's all Obama's fault for being too soft with radical Islam.

[naveedandnaveed]

"change we need" bull shit

[naveedandnaveed]

''we need a change"?bull shit