By Sikander Hayat
No doubt Barack Obama will face many challenges during his term but these in my view are the top ten challenges to confront him.
1. He must somehow bring American economy back to life. This will be a monumental task to achieve in the short term but must happen for Obama to have any chance of re-election in 2012.
2. Improve America’s image abroad which he has done to some extent by just being elected as president but there is a lot of work to be done especially with the allies in Europe. America must listen to its friends in Europe and not take any future unilateral actions that were George W Bush’s trade mark during his presidency. Stop the non sense about “new Europe and old Europe because George Bush found at his country’s expense that the “ New World Order” that his father proclaimed with America as the sole super power with the Warsaw pact countries replacing old allies is dead and even newer world order with China, Russia, Brazil, EU, India and Gulf Arabs as its members is quickly emerging. America will remain a super power but she will have to learn to live with others and that will be the real test of President Obama ability and resolve.
3. Keep terrorists out of USA so that there are no attacks on American soil. This was the only success of George Bush’s second term in office and will be a blemish on Obama’s record if there was ever an attack under his watch.
4. Resolve the Arab Israel conflict. Generations of American Presidents have tried their hand at this but no one has succeeded in bringing any semblance of peace in this forsaken land. Obama must not only portray America as an honest broker but also make it one for him to have any chance of success in Palestine. I don’t want to go into the reasons for a quick resolution but USA must halt the settlement activity by Israel because if this activity keeps on going than very soon there will be no “two state solution” possible because:
a. Arab & Jewish populations are increasingly so intermixed that to envisage any viable, continuous Palestinian state will be a highly futile exercise.
b. Israeli hard-line settlers will never leave west bank as they claim it be part of the ancient Jewish kingdoms of Judea and Samaria and part of land given to them by God himself.
c. Soon there will only be place for one state which will constitute Arabs and Jews and a place where eternal civil war will rage costing the blood of millions. That is why two state solution must be kept alive by keeping Israel to its word and USA under Obama can play a part in that process and eventual resolution.
5. Take American troops out of Iraq. This was his campaign promise and one of the less arduous tasks given that levels of violence have gone considerably down in the last year or so but nonetheless very important to achieve the complete withdrawal as any Muslim lands under American occupation give the raison d etre for the terrorists.
6. Put more American troops in Afghanistan and cut deals with the good Taliban and the insurgent elements other than Taliban in order to make sure that foreign troops are out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. America, as it has found in Iraq, cannot fight its way out and will have to find friends among its enemies. Pakistan can play a major role in helping America in doing that job as it did in the 1980’s during the Afghan resistance to Soviet Union.
7. Resolve the Kashmir dispute between India & Pakistan. As Obama acknowledged earlier, this will give Pakistan reason and resources to concentrate fully on Afghanistan and its western borderlands which will eventually lead to a more peaceful region and a world free of terrorists.
8. Have really good relations with China so that China’s rise remains peaceful and eventually culminate into a democratic China. Imagine a country of nearly one third of humanity embracing democracy, that will be a big step ahead and America can help that process by continuous engagement with china.
9. Careful handling of the relations with Russia so that episodes like Georgia do not happen again. George Bush was partially responsible for that war as well as he supplied Georgian troops with weapons and training and promised them NATO entry which went straight to Michael Sakashvilli’s head and he invaded South Ossetia, starting a war with Russia which ended in complete humiliation and quick destruction of the Georgian army and must be taken into account when Obama think about any adventures in Russia’s borderlands.
10. Concentrate on difficult South American countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua etc and make sure that hostility against USA in these countries does not go any further and work for the normalisation of relations. Decrease in oil prices have made these countries vulnerable but a humble USA will do a lot more good in these time then a belligerent one.
No doubt Barack Obama will face many challenges during his term but these in my view are the top ten challenges to confront him.
1. He must somehow bring American economy back to life. This will be a monumental task to achieve in the short term but must happen for Obama to have any chance of re-election in 2012.
2. Improve America’s image abroad which he has done to some extent by just being elected as president but there is a lot of work to be done especially with the allies in Europe. America must listen to its friends in Europe and not take any future unilateral actions that were George W Bush’s trade mark during his presidency. Stop the non sense about “new Europe and old Europe because George Bush found at his country’s expense that the “ New World Order” that his father proclaimed with America as the sole super power with the Warsaw pact countries replacing old allies is dead and even newer world order with China, Russia, Brazil, EU, India and Gulf Arabs as its members is quickly emerging. America will remain a super power but she will have to learn to live with others and that will be the real test of President Obama ability and resolve.
3. Keep terrorists out of USA so that there are no attacks on American soil. This was the only success of George Bush’s second term in office and will be a blemish on Obama’s record if there was ever an attack under his watch.
4. Resolve the Arab Israel conflict. Generations of American Presidents have tried their hand at this but no one has succeeded in bringing any semblance of peace in this forsaken land. Obama must not only portray America as an honest broker but also make it one for him to have any chance of success in Palestine. I don’t want to go into the reasons for a quick resolution but USA must halt the settlement activity by Israel because if this activity keeps on going than very soon there will be no “two state solution” possible because:
a. Arab & Jewish populations are increasingly so intermixed that to envisage any viable, continuous Palestinian state will be a highly futile exercise.
b. Israeli hard-line settlers will never leave west bank as they claim it be part of the ancient Jewish kingdoms of Judea and Samaria and part of land given to them by God himself.
c. Soon there will only be place for one state which will constitute Arabs and Jews and a place where eternal civil war will rage costing the blood of millions. That is why two state solution must be kept alive by keeping Israel to its word and USA under Obama can play a part in that process and eventual resolution.
5. Take American troops out of Iraq. This was his campaign promise and one of the less arduous tasks given that levels of violence have gone considerably down in the last year or so but nonetheless very important to achieve the complete withdrawal as any Muslim lands under American occupation give the raison d etre for the terrorists.
6. Put more American troops in Afghanistan and cut deals with the good Taliban and the insurgent elements other than Taliban in order to make sure that foreign troops are out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. America, as it has found in Iraq, cannot fight its way out and will have to find friends among its enemies. Pakistan can play a major role in helping America in doing that job as it did in the 1980’s during the Afghan resistance to Soviet Union.
7. Resolve the Kashmir dispute between India & Pakistan. As Obama acknowledged earlier, this will give Pakistan reason and resources to concentrate fully on Afghanistan and its western borderlands which will eventually lead to a more peaceful region and a world free of terrorists.
8. Have really good relations with China so that China’s rise remains peaceful and eventually culminate into a democratic China. Imagine a country of nearly one third of humanity embracing democracy, that will be a big step ahead and America can help that process by continuous engagement with china.
9. Careful handling of the relations with Russia so that episodes like Georgia do not happen again. George Bush was partially responsible for that war as well as he supplied Georgian troops with weapons and training and promised them NATO entry which went straight to Michael Sakashvilli’s head and he invaded South Ossetia, starting a war with Russia which ended in complete humiliation and quick destruction of the Georgian army and must be taken into account when Obama think about any adventures in Russia’s borderlands.
10. Concentrate on difficult South American countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua etc and make sure that hostility against USA in these countries does not go any further and work for the normalisation of relations. Decrease in oil prices have made these countries vulnerable but a humble USA will do a lot more good in these time then a belligerent one.
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