I was very impressed by President Barack Obama's speech to the Muslim world. I disagreed with almost nothing he said. Cooperation with Muslims is a positive thing. The belligerence of the Bush years only created hostility and hindered progress for both the United States and Muslim countries.
I agreed with Obama's words about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the general Israeli-Arab situation. The two-state solution is crucial. Israel has to stop settlement activity while Israelis, Palestinians and Arab countries work toward building the infrastructure of the future Palestinian state. I also agree with his demand that Hamas must renounce violence and recognize Israel in order to be part of the peace process.
The only part of his speech I disagree with is his vision of a nuclear-free world. I'd love nothing more than to see all nukes destroyed, never to be seen again. However, I don't believe that is how things will play out. A "nuclear-free world" would, in reality, mean a situation where rogue countries would have nukes and international law-abiding nations wouldn't. What deterrent would the rogues have against nuking their enemies? Just imagine a world where nobody has WMD except for North Korea.
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I didn't think much of the speech, TBH. Nice words indeed and another departure from the Neocon belligerency, fine. Hope it trickles down to the Far Right but I doubt it: they'll just harden their stance, see also Cheney's recent defiance.
ReplyDeleteActions are now very much needed, more than fine words.
On a nuke-free world, this is only possible with intensified non-proliferation efforts and tight inspections. I can see it happen but not in my lifetime. It does appear that Obama is trying to take the lead there. Just a pet project? Dunno, isn't the US signaling to be more open to inspections too? The nuclear established states would have to lead, that's for sure. No point e.g. in Britain joining the discussion when she's just approved renovating her Trident nuclear arsenal (subs).