Foreign policy issues will test Obama's charisma

Middle-East impasses, conflict, climate change and the global crisis all await the US leader at the UN General Assembly, writes…

Middle-East impasses, conflict, climate change and the global crisis all await the US leader at the UN General Assembly, writes Lara Marlowein New York

PRESIDENT BARACK Obama is likely to receive a standing ovation when he explains his vision of US foreign policy to the opening session of the UN General Assembly here tomorrow morning.

Eight months after his election, Mr Obama remains the most popular leader in the world, more popular abroad than at home. His approval ratings have slipped to around 50 per cent in the US, but 77 per cent of Europeans still approve of his foreign policy, according to a poll by the German Marshall Fund.

Yet when the applause at the UN subsides, the US leader will still confront a world of trouble. Commentators are beginning to wonder whether, for all his charisma, Mr Obama will be able to make headway on the problems that dogged his predecessor, George W Bush. Each one seems like Mission Impossible: climate change; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; nuclear proliferation, particularly the Iranian and North Korean programmes. Not to mention the world economic recession, which Mr Obama will tackle at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Friday.

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By chance, the US holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month, and the US permanent representative, Susan Rice, suggested that Mr Obama chair Thursday’s Council session, thus becoming the first US president to do so.

In a meeting devoted to nuclear proliferation, he will allude to past UN resolutions pertaining to the North Korean and Iranian programmes, rather than singling them out by name.

Though he has vastly improved the image of the US around the world, Mr Obama’s policy of engagement has so far brought few foreign policy successes. He is wavering over whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, while comparisons to Vietnam multiply and US allies refuse to help more. Arab countries have ignored his pleas to normalise relations with Israel, while Israel refuses to stop seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank or ease the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Korea defies Washington by testing nuclear weapons. Cuba has not improved its human rights record. Though Mr Obama fulfilled a key Russian demand by cancelling the European missile shield, Moscow shows no sign of putting pressure on Iran.

The White House will do its utmost for Mr Obama to avoid encountering the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy, or the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in front of the television cameras. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that Libya holds a temporary seat on the UN Security Council, and Mr Gadafy is scheduled to address the General Assembly immediately after Mr Obama tomorrow.

Mr Obama caused controversy during the presidential campaign by saying he would be willing to meet Mr Ahmadinejad. But the Iranian president stands accused of stealing the election in June, then brutally suppressing domestic opposition. Last Friday he reiterated claims that the Holocaust was a “pretext” used to justify the founding of the state of Israel. At the General Assembly, the Iranian president is expected to present himself as a leader of the developing world and crusader against “nuclear apartheid”.

A UN source said it is unlikely that Mr Obama or Ms Rice will attend the Libyan or Iranian speeches.

Regarding prospects for renewed negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, a European ambassador said: “The frustration and lack of movement are obvious. The rationale is that it’s better to have a meeting (between Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas) than not. A huge amount of attention will be focused on it.”

In an article in the Washington Post entitled “Settling for Failure in the Middle East”, Stephen Walt, the Harvard professor who co-wrote “The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy”, said that “persuading Israel to change course is nearly impossible ... Unfortunately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no interest in a two-state solution, much less ending settlement expansion.”

The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, will attend the climate change summit, where he will speak at a round table discussion entitled “Sustainable Enterprise and Decent Work”. Mr Cowen will return to Dublin after the opening session of the General Assembly.

Micheál Martin will attend a seminar on “Northern Ireland; Building for the Future”, hosted by former US president Bill Clinton tomorrow afternoon. Ireland’s minister of state for development, Peter Power, will deliver Ireland’s national statement at the General Assembly on September 28th.