by Mark Silva
As President Barack Obama prepares to depart Tuesday for a trip that will carry him from Saudi Arabia to France -- with an address to the Muslim world from Cairo in the middle of the journey -- he is starting to aim his megaphone at a global audience.
In an interview with the BBC on the eve of the trip, the president was asked about delivering his appeal for peace to the Muslim world from a city, Cairo, where many political prisoners are being held, and how he can reconcile the two.
"The message I hope to deliver is that democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of religion those are not simply principles of the West to be hoisted on these countries, but rather what I believe to be universal principles that they can embrace and affirm as part of their national identity,'' Obama said in an interview airing this evening.
"Now, the danger, I think, is when the United States or any country thinks that we can simply can impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture .. our job,'' Obama tells BBC interviewer Justin Webb.
"Absolutely we'll be encouraging ......and I think the thing that we can do most importantly is to serve as a role model, and that's why, for example, closing Guantanamo from my perspective -- as difficult as it is -- is important, because part of what we want to affirm to the world is that these are values that are important even when it's hard, maybe especially when it's hard -- and not just when it's easy."
Part of the interivew will be broadcast on BBC World News and BBC World Service radio at 9 pm United Kingdom time, and the full interview will air on Tuesday a 04:30 am UK time. The BBC Obama interview also will be shown online.
The president leaves Tuesday evening for Saudi Arabia, where he will hold private meetings with the king before traveling to Cairo for his public address on Thursday, and then on to Dresden, Germany, for a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp, and finally to Paris for commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the Normandy landing.
Comments
President Obama is doing a great job of repairing our image abroad, BUT the damage will not be completely repaired until we take the necessary steps towards putting the Bush Crime Family on trial for the war crimes and torture that they comitted in our name.
Posted by: LoungeAct | June 1, 2009 6:15 PM
The Republican want the United States to be a Shining City on the Hill. A beacon showing the world that torture, indefinite detention, and wars based on lies are the example that nations should follow. They want the US to be a shining beacon of arrogance, and the notion that might makes right. They want to set a worldwide example that the rule of law and international treaties should not be an inpediment to any government act, as long as one says that the act is "to protect the people."
Posted by: R. Wilson | June 1, 2009 6:38 PM
President Obama on the World Stage:
"President Barack Obama remains by far the most popular world leader among people in major Western nations and is the one political figure on whom people consistently pin their hopes in the economic crisis, according to new polls conducted for the International Herald Tribune."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/world/europe/29iht-poll.html?_r=1&ref=world
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I can't wait for the Real Diplomacy to start. Sure President Obama has his plate overflowing with post-Dubya messes in terms of foreign policy, but it'll be nice to take on issues like Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Mideast Peace, Global Warming, etc. with adults at the table, and a sense of international mutual respect again.
Posted by: Speaking Truth to Power | June 1, 2009 7:09 PM
And he speaks volumes to the whole world when he does not stop in Israel to see what 3 years of constant bombing does to a border city.
Posted by: Linda Mae | June 2, 2009 1:52 AM
Can Obama make peace with the Muslim world without a fair and equitable Palestinian solution?
http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=5416
Posted by: Blake | June 2, 2009 8:51 AM
And he speaks volumes to the whole world when he does not stop in Israel to see what 3 years of constant bombing does to a border city.
Posted by: Linda Mae | June 2, 2009 1:52 AM
He should also stop in Gaza to see what constant bombing does to an entire region. He should stop in Gaza to see what denying basic supplies does to civilians. He should stop in Gaza to see the children dying from the lack of basic medical care.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1898819,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8067081.stm
Posted by: Salaam | June 2, 2009 9:14 AM
The "mulsim world" will never look to the US as a model for anything.
Not even a model banking/financial system after the truth has come out about what really went on on Wall St.
Certainly not as any type of moral example or model of polity or governance.
This religion embraces militant superiority of its own "example".
I know this was a campaign promise.
So I suppose "this trip is really necessary" as they used to say in WW II.
Just don't expect hundreds of thousands to show up they way they did in Berlin last summer.
East is East and West is West.
Posted by: ornery | June 2, 2009 9:36 AM
Ornery, that is just ignorant. Turkey, a country with a muslim population has been a secular state since 1922 and a firm US ally and NATO member since 1952. Morocco is actively reforming and becoming more democratic. Lebanon was on the road to democracy until it was , hopefully temporarily , derailed by the Israeli war. Algieria is a democracy. Tunisia is a democracy. Indonesia, the the most populous majority muslim country in the world, is largely a democracy. These are all nations which are, or are in the process of, embracing western ideals of polity and governence.
Posted by: Salaam | June 2, 2009 11:43 AM
I wish I could believe that.
Posted by: ornery | June 3, 2009 1:19 AM
Those are facts Ornery. Get past your prejudices. Get past your ignorance.
Posted by: Salaam | June 3, 2009 9:00 AM
I think the most interesting part of this speech is that Obama addresses universal rights. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion may be ideas that originated in the West, but have certainly been claimed by the East.
Obama was certainly correct to warn against imposing these values and advocate leading by example. These kinds of freedoms must be won independently, through avenues of self-determining governments. If they are imposed by a Western force they will have no validity, it will seem like a form of colonization to the surrounding regions.
Also, I have to say, it tickles me pink to have to use a dictionary after listening to my president speak :)
Posted by: human rights are for humans | June 3, 2009 1:36 PM