Compassion, the Obama Message - By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

(US President Obama's Mideast Tour)

Obama is eager to reach all parts of the world with a message that is nuanced and thoughtful. On the eve of a trip to the Middle East and Europe Obama has said he believes his country can help to get serious Middle East peace negotiations back on track. Obama is due to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in the first stage of his tour of the Middle East and Europe. He will travel to Egypt on 4 June, where he is set to give a key speech on US ties with the region, before carrying on to Europe to attend D-Day commemoration events. The president has faced criticism over his decision to give a speech in Cairo, with human rights groups pointing to Egypt's patchy reputation for political freedom. he said while there were "obviously" human rights issues to address in some Middle Eastern countries, the job of the US was not to lecture but to encourage what he said were "universal principles" that those countries could "embrace and affirm as part of their national identity".

A Palestine state is in the interest of the Palestinian people to have own state, it's also in the interest of the Israeli people to stabilize the situation there and it's in the interest of the United States to get a peaceful Mideast. The president urged patience on Israel's rejection of his call for a halt to Jewish settlements in the West Bank. “Diplomacy is always a matter of a long hard slog. It's never a matter of quick results," he said. One could, therefore,  hope for better world under Obama presidency.

Obama is against imposing any values on another country with a different history and a different culture. Though he acknowledges the cruelty of Bushdom, Obama is not apologizing for the actions of the Bush White House, our correspondent adds. Instead, the president said he wanted to "open a dialogue" between the West and the Muslim world to overcome what he said were "misapprehensions" on both sides. On Iran, he said he hoped to see progress by the end of the year, through "tough, direct diplomacy". But he said rather than imposing its values on other countries the US should act as a role model. Obama reiterated he had not needed convincing by Israel of the need to address Iran's programme of nuclear development.

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- By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
South Asia, abdulruff@gmail.com
June 02, 2009