The New Nation - Internet Edition

World sees Obama’s victory as a bew beginning for America

Agencies, London

For world leaders tripping over themselves to salute their freshly minted colleague Barack Obama, just as for news anchors across the globe struggling to put Obama’s victory into context, only one word seems to do the trick: historic. Repetition of that portentous adjective could have dulled its impact. But the sheer scale of the world’s interest - the blanket media coverage; the election-watching parties, some slickly organized, others spontaneous; the fascination that overrode time zones and deep-seated political apathy to keep people glued for hours to radios and televisions and computers and, yes, Twitter - all served as reminders that this really was history in the making.

Obama himself acknowledged the international impact of the poll in his acceptance speech at Chicago’s Grant Park, referring to “all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces [and] those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world.” He could safely assume that the overwhelming majority of his international audience would be cheering his victory. Respect and admiration for his country slumped during President George W. Bush’s years in office. Surveys conducted during the campaign showed that if non-Americans were allowed to vote in the U.S. election, Obama would score massive wins in all but a few countries.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair once enjoyed such popularity Stateside that Americans bemoaned the accident of birth that made him ineligible for a White House run. Westminster is far less diverse than Washington, but if Obama’s birth certificate were unexpectedly to reveal him as a Brit, opinion polls suggest he could romp into Downing Street without breaking a sweat. In the green room of a London TV studio, David Lammy, Minister for Higher Education and one of Britain’s most prominent black politicians, watched mute and damp-eyed as Obama’s family joined him onstage at Grant Park. “There are two families: the royal family and this one,” said Lammy finally. “This is going to transform the world’s perceptions of America.”

In France, where a certain cultural disdain for the uncouth yanquis hardened into political hostility during the Iraq war, confirmation of the Republican rout instantly brought revelers onto the streets to honk horns and shout out their contentment. “This is an important victory for all of us. Mostly, of course for America, but also for everyone else in the world who’s tired of a U.S. in the likeness of George Bush,” said a gleeful 25-year-old named ClÉmence who was returning to her Parisian apartment after a night of watching the results with friends. “Tell your readers France says 'Thank you, America, for giving the world Barack Obama!’ “

That sentiment is reverberating around the world, but there are dissenters. A majority of Israelis would have felt more comfortable with a Republican President. Bush gave Israel generous military aid, supported the government during the controversial 2006 Lebanon war and didn’t press too hard for the closure of illegal Jewish settlements inside the Palestinian territories. John McCain, a solid advocate of Israel and like many Israeli politicians an ex-soldier, appeared a better bet to security-minded Israelis than a black American with a Muslim middle name. “Obama’s an enigma to us,” said one Israeli official. “We’re trying to figure out what his victory means.” Radical Palestinians are at least as lukewarm, believing Obama will maintain Bush’s pro-Israeli stance. (“McCain and Obama are both awful,” one Hamas official declared.) But ordinary Palestinians are heartened by Obama’s win. “We see Obama’s victory as a victory for oppressed people, and since we’re living under Israeli occupation, we feel he’s with us,” said a professor from Jerusalem’s al-Qods University.

Efforts to anticipate Obama’s foreign policy priorities are eclipsed only by concern over the stuttering global economy. “The U.S. is undeniably one of the most important economic entities in the world, and with the ongoing financial crisis, people want someone who can lead the U.S. out of the pit,” said Mr. Li, the editor of a Chinese newspaper with a degree in international relations from Beijing University. “Obama showed an obvious advantage over McCain on economic policy during the debates, and in this age of globalization, the U.S. coming out of the recession will benefit everyone.”

Yu Jing, a 32-year-old single mother who works at a state-owned oil company, also applauded Obama’s victory. “I remember Obama’s promise to withdraw the troops from Iraq, and I think it’s about time,” she said. “Why? It’s all about the economy. Without the war, I’m hoping the economic situation will improve, and believe it or not, we are not beyond the influence of the U.S. economy. We have not been paid for four months.”

From curing economic ills to ending the war in Iraq, expectations of Obama among some of his foreign fans are stratospheric. Many Britons are schooled in disappointment: they elected Blair and his Labour government in a burst of goodwill in 1997 but watched him leave office last year with much of that goodwill dissipated. “Obama has to avoid repeating the mistake we made back then,” said one Labour MP. “We were too cautious, and we wasted our first term when we should have been doing big, bold things with our majority.” It’s a point that Labour Cabinet Minister Shaun Woodward made more obliquely. Obama, he said, “is not only making history but learning from it.” There’s that H word again. But as the whole world turns its gaze on one man, the term seems entirely apt.

Brown faces key by-election test

AFP, London

Voters go to the polls for a key by-election in Gordon Brown’s backyard Thursday which will show if his leadership over the credit crunch can translate into an electoral renaissance.

Labour could count Glenrothes, as a stronghold until recently but now faces a knife-edge battle with the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Glenrothes is the neighbouring constituency to Brown’s own in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath and the PM has broken with convention by campaigning there in person, along with his wife Sarah.

If Labour wins, Brown can argue it shows support for his handling of the world economic crisis which saw him announce a bail-out for high street banks ahead of other countries, drawing international plaudits.

Labour has been behind in opinion polls since Brown pulled back from announcing a widely-expected general election in October last year but has regained some ground since the financial turmoil hit.

But if the SNP-which wants a referendum on Scotland splitting from England in 2010 -- is victorious, leader First Minister Alex Salmond will claim it is a vote for independence, plus another victory against his old foe Brown.

Salmond and the SNP have enjoyed a honeymoon period since taking control of the devolved parliament in Edinburgh last year, announcing popular policies like a freeze in council tax.

The by-election comes after the death of Labour MP John MacDougall, who had a majority of over 10,000, in August.

Rice off to Mideast as peace deadline looms

AFP, Washington

Fighting irrelevance and a ticking clock, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice embarked on yet another Middle East peacemaking trip, hoping to secure fragile Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and leave a viable process for the incoming Obama administration.

With just 77 days left in office, Rice is making her eighth trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories since the parties set a year-end goal of reaching a peace deal at last November’s Annapolis peace conference. She will also visit Egypt and Jordan to shore up Arab support for the talks.

Meeting the target date for an agreement is now highly unlikely, especially with political uncertainty in Israel and the lame duck Bush administration’s waning influence, but Rice intends to press the two sides to carry on and, if possible, come up with an outline of how they can move ahead after Jan. 20.

“We’re going to try to put this process in the best possible place going forward so that whomever comes next can formulate their policies, take a look at the process, and possibly use it, take it further,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

“Our focus is going to be on moving the process forward as far as it can be moved forward in a responsible way, while preserving the process,” he said. “That has great value.”

The Israeli-Palestinian situation is one of several Middle East trouble spots that the Bush administration will bequeath to President-elect Barack Obama. The war in Iraq, Iran’s nuclear program and troubles with Syria are among the most troublesome.

15 militants killed in airstrike in Pakistan

Reuters, Pakistan

An airstrike killed 15 militants in northwestern Pakistan, while two rockets landed near the region’s main airport, officials said Thursday.

The Pakistani military strike late Wednesday hit a compound in Airab, a village in the semiautonomous Bajur region that borders Afghanistan.

Jamil Khan, the No. 2 government representative in Bajur, said the 15 dead included a Pakistani militant commander named Wali Rehman. Khan claimed that Rehman was known to shelter foreign militants linked to al-Qaida.

Pakistan launched an offensive in Bajur three months ago to dismantle what they said was a virtual Taliban mini-state from where militants were flowing into Afghanistan.

The army claims to have killed some 1,500 insurgents. At least 73 troops and 95 civilians have also died, it says. Insecurity and government restrictions mean accounts of the fighting cannot be verified.

U.S. officials praise the operation, saying it has reduced violence on the other side of the frontier.

However, militants have responded to the offensives - and to stepped up U.S. missile strikes into other parts of Pakistan’s border zone - with a wave of suicide attacks that are adding to concern about the country’s stability.

Also late Wednesday, unknown assailants fired three rockets toward the airport in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, police said.

The rockets missed the runway, which was not in use at the time, and caused no damage, police official Kashif Alam said.