Obama's First Year: A mass of contradictions
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Barack Obama's first year in office has been marked by a string of half-hearted and self-contradictory proposals.
He wants nuclear deterrence in a nuclear-free world. Obama told the UN General Assembly of his aspiration to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But the U.S. is the country least likely to lead nuclear disarmament. It is the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons and still refuses to renounce their first-use. While talking of a nuclear-free world, Obama was simultaneously extending nuclear protection to Japan and South Korea against a supposed threat from the North Korea.
He talks of a dialogue between civilizations while adding to boots on the ground. Obama promised the Islamic world a miracle of harmony between civilizations while keeping troops in Iraq and sending more to Afghanistan. Dialogue between civilizations can be tricky when one civilization seeks to dominate another.
Peace can be achieved by war. Obama the war president received his Nobel Peace Prize and used the occasion to preach the necessity of war. His self-contradictory speech revealed the truth – that the U.S. will continue to launch wars as and when it pleases.
The U.S. continues to coerce other countries. Obama has turned a deaf ear to the North Korea's requests to sign a peace treaty and is bent on imposing sanctions on Iran to halt its nuclear program.
Obama tried to persuade Russia to cooperate on Iran by "resetting" their relationship. He thought he could exchange empty promises for real Russian concessions in the START negotiations. But Russia will only "reset" its relations with the U.S. when mutual trust has been restored. Similar problems dog the relationship between China and the U.S. If one side doesn't respect the other's core interests how can bilateral ties develop smoothly?
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