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PRESUMPTIVE Democratic presidential nominee Barack
Obama, after gathering just enough delegates to anoint him the
principal contender for the presidential contest, immediately
surprised the world with a rousing speech delivered at the
anniversary convention of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC). It was a speech that strongly conveyed the
message that change is fast coming to America and that the fiery
soul behind this change is an American leader who would not deal
lightly with social discrimination nor with extremist terrorism of
any form. It was a speech that laid down the cornerstones for the
use of strong diplomacy, as opposed to war, in American foreign
affairs policy and for the recognition of the two states of Israel
and Palestine despite the intransigence of extremist organizations
to eradicate Israel in Middle East territorial configuration.
Committed vs. terrorism
Barack Obama has made it clear he
is not going to take any form of terrorism lightly. He is not going
to deal or negotiate with any national leader whose primordial
instruments in foreign relations are violence, war and terrorism. It
is only when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sincerely lays
down weapons of mass destruction and surrenders any nuclear
capabilities threatening apocalyptic destruction that peace
negotiations and mutually reciprocal assistance programs with
America can be undertaken. The strong message should be of interest
to all national leaders that are critical of American leadership,
whether it be Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Cuba’s Fidel Castro or
his brother, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il or the leaders of Syria,
Egypt, China and other contentious nations that tend to disrupt the
balance of world power through their violent revolutionary or
terrorist strategies or syndicated support of extremist
organizations.
In his AIPAC speech, Obama
stressed that he was not going to just enter into any diplomatic
discussions with any contentious national leader without any
conditions. The conditions are clear—American President Barack
Obama will be the most compassionate man in America’s foreign
relations towards countries that have renounced violence,
revolution, war and terrorism as instruments of foreign policy. To
countries that continue such failed policies of racial hatred and
violence, then strong diplomacy should be resorted to the extent
that declaring war becomes unnecessary. Trade embargos, economic
boycotts, sanctioning business investors and other socioeconomic
sanctions on rogue nations are going to be America’s new foreign
policies. Without mentioning it, America’s Republicans have been
the biggest financial investors in these failed wars against
Afghanistan and Iraq for the simple reason that their personal and
corporate interests required the artificial creation of wealth and
economic opportunities for their own aggrandizement. Military
equipments, weapons trade, oil supplies and national reconstruction
efforts in both Afghanistan and Iraq have been the source of
lucrative profits reaped by Republicans during Dubya’s regime.
Obama proclaims that if war is
ever to be used, it should be used as a last resort; it should be
used when all other strategies of strong diplomatic negotiations
have failed; it should be used when the international community
realizes that there is no other option left but war because of the
recalcitrance and failure of such rogue states to amicably cooperate
with the United Nations in dispute resolution. War should never be
the first declaration of an American president, who has every
diplomatic instrument and economic leverage at his fingertips that
war should not even be a consideration in American foreign policy.
Yet, presumptive Republican
presidential nominee John McCain continues to peddle the nauseating
mantra of the righteousness of wars, notwithstanding the unnecessary
killings of American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Republicans
have stressed that strong diplomacy, propagated by Obama is a failed
idea. The Republicans are wrong. They immediately resorted to war
without really utilizing strong diplomatic negotiations, as America
did in the case of Vietnam. When the Americans went to war in
Vietnam, they went to war without appreciating the historical
foundation for the Vietnamese people’s struggle for
self-determination. Declaring war against another country on the
whimsical and impulsive determinations of an American leader is the
failed idea. Killing people in war for their religious or political
beliefs albeit erroneous can only further enflame racial hatred. How
can such an experienced war veteran as McCain, with his presupposed
experienced leadership and maturity, cling on to so many failed
ideas which have already been denounced by leaders of the United
Nations; and ideas which have caused so much destruction to, rather
than contributed to the upliftment of, humanity?
His time has come
When Obama says that he
simultaneously recognizes the Jewish people’s right to a homeland
and the Palestinian people’s right to their own independent
statehood, he is simply saying that the world can live in peace
without the leaders of its nations having to destroy the world. He
is proclaiming to the world that national hatred and hotheadedness
should never surpass the human capacity for selfless sacrifice,
sharing resources, understanding religious and racial divisions,
healing and enduring, and supporting peace and diplomacy. Indeed,
President Barack Obama’s time has come to lead the world.
ericfmallonga@yahoo.com
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