Posted on 01/22/2005 5:01:01 AM PST by DoctorZIn
Top News Story
World press electrified by Bush vision
"Hold on to your hats, this may be the most ambitious presidency ever." That's the message from one Israeli paper after President George W Bush's inauguration - a message echoed across the world's press.
For China's press his speech raises the question whether Washington will head further down a "unilateral" path in foreign relations.
One Polish paper heralds the speech as the dawn of a conservative revolution, while in Germany and Turkey there's a bleak forecast for the new Bush era.
At precisely the moment when critics claim he is stymied, Bush, in his second inaugural address, has just set out to liberate the entire world. And our region is at Ground Zero, so to speak, of his new, revolutionary vision... In laying down his revolutionary gauntlet, Bush must know that he will be derided as a hypocrite and a reckless dreamer. No American can be against the ideal of spreading democracy, but to stake national security on it, that's another matter. In front of the Capitol on Thursday, Bush called not merely for a remaking of other nations' foreign policy, but that of his United States. 'Hold on to your hats, this may be the most ambitious second-term - or any term - presidency ever'.
Israel's Jerusalem Post
Celebrations of Eid are given more prominence than the American president's speech
Arab media review
The democracy President Bush's administration is promising is a bloody one. It has, up to now, claimed the lives of 100,000 martyrs, with the same number being wounded. It has turned the country into a failed one, where chaos and booby-trapped cars prevail... As long as the US policies continue as they are at the moment, then all the American talk about democracy and liberties will remain ink on paper.
Pan-Arab Al-Quds Al-Arabi
Bush's speech focused on the 'power of freedom', saying that the best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. On that, not many people will disagree. The differences are over what he understands by 'freedom' and how the benefits of democracy should be spread in the world - or indeed whether it is any country's business to export democracy to others... It is possible to have the freer world that Bush speaks of, but the idea that those who are strong and have a larger arsenal have an unchallenged right to impose their will on the weak, undermines democracy.
Kenya's Nation
Here is the president saying there are a lot of monsters over there, and unless we slay those monsters, we can't be free at home
David Gergen, CNN
Many challenges and knotty questions are waiting for him to solve... Whether to reverse the Iraqi situation will become the biggest test for Bush's second term of office... Even with the election proceeding smoothly, terrorist acts will not disappear... Various countries are expecting much of the new Bush term. Perhaps it is wishful thinking to see these expectations depend on whether Bush goes ahead with his unilateral road or is back to the multilateral road.
China's People's Daily
The main international issue to be faced during President Bush's second term in office will be an Iran war, the US' main attention will focus on West Asia. If the US can quite smoothly realize the goal of transforming Iran, then the US' main strategic direction will shift to East Asia in future, and China will face direct US pressure; if the US' war and political reform in Iraq is not smooth, then this shift will be delayed for a number of years.
Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po
The inauguration of President George W Bush for his second term was merry and fanciful whereas the United States is afraid of facing continued threats from terrorists and has concerns about the increasing number of its troops killed in Iraq... In his campaigns on the significance of the free world, Bush has deliberately grabbed the rights of the Iraqi people to live freely by sending his troops to invade and occupy Iraq and at the same time forcefully imposing US-style democracy in a foreign land.
Malaysia's Berita Harian
Make no mistake, Bush absolutely believes that America will not be safe and secure unless democracy takes root more broadly around the world, especially in the Middle East... Of course, Bush as a president cannot be compared in stature to his two mighty presidential forebears. He and those around him do such small-minded things that it detracts from the grandeur of his purpose, whether you regard that purpose as grand folly or grand mission... And we have the demeaning, disgusting innuendo constantly from the Bush administration that anyone who disagrees with their course, or opposes the severe restrictions on civil rights in the Patriot Act, is an appeaser, is disloyal, is un-American.
Sydney's The Australian
The United States will likely place the value of democracy and freedom as the basis for its diplomacy. That is also closely related to Washington's plan to "transform" the North Korean regime. Such a US doctrine and North Korea's possible reactions may escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. We hope diplomatic principles will be applied wisely. During the first term of the Bush administration, South Korea-US relations have seen conflicts too serious to call the relationship an alliance. South Korea's dispatch of troops to Iraq mended the fissure significantly. During the next four years, the alliance must mature further.
South Korea's Chungang Ilbo
Bush's speech at his second inauguration and the theme of freedom in it is nothing new. Since 11 September this same freedom has been the main slogan of the war on terror the White House has declared... Bush's critics point out that in America itself there is now considerably less freedom. .. Who knows, perhaps Afghanistan really has become freer, and democracy may emerge in Iraq after the elections. But for the rest of the world the war on terror is turning increasingly into lack of freedom....
Russia's Vedomosti
Critics who were hoping that he would get mired in detail about Iraq were mistaken. Instead he went back to basics, reaching out to the belief of most Americans in the fundamental importance of freedom and using that to explain his policies at home and abroad. At times it sounded more like a sermon than a speech. Mr Bush may not be much of a speaker. But sometimes the message is more important than eloquence and what he had to say yesterday had the power of real conviction.
Ireland's Irish Independent
Things are now clearer than ever: We have the right to feel a chill down the spine. To describe Bush as a madman with a mission at the head of a state bristling with weapons does not really get us any further... and, although insulting, it is no longer even particularly original. And yet this US administration sends a chill down the spine of anyone unwilling to become accustomed to listening to this madness.
Germany's Die Tageszeitung
No-one should expect a weak president in spite of the fact that his immediate objectives were achieved in his first term as a world leader. The inauguration speech was again simple, concise and direct, as was the electoral message which gave him victory at the polls in November... For his enemies, there is a choice: liberty or oppression.
Spain's La Razon
In... George W Bush's inauguration speech, there seem not to have been any pithy sentences which will be engraved forever in our memories. There is the feeling of a man who treats the whole world as his parish.
Italy's La Repubblica
In a bid to be as determined as Franklin D. Roosevelt facing the Great Depression in 1933... and galvanize people like John F. Kennedy in 1961... the 43rd president of the United States opened up particularly ambitious prospects for the future which go well beyond the four years remaining to him in the White House.
France's Le Figaro
The question is how much he has learnt... and how much he has forgotten. Mr Bush will be the president of the USA for the next four years, and whatever he ruins, he will ruin it for us too. So it is worth keeping our fingers crossed for him, for mere selfishness if for no other reason.
Hungary's Nepszabadsag
The drawback of Bush's style is that he has never really racked his brains about how to convince somebody. Basically, he only explains reasons for his decisions. Why would he do anything else - he is right, is he not? He will hardly change in that respect, so we only have to hope that he is right as often as possible.
Czech Republic's Mlada fronta Dnes
An idealistic vision of the furtherance by America of freedom, democracy and human rights... Although in Bush's short inaugural speech words such as Iraq, Afghanistan or Ukraine were not used once, it is clear which countries he was referring to. He is planning such deep changes in internal policy that if they are carried through they will change America for good. He also spoke of these changes in his inaugural speech as being 'furtherance of freedom and justice'. If his plans are realised, then this will be a conservative revolution.
Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza
Under the label of a sick, religious-political doctrine they march against countries longing for their natural resources. Already, the United States is warning various countries by beginning the known method of repeated lies... The planet must be aware of this freedom the United States is talking about because it is leading to a one-way-road: to the 'freedom' of enslavement and submission to the United States.
Cyprus Kharavyi
As the strategy of toppling Saddam Hussein and 'democratising Iraq' has gradually turned into a nightmare scenario, the initiative of declaring new wars and attempts of widening the occupation increase the suspicions about Bush's second term... The government in Turkey should not fall into the trap of an attack against Iran. Possible demands for support must be refused in the parliament...
Turkey's Milliyet
A Daily Briefing of Major News Stories on Iran:
Important Announcement:
As most of you know, I host both this thread and a blog: regimechangeiran.com. For over a year and a half, each day, I have been posting all the major news on Iran. I have been posting the full text of these news stories into a single thread. This past summer I began the blog to highlight news stories and provide commentary. The amount of time required to post full text news articles to a new thread each day as well as news highlights on the blog as been extensive. So much so that I have not been able to spend much time providing news analysis.
After consulting with other successful bloggers I have decided to try a new format.
I have posted the news highlights to my blog and have provided links to the news items here at the start of each daily thread. This way you will quickly see all the major news stories at a glance and be able to read those stories that most interest you.
You can still post links or news stories to this thread, but it would be helpful if you would first check and see if I have already posted the story to my blog. I appreciate news links to stories I haven’t seen.
I also hope this format will permit more discussions of news items since your comments won’t be interspersed between news articles.
I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the change. Does it make it easier to find the news you are looking for? Does it encourage discussions of the news?
I would appreciate your feedback.
DoctorZin
PS My blog is hosted on blogspot and if you would like to post comments on a specific new item you may do it there, but I would recommend creating an account on blogspot.com as it permit me to know who you are. If you want to create an account on blogspot, please try to use your freeper name there as well, if possible.
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That's the first intelligent thing David's ever said--and it was a paraphrase.
Translation: "Muslims have a different plan--an Islamic theocracy with the Koran as the constitution and the shariah as national law. If democracy can exist in that context, fine; if it can't, to hell with it."
You might find it interesting what Iranians are saying about Bush's speech.
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Every mischaracterization imaginable. All over the globe Tyrants and their running dogs howl at the moon in response to Bush's great speech.
Agreed!
bump
"We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of."--The Harrisburg Patriot"The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterance."--The Chicago Times
"[T]he ceremony was rendered ludicrous by some of the sallies of that poor President Lincoln... Anything more dull and commonplace it would not be easy to produce."--the Times of London
"We had grown so accustomed to homely and imperfect phrase in his productions that we had come to think it was the law of his utterance."--the Springfield, Illinois, Republican
You mean Clinton and Carter?
BUMP
Czech Republic's Mlada fronta Dnes
It's that "freedom" thing, yanno. Explain your reasons for what you do or think, and the other guy has the FREEDOM to evaluate for himself.
Why is this so hard for these Euroweenies to understand?
"Critics who were hoping that he would get mired in detail about Iraq were mistaken."His critics are typically mistaken.
"Instead he went back to basics, reaching out to the belief of most Americans in the fundamental importance of freedom and using that to explain his policies at home and abroad."An explanation that comforts and resounds with the wise and decent people of the world (most of us).
"At times it sounded more like a sermon than a speech."Yes, rather like the Gettysburg Address.
"Mr Bush may not be much of a speaker. But sometimes the message is more important than eloquence..."Correction: The message is always more important than eloquence.
"...and what he had to say yesterday had the power of real conviction."Exactly.
Wise words from Ireland's Irish Independent
Sort of Like Abe Lincoln when he said:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South.
Yes! These people at La Razon got the message, but they didn't understand it.
In fact, they said it better than Bush did--and more laconically. Too bad it's beyond their comprehension (and it really isn't difficult to comprehend).
An even better paraphrase is this:
"For the people of the world, there is a choice: liberty or oppression."
...And Europe, if it accedes, will be one of the main beneficiaries.
Now I would like to ask my fellow freepers to pause a moment and consider what these world-wide voices are saying and how they understand what we Americans view as our role in the world.
There is a natural self-defensive tendency to discount what these people are saying. I think that a reflexive denial can be delusional, that's not to say I agree w/ the general sentiment, but rather that we should give their concerns due weight.
Obviously the US cannot impose its will on the whole world, I don't believe that anyone at FR would even want that. That is NOT freedom. But if our rhetoric and our actions signal that we are dividing the world into two mutually exclusive camps of client states and enemies then whether that is our intent or not we have a problem.
WE must understand that the ever more integrated infrastructure and support systems that we are building is frieghtening to many people (people like me). The powers that the state has taken unto itself via the Patriot Act are rightly viewed w/ alarm. Furthermore, there are many things associated w/ this modern world that are, quite frankly, anethima to human happiness and the US is leading the way.
I think those people have every right to be scared.
I think that what the US wants to do is honorable and necessary, but unless we can proceed w/ a proper and truthful modesty that bears witness to the community of nations (I know that's a corny phrase) the end result of all our actions could be terrible and disasterous, both to everyone else and to ourselves.
Let us pause, dear freepers, and think these things through.
Good post. I knew this reaqction was coming. " F/'em, we're going in"!
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