Palestinians hope President Obama's second term will help bring change

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians expressed hope Wednesday that President Obama’s second term will be more forthcoming than his first one when it comes to resolving their conflict with Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was quick to congratulate Obama on his victory and expressed hope that he will help achieve peace in the Middle East.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hoped Obama's second term would see the implementation of a two-state solution. Palestinians also remain determined to become a nonmember state in the United Nations General Assembly, Erekat said.

Analyst Sam Bahour said he expects Obama will have more leverage and face less pressure from lobbying groups in dealing with issues such as conflicts in the Middle East.

"On the one hand, he is more knowledgeable of the issues, and on the other he has to deal with the changing politics in the region, particularly with the emergence of two new powers in the Middle East — Iran and Turkey — which means the U.S. cannot afford to leave a political vacuum that could be filled by either of these two powers," Bahour said.

Palestinians in general do not expect Obama to change his support of Israel, particularly in light of what Bahour described as "a Congress hijacked by the pro-Israel camp."

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Photo: President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington in March. Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press

What foreign media are saying about the U.S. election

Voters in the United State handed President Obama a second term in office on Tuesday. As the rest of the world reacted and reflected on the presidential campaign, here’s a sample of the reactions and analysis from newspapers and other media around the globe:

Obama won with pragmatism and realism, Clarin (Argentina, link in Spanish): In effect, after the promised hope and change of 2008, this year Obama recognized that he hadn’t achieved all that he had set out to do. And he honestly asked for four more years to be able to do it. Few leaders, in the campaign to get reelected, have the courage to recognize their limitations.

Obama will disappoint his friends around the world, Gulf News (United Arab Emirates): Drone attacks continue to outrage public opinion in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. And Guantanamo Bay prison which operates outside U.S. law remains open, despite Obama’s specific promise to close this moral outrage during his first year in office. The new Democrat administration would generate a huge amount of goodwill if it chose to do something about any (or all) of these problems.

FULL RESULTS: ELECTION 2012

Mitt Romney lost because hard-line Republicans betrayed him, Guardian (Britain): By all historical precedent, given the figures, Romney should have sewn it up months ago. But his Reagan-esque ideas were out of date. The voters replied: "It's the economy, but we're not stupid."

A new term, an old playbook, Jerusalem Post: Elections usually turn a new page, and the president certainly has an opportunity to try to make a fresh start. But so far, Obama and other figures on the national and international stage have done little to suggest they’ll be using a different playbook.

Conservatives welcome Obama victory -- in Britain

LONDON -- Now that the rancorous U.S. election is over, there’s one place that President Obama can count on the support of conservatives: Britain.

Official congratulations from the British government on Obama’s reelection received sustained applause in Parliament on Wednesday, with much of the enthusiasm emanating from benches packed with lawmakers from the ruling Conservative Party.

That’s partly because Obama remains an admired figure in Europe, but also because British Prime Minister David Cameron has forged a warm relationship with the Democratic president. Before election day, the media here reported that Cameron, 46, was privately rooting for Obama, with whom he shares a generational rapport.

That affinity exists despite some philosophical and political gulfs between the two men. For example, Cameron’s coalition government has imposed massive public-spending cuts that would make even American tea party activists envious. (Perhaps it’s all that tea they drink in Britain.)

U.S. election party in Beijing: part celebration, part education

BEIJING -- Flavia Wang, Ashley Xu and Thomas Liu, all graduate students at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, were casting ballots for Barack Obama here in the basement of a Marriott hotel on Wednesday morning. Before making their selections, they posed for photos with some cardboard cutouts of the president and Mitt Romney, standing stiffly in a back corner of the ballroom. 

George Bai was also voting for Obama. "It's easier to select an old friend," said Bai, whose son just started at UCLA this fall as a freshman. "We know more about him."

The votes of Bai, Wang, Xu and Liu (all Chinese citizens) won't actually be tallied in the American presidential race -- the mock balloting was part of an election party hosted by the U.S. Embassy. A crowd of several hundred turned out for the event, which was part celebration, part education: Americans were enjoying the giddy atmosphere of an election too close to call, while trying to explain the intricacies of the electoral college to foreign friends sipping coffee and eating Danish pastries.

Embassy staff handed out books in Chinese with such titles as "The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media" and "A Journey Shared: The United States and China, 200 Years of History."

At at table decorated with American flags, Romney backers John and Terri Tennant of Sacramento were watching big screens displaying CNN and BBC election coverage. The couple, who work in the high-tech sector and came to Beijing 2 1/2 years ago, said watching the election from the Chinese vantage point gave them a new perspective.

"The two main candidates have been talking about China a lot in the campaign, and not in a very friendly way," Terri Tennant said. "We're here in China because our business brought us here. I think all the anti-China talk has been very off-putting. Not just for Chinese, but for Americans who are here too."

Ambassador Gary Locke addressed the crowd, confessing that his family was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. "Across America, these kinds of gatherings are being replicated in homes and churches," he said, adding that more than the presidency was at stake -- many local and state races were also being conducted.

Another embassy staff member pointed out that Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota were voting on gay marriage measures, while other states were voting on whether to legalize marijuana.

Huang He, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences specializing in American culture and society, was eagerly checking an electoral college map at a makeshift Internet cafe in the center of the ballroom. He had spent one year in Dayton, Ohio, and was eagerly tracking the tally in that swing state.

"As a Chinese, I would vote for Obama, but if I were an American, I would vote for Romney," he said. "Maybe in the far future, scholars will see that Obama has put in some policies that helped the economic recovery, but in the short term, voters cannot see much improvement."

The U.S. election happens to coincide this year with a once-in-a-decade turnover in China's top leadership as well: On Thursday, China's Communist Party will kick off its 18th party congress. According to a transition plan telegraphed five years ago, Xi Jinping is slated to become party secretary, replacing Hu Jintao as the country's top leader.

A host of strict security measures -- from stopping the sales of knives in supermarkets to forcing taxis to disable their window handles -- has been implemented ahead of the party congress in Beijing. Internet speeds have also slowed to a crawl, a phenomenon widely attributed to authorities' desire to clamp down on dissent ahead of the event.

Paul Girard, a 16-year-old from France who attends high school in Beijing, said the contrast between the two systems was striking.

"Now people are voting in America, and here you can't even sell knives. The Internet is down because of the party congress," he said at the Marriott, standing with some classmates. "I don't understand why they take such measures. No one's going to do anything, because no one knows what's happening here in China anyway."

Asked whether ordinary Chinese were paying much attention to the party congress,  Xu, one of the graduate students, said: "Everyone knows the outcome of that -- it's Xi Jinping!" But as for the details, Wang added: "They don't tell us much. We don't know much about it, because we are just commoners."

Xu, Wang and Liu then took the opportunity to ask this American some questions about the U.S. electoral system. "Why do they call Obama a socialist?" Liu wondered.

Xu expressed pessimism that China could ever have a democratic election like the one playing out on the video screens before her. "Maybe another form of democracy, but not with all the people voting," she said.

Liu was more optimistic: "Maybe in 10 or 20 years."

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Photo: Chinese guests pose for photos in front of a faux polling station at a party hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Credit: Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times

 

 

Report: Israel leaders ordered preparedness for Iran strike in 2010

JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister and defense minister tried to move their country closer to an attack on Iran in 2010 but military and security chiefs resisted, an Israeli television program reported Monday.

The Channel 2 television magazine “Fact” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the military to enter a level of preparedness termed P Plus, reportedly code for preparing for a military strike.

It remained unclear whether they intended to follow through with a strike or just wanted to signal that Israel was prepared to make such a move. Ultimately the instructions to the military were dropped.

In a taped interview that followed the segment, Netanyahu told “Fact” that he was “not eager to go to war” and would be “very happy” to see international sanctions force Iran to rein in its nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful in intent but Israel, the U.S. and others fear will produce a nuclear weapon.

“At the end of the day, as prime minister of the Jewish state, the responsibility is mine to prevent the threat to our existence,” Netanyahu said.

In the feature, which aired Monday night, veteran investigative journalist Ilana Dayan reported that the order was given somewhat casually, at the end of a ministerial forum convened on a different matter.

But Gabi Ashkenazi and Meir Dagan, then army chief of staff and head of Mossad, respectively, resisted the instruction, said Dayan's report. Ashkenazi reportedly said the army wasn't ready; Dagan contended that only the security Cabinet could authorize such a step because it might lead to war. Both men have since left their posts.

The report highlights the continuing disagreement between Netanyahu and some of his top security officials on the possibility of an Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear program, a topic that in recent years has become a permanent fixture on the agenda in Israel.

Ahead of China's party congress, ex-leaders pop up to show clout

BEIJING –- Apropos of seemingly nothing, the TV program “Music World Today” on China’s state-run channel 15 launched into a 30-minute segment Friday about a schmaltzy, obscure tune, “Moonlight and Shadows,” from the 1936 American film “The Jungle Princess.” But invited guest Chen Lin, a 90-year-old professor from Beijing Foreign Studies University, quickly clued viewers in to its significance.

This spring, he said, he received a call from Li Lanqing, who served as vice premier under President Jiang Zemin from 1998 to 2003. The former president, now 86, was urgently looking for the sheet music for the song, which he had enjoyed as a young man in his revolutionary days, Li said. Chen helped a composer notate the melody and words. (Sample lyric: “Even in shadows, I feel no alarm, while I hold you tight, in the jungle light, my dear ...”)

“This beautiful romantic song, for it to be able to reappear, to be restored, and for us to be able to remember it, all the credit should go to our comrade Jiang Zemin,” Chen said on the program.

As China prepares to begin a major Communist Party leadership transition next week, hardly a day goes by without a fresh TV or newspaper report highlighting the recent activities of a former leader, many of whom have been out of the limelight for years. 

While the appearances by and references to the retired cadres may seem awkward, comical or just downright dull, analysts say they serve a purpose: They’re telegraphing that these old-timers are alive, well and trying to play a role in shaping policy and determining appointments ahead of the 18th Party Congress.

Japan politicians play 'game of chicken' over financial cliff

TADANOUMI, Japan -- Locked in a political standoff over a crucial budget bill, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is under mounting pressure to hasten elections -- a step likely to push his party out of power.

The budget bill, which would allow the Japanese government to borrow more than $480 billion, is needed to plug a gaping deficit that could force the country to make sweeping cuts. The government called an extra session of parliament to try to pass the bill this fall, warning that Japan could run out of money in November if lawmakers don’t patch the hole.

But opponents of Noda and his ruling Democratic Party of Japan have argued that the prime minister should first set the date for general elections, which would likely put his increasingly unpopular party in jeopardy.

Noda is not required to call elections until next summer but promised in August to do so “soon” to win opposition backing for other bills. Shinzo Abe, president of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, insisted Wednesday that Noda should dissolve the lower house of parliament before the end of the year. The opposition has so far blocked the budget bill in protest.

Billions for Japan tsunami recovery went elsewhere, reports find

TADANOUMI, Japan -- Billions of dollars meant to help Japan recover from its devastating tsunami went to government projects that had little or nothing to do with the disaster, a new spending review shows.

Japanese politicians have questioned why millions went to a factory that makes contact lenses, or why money was spent to fend off  environmental activists opposed to whaling, or other projects in areas far removed from the tsunami. Local media have dug up numerous  examples of dubious spending, from renovating government buildings outside the disaster zones to job training in  prisons.

All in all, government documents show roughly one out of every four dollars budgeted for reconstruction went to unrelated projects, and more than half has not been allocated at all, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. An outside analysis by recovery expert Yoshimitsu Shiozaki found the same pattern of spending on projects outside the disaster zones.

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The funds were originally earmarked solely for the stricken areas, but the government ultimately loosened the rules, saying the money could also be used to bolster the economy and prepare for future disasters nationwide. The reconstruction money was up for grabs at a time when government agencies were downsizing, making it a tempting spigot of cash.

Census sets off fears of politicking in Bosnia-Herzegovina

In much of the world, the census is a mundane and familiar routine. In fractured Bosnia-Herzegovina, the exercise is so touchy that its people have gone uncounted for more than two decades.

Twenty-one years ago, the last census showed a growing share of Muslims in the diverse territory, then a republic of the Yugoslav federation. Serb nationalists pointed to the numbers and argued that their status was in jeopardy.

The next year, after Bosnia declared its independence, a brutal war erupted. It lasted more than 3 1/2 years and claimed an estimated 100,000 lives.

In a country where political power is divided along ethnic lines, local activists and outside observers worry that a new census could be manipulated for political gain. The government is testing out the census on a smaller scale, counting about 9,000 people before launching a complete tally next year.

“There is already pressure on people” over how they choose to identify, said Tija Memisevic, director of the European Research Center, part of a coalition of nonprofit groups and individuals pushing for people to be able to define themselves as they wish to census-takers. “There will be a lot of fear-mongering.”

Bosniak Muslims fear the census will cement the elimination of their people from Serb enclaves, legitimizing Serb control of areas terrorized by "ethnic cleansing." Croats worry their numbers may have diminished as well. Others fear they won’t be fairly tallied and instead shunted into one category or another for political purposes.

In the dizzyingly complex political system that evolved after the war, some government seats are reserved for each of the three “constituent” ethnic groups and some are off limits to minorities -- a barrier that the European Court of Human Rights ruled was discriminatory. Local municipalities afford seats based on the census.

As new numbers are tallied, “politicians will push for more political representation for their group or demand less for the others,” said Doga Ulas Eralp, a George Washington University expert on fragile states. “It’s going to set the tone of the debate.”

Tokyo governor resigns to form new party, run for parliament

BEIJING -- Shintaro Ishihara, the strident governor of Tokyo who helped touch off a major dispute between China and Japan over some uninhabited islets near Taiwan, announced Thursday that he was quitting his post and forming a new political party.

Ishihara, 80, told reporters at a news conference in Tokyo that he wanted to return to parliament and said he would run in the next election for the House of Representatives, Japan's lower house.

Ishihara has served as Tokyo governor since 1999, following a quarter of a century in parliament. Known as a fierce nationalist and co-author of the 1989 book "The Japan That Can Say No," he has pushed for Japan to rewrite its pacifist constitution and advocated acquiring nuclear weapons.

Last spring, he announced his intention to have his metropolitan government purchase three islands -– known as the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyu in China -– from a Japanese family that has administered them in recent decades. China claims the islands as its territory, and some believe the nearby seabed holds significant energy reserves.

Japan's national government, fearing that Ishihara might attempt to build structures on the outcroppings or otherwise develop them and try to change the status quo, announced in September that it would buy the islands. That "nationalization" set off a serious diplomatic row with China and sparked violent protests in scores of Chinese cities that have seriously damaged economic ties with Japan.