US President Barack Obama dumped George W. Bush’s “war on terror” doctrine on Thursday when he unveiled a national security strategy that calls for using America’s still “unmatched” power less overtly.
Mr Obama also put new constraints on the former President’s concept of pre-emptive war and cited national security implications of economic meltdowns, global warming, cyberwarfare, nuclear proliferation, and ethnic conflict.
The strategy turns the page on Bush-era dreams of remaking the global order with American might and recognises the increasing global engagement of Russia and the emergence of rising powers like China and India. “To succeed, we must face the world as it is,” the document states. In putting the first public face to the document, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton confidently asserted American power but said it would be used more wisely and less directly than before. “We are no less powerful,” the chief US diplomat told foreign policy experts at the Brookings Institution think tank, adding that US military and economic power remained “unmatched.” But the US is “shifting from mostly direct exercise and application of power to a more sophisticated and difficult mix of indirect power and influence,” Ms Clinton said.
She cited powers ranging from its democratic values to technological innovation. And she said the United States would harness its “comparative advantage” to “convene and connect broader coalitions of actors.” Indeed, the new doctrine illustrates an evolution of Mr Obama’s pro-engagement policies after 16 months in power, a period that brought the idealism of his election campaign into conflict with the harsh realities of geopolitics.
Ms Clinton acknowledged that traditional “slow, patient diplomacy” was more difficult today than in the past. But she said the US — which she lists among a few nations having “the luxury” of viewing their national interests broadly — works to persuade other countries to focus less narrowly.
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Abbas will meet Obama on June 9
Washington, May 28: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit the White House on June 9, a US official said on Thursday, in a trip that will come one week after Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu is due to hold talks here.
US President Barack Obama “will welcome Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to the White House on June 9,” Mr Obama’s press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement. “The President looks forward to reviewing with President Abbas the progress so far in Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks, and how the United States can work with the parties to transition to direct talks.” Mr Gibbs said the leaders “will also discuss our continuing effort to work cooperatively to develop the institutions that can advance the aspirations of the Palestinian people, and support the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
On Tuesday Mr Obama holds talks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, as the US ramps up its West Asia peace mediation efforts.
—AFP