President Barack Obama Middle East Speech Breakdown
We go over the main points of President Obama’s latest speech on the Middle East, the first since the so called ‘Arab Spring uprisings’.
President started to talk about the opportunity now facing America to show it backs democracy, saying it is the policy of the US to back reform.
With reference to the current problems in Syria, the President made it clear that his view is that President Assad needs to change the political system or leave.
President Obama promises the support of the US if the risk of change is undertaken.
Taking on the plight of women in the region he looks to encourage women to be more independent and to have equal rights.
Moving onto economics the President looks towards integrating those countries which have successfully moved towards reform into the global economy.
With regards to Egypt, he said that the US would write off $1 billion of debt and finance borrowing of $1 billion in order to support the democratic changes in the country.
He goes on to talk about a lasting peace in the Middle East, looking to Israel and the Palestinians to agree on some basic principles of territory and security before moving onto the more emotional topics.
Of course these views are purely America’s take on the world and there was an almost instant rebuttal from the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted that the 1967 border lines were indefensible to his country.
Others said that the President missed the opportunity to say something different, that everything that was said has been said many times before and nothing has shifted.
Perhaps this is true but it seems that Obama is looking for new impetus and looking to keep the momentum of the ‘Arab Spring’ going.
Photo: Dana Beveridge
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