Too many challenges out there, US role in the world, Iraq, Iran, Aphganistan, War on Terror, Middle East peace process, North Korea, China, 'NEW DIPLOMACY': FINANCE, CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, but the most challening one will be, of course, RUSSIA.
Recent events in Georgia precipitated a crisis in relations between Russia and the West not seen since the end of the Cold War.
This encapsulated all the frustrations that have built up on both sides and raised the question of how the new administration will frame its policy towards Russia. It needs Russian help in dealing with other problems such as Iran and Darfur, where the Security Council is driving policy.
Russia's military intervention in Georgia raised the diplomatic stakes
The immediate issue is how fast to allow Georgia (and Ukraine) to advance towards the Nato membership they have been promised in principle.
Nato foreign ministers discuss this in December, and behind the scenes the Obama team will have its say. But even the Bush administration is now saying that Georgian membership is "years away", so there are opportunities here for progress with Russia.
The US anti-missile system to be installed in Poland and the Czech Republic remains a problem for Russia. Will that be slowed down?
Clues for how President-elect Obama will deal with Russia will also be seen in how he handles nuclear issues. A key one is whether the US and Russia will negotiate further reductions in nuclear weapons.
On the wider front, Barack Obama endorsed the call last year by four senior former US diplomats (including Henry Kissinger) for the US to aim for a nuclear weapons-free world, as it is supposed to be under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. How far will this be taken?
2 comments:
OK - but this is basically one post on several different topics.
The topic I was trying to make was the challenges that lay ahead for Obama. Out of many of them, I tried to pick one and elaborate on it: the Russian challenge. I tried to prove that the Russian rhetoric about US domination of the world is now becoming a reality. They are invading foreign sovereign countries and as I just read the news right now, the Russian wareships are going to manuver around Cuba. That's the point I was trying to make, out of all the challenges, one of them is that Russians are trying to come back.
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