Editorial

Daunting challenges, new hope

IN a historic inauguration watched the world over, Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States. The interest that Obama?s rise to power sparked outside his country is indicative of the hope that America is returning to a more enlightened way of dealing with the rest of the world, one that sets aside the strong-arm tactics favored during the last eight years.

The foreign policy challenges are at least as daunting as the host of domestic problems the new president must confront. Already, some Muslim states have complained about his silence on Israel?s recent attacks in Gaza. The new administration will need to restore Washington?s status as an even-handed mediator, if it is to help restore some stability in the Middle East. And this it must do while winding down its military involvement in Iraq and confronting the terrorist threat in Afghanistan.

In Asia, the immediate challenge is North Korea?s nuclear program, as well as the tenuous relations between two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan. In the long run, Washington must increase its cooperation with Beijing, an increasingly vital relationship that is important, not just for the two countries but for the rest of the world.

In Europe, the challenge is to find more effective ways to deal with Russia, which sees American actions around its borders as provocative.

Despite these daunting challenges, there is reason for hope.

The declaration from Obama and his designated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States will work more closely with the United Nations is a welcome break from the unilateralism that marked the previous American administration. Like Clinton, we agree that turning to the UN enhances rather than diminishes America?s power.

The new US president?s insistence on closing Guantanamo Bay on his first day of office also bodes well. The US-run prison camp had become a symbol of state-sanctioned torture; its closure marks the return of an America that respects international conventions that protect human rights.

This alone is reason to hope that an Obama presidency will bring about not just a better America, but a better world.