Looking for the Ideal Spot: Obama considers major foreign policy address in an Islamic capital

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: New York Times

President-elect Barack Obama’s aides say he is considering making a major foreign policy speech from an Islamic capital during his first 100 days in office.

So where should he do it? The list of Islamic world capitals is long, and includes the obvious —Riyadh, Kuwait City, Islamabad — and the not-so-obvious — Male (the Maldives), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Some wise-guys have even suggested Dearborn, Mich., as a possibility.

Clearly it would be cheating for Mr. Obama to fly to Detroit, talk to Dearborn’s 30,000 Arab residents and call it a day. And Male and Ouagadougou, while certainly majority Muslim, can’t really be what Mr. Obama’s aides have in mind when they talk about locales for a high-profile speech that would seek to mend rifts between the United States and the broader Muslim world.

So Burkina Faso and the Maldives are out. But that leaves a whole swath of Islamic capitals, all ready to be spruced up for Mr. Obama to make his speech. I’ve thought hard about this, and asked a few people — diplomats even — which capital Mr. Obama should pick.

The consensus, after an entire day of reporting, is Cairo....

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/us/politics/04web-cooper.html

[tekisui]

1. What an impressive idea and

worthy gesture.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Cairo?

[madrchsod]

7. way to dangerous....

[ohio2007]

20. How about Mogadishu , Islamabad or maybe Baghdad...too dangerous? What your saying is Ivory towers

are the safest of all places,inside the beltway .


Cairo is also the choice I would wager on.

You can play the 'safe' odds with Dearborn Michigan ;)

[SteelPenguin]

3. Ankara, Turkey

Turkey is Islamic, Democratic, Secular and military ally of ours in NATO.

[madrchsod]

6. that would be a good choice

i would`t trust anywhere else in that part of the world

[alfredo]

9. Gaza. It isn't a capital, but it would force Israel to lift the blockade.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7764479.stm

[nsd]

11. Turkey may not be Muslim enough to impress the rest of the Muslim world.

It's always had one foot in Europe and is trying now to join the European Union. And it has a long history, dating back nearly a century, of trying to move away from Islam and towards secularism. I suspect young Muslims in Pakistan or Syria, who are the kind of people Obama is trying to reach, would have somewhat ambivalent feelings towards a speech from Turkey. It would muddle the gesture.

[Schema Thing]

4. fook; this scares me.

I just question if it can be done safely.


It's wonderful diplomatically though.

[tridim]

5. The Obama conspiracy theorists will have a mass-orgasm when he does.

It's pretty obvious this is an important and necessary move to help rebuild our country's image in the world.

[Doctor_J]

14. Yes. This is an excellent way to push Hate Radio Nation over the edge

:thumbsup:

[MilesColtrane]

8. Don't go to Egypt, or Arabia.

How about going to a stable, democratic, non-secular country like Turkey?

Ninety nine percent of it's citizens are Muslim.

[ryanmuegge]

10. My administration will continue most of the same policies of the Bush administration, but here's an

inspiring speech!

[tridim]

12. WTF is that supposed to mean?

[tekisui]

13. Huh?

That is an inaccurate and obtuse analysis.

[Posteritatis]

15. An African country would be a good idea anyway

How many times has a sitting American president been on the ground in Africa, Egypt notwithstanding?

[ohio2007]

21. Algeria is a gateway to Europe

Algiers or Cairo




Forget Timbuktu

[mwb970]

16. Obama has already had more good ideas than bush had in 2 terms! /nt

[acmavm]

17. I know it's not happening BUT, wouldn't it be something if he gave it in

BAGHDAD!?!?!

[Doctor_J]

18. Baghdad is not an Islamic capitol, afaik

Iraq is still technically a secular nation, despite Smirk's "Crusade".

that said, your suggestion is excellent.

[proud progressive]

19. I GOT IT! I GOT IT!

i'm lebanese, so how about beirut?
lord knows, it could use a little sprucing-up!

p.s., dearborn - now THAT was funny

[ohio2007]

22. Looks like it's Jakarta,Indonesia

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

It's bc they are non arab,
ie,
kinder,gentler followers of peace.
As long as he avoids Bali, I'm sure security will tight

[No Elephants]

25. Not only is it non-Arab, but he spent 4 years of his life there. Can't wait to see what the RW

will have to say about this.

[onager]

23. I'm in Egypt. Fairly stable, but probably not a good idea.

Just because of traffic and the related security concerns. Cairo is the biggest city in Africa and must have the worst traffic.

I live in Alexandria and sometimes go to Cairo on bid'ness. Using the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Highway, on a typical day it takes about 2.5 hours to reach Cairo. (I just did that last Tuesday, which was not typical. Heavy fog caused an ELEVEN-vehicle chain-reaction crash on the Desert Highway and it took us 5 hours to reach Cairo.)

BUT! Getting from the city limits of Cairo to my usual destination can take another 2 hours all by itself.

Yes, two hours just to get from one part of Cairo to another. It can take even longer in late afternoon, when schools are letting out and many government offices are closing for the day.

I wish President Obama would visit Alexandria. We are much smaller than Cairo and traffic is not bad in winter, when no tourists are cluttering up the city.

He even has the perfect symbolic place to make a speech: Muhammad Ali Square. The same spot where, in 1956, Egyptian President Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal. (Egyptians have a great sense of humor. The code phrase in Nasser's speech that launched the seizure of the Canal was: "Ferdinand De Lesseps.")

Nasser's action, perfectly legal under international law, launched one of the dumbest attempts at "regime change" in history: the misbegotten 1956 Suez Crisis cooked up by Conservative PM Anthony Eden, in cahoots with France and Israel. The Suez Crisis did lead to regime change, just not the one Westerners expected--in January 1957 Eden resigned.

Earlier, in 1882, the Square was the site of some downright Rumsfeldian shenanigans. In response to nationalist rioting by Egyptians, British Admiral Seymour fired high-explosive shells from his gunboats right into the Square.

In a telegram to London, Seymour assured the British government his guns had fired only "with pin-point accuracy." One of those shells flattened the British Consulate in Alexandria.

:rofl:

[DeepModem Mom]

24. Thanks, onager, for an informed view and a fascinating post! nt

[Aristus]

26. To change the world for the better with one speech: Tehran.

That's the game right there. That would be Nixon to China, Kennedy during the Missile Crisis, and Carter at Camp David all rolled into one. It would electrify the world, stun and gratify the large numbers of Iranians who like and respect America, and render toothless Iran's diminishing number of critics of America. Young Iranians love Western pop-culture, and want an open relationship with the West. President Obama can give it to them, and solve any number of international squabbles all at once.

I just don't see it happening. President-elect Obama is smart and brave enough to do it, but I wonder what reaction in Washington D.C. would be?

[XemaSab]

27. Bishkek? Almaty?

:shrug: