[Paul Bunyan]

March 31st

17:45 GMT +00:00
Obama "snubs" Spanish outreach to Muslim world

Posted by: Charlemagne Categories:Europe and America UH-oh, President Barack Obama has not even arrived in Europe yet, and chunks of the European press are grumbling about him in terms that sound eerily like the George W Bush years. During the last administration, Spain, in particular somehow slipped into the role of an anti-American cheerleader. The Socialist government of José Luis RodrÃÂguez Zapatero got off to a bumpy start by pulling Spanish troops out of Iraq with almost no warning after it took office in 2004. That was after an election overshadowed by the terrorist bombing in Madrid's Atocha railway station. Relations never really had a chance to recover: Mr Zapatero was serially snubbed by Mr Bush (his lack of an invitation to the White House became a big domestic issue in Spain). And Spanish ministers kept up a stream of sniping and anti-American criticism.

Now, the Zapatero team has been briefing the Spanish press that they are "stupified" by Mr Obama's decision to avoid a meeting of the Alliance of Civilisations, a UN-sponsored body founded with backing from Spain and Turkey to promote dialogue between the west and Islam. The Alliance is having a big jump-up in Istanbul next week, when Mr Obama will be in Turkey, and it had been widely trailed by officials in Turkey and elsewhere that the American president was going to attend.

Now, however, the White House has announced Mr Obama is instead going to hold meetings with "local cultural leaders" in Istanbul, and a "roundtable with students". This announcement came like a "bucket of cold water" says El PaÃÂs, a serious newspaper also known for being the house journal of the Spanish Socialist party. So it can be trusted when it asserts:Government sources think that this change [of Mr Obama's plans] can only be due to pressure from neocons and elements of the Jewish lobby, who see the Alliance of Civilisations as a ploy for legitimising IranIn other words, Mr Obama has not even landed yet, and we are straight back to the same old same old. It is true that some prominent conservative commentators had issues with Mr Obama going to the Alliance event in Istanbul. But imagine you were a Spanish "government source" preparing your prime minister's first ever meeting with Mr Obama, especially a few days after Spain annoyed NATO mightily by announcing it was pulling its troops out of Kosovo without telling its allies first. I would hesitate to brief the local press that the man is a patsy of neocons and shadowy Jewish lobbyists.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/charl...outreach_t.cfm

[softy54534]

In other words, Mr Obama has not even landed yet, and we are straight back to the same old same old. It is true that some prominent conservative commentators had issues with Mr Obama going to the Alliance event in Istanbul. But imagine you were a Spanish "government source" preparing your prime minister's first ever meeting with Mr Obama, especially a few days after Spain annoyed NATO mightily by announcing it was pulling its troops out of Kosovo without telling its allies first. I would hesitate to brief the local press that the man is a patsy of neocons and shadowy Jewish lobbyists.

Ah, yes... Seems like electing Obama didn't make the rest of the world fall in love with America all of a sudden, something was promised to us during the Obama campaign. Shocking!

I wonder how the Muslim world starting with Turkey will welcome President Hussein, though.