Substitute Al-Othman leads Al-Qadsiah to a crucial victory against Al-Khaleej    Ronaldo's double powers Al-Nassr to a 2-0 victory over Damac    Minister Al-Samaani inaugurates technical office to enhance judicial quality in Qassim    Riyadh Metro ticket prices starts at SR4    Saudi Arabia's R&D expenditure hits SR22.61 billion in 2023    Saudi Arabia, Comoros strengthen economic ties with new MoU    Saudi Arabia retains its seat on OPCW Executive Council    Saudi Transport Authority cracks down on foreign trucks violating rules    Saudi Arabia receives extradited citizen wanted for corruption crimes from Russia    Ukraine fights to keep the lights on as Russia hammers power plants    Indian airlines hit by nearly 1,000 hoax bomb threats    Sweden asks China to cooperate over severed cables    Childcare worker who abused more than 60 girls jailed for life    K-Pop group NewJeans split from agency in mistreatment row    Defending the Truth: Saudi Arabia and the 2034 World Cup    Culture minister visits Diriyah Art Futures    GCC Preparatory Ministerial Meeting discusses developments in Gaza and Lebanon    Al Taawoun seals AFC Champions League Two knockout spot with 2-1 win over Al Khaldiya    Best-selling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dies    Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



G-8 and beyond: The world according to Obama
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 19 - 06 - 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, British Prime Minister David Cameron, center, and US President Barack Obama interact on Tuesday in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. — AP



ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland — Laden with foreign challenges, President Barack Obama is welcoming Iran's election results, taking the temperature of China's new leader and acknowledging that nations routinely spy on each other, all the while navigating difficult terrain with allies and Russia over Syria.
For Obama, who would much rather be influencing domestic policy at this point in his second term, the issues currently defining his presidency center on his international relations and, by extension, how he deals with threats to US security.
In a wide ranging PBS interview with Charlie Rose and in recent days of peripatetic travel, Obama has been in the middle of global developments that illustrate both the extent and the limits of his ability to influence outcomes beyond the US borders.
From his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California a week ago to his participation in the summit of the Group of Eight industrialized economies to Wednesday's visit to Berlin, Obama has been both setting a US imprint as well as reacting to the imprints of others.
The G-8 summit unfolded in the midst of awkward revelations that the British eavesdropping agency GCHQ tapped into the communications of foreign diplomats during the 2009 Group of 20 summit in London, including those of Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev.
That report, in the British newspaper The Guardian, came on the heels of reports about the high-tech surveillance methods and record-gathering employed by the National Security Agency in the United States.
While the disclosures added a layer of controversy to the summit, US officials said heads of state at a summit like the G-8 are perfectly aware that such spying goes on.
“Every country in the world, large and small, engages in intelligence gathering,” Obama said in the PBS interview, which was taped Sunday before the Guardian revelations.
“And that is an occasional source of tension, but it's generally practiced within bounds.”
That unsurprising assertion was meant to distinguish between such international spying and the kind of hacking that the US says the Chinese perpetrate against US corporations.
“There is a big difference between China wanting to figure out how can they find out what my talking points are when I'm meeting with the Japanese, which is standard fare, and we try to prevent them from penetrating that, and they try to get that information,” he said.
“There's a big difference between that and a hacker directly connected with the Chinese government or the Chinese military breaking into Apple's software systems to see if they can obtain the designs for the latest Apple product. That's theft.”
It was a remarkably direct accusation coming just a week after Obama met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a desert resort in California.
“We had a very blunt conversation about cybersecurity,” Obama said of his talks with Xi.
Obama went further, describing Xi as a leader who “has consolidated his position fairly rapidly inside of China” and who “is younger and more forceful and more robust and more confident, perhaps, than some leaders in the past.”
In the interview he prodded the Chinese to accept the responsibility that comes with being a major economic power while approving of China's efforts to confront North Korean belligerence.
US officials busy with Syria at the G-8 in Northern Ireland said they were reassured by Iran's election of the relatively moderate cleric Hasan Rowhani as president, not so much because they expect a swift change in policy but because it reflects a desire by the country's people to change course.
“The Iranian people rebuffed the hardliners and the clerics in the election who were counseling no compromise on anything any time anywhere,” Obama said on PBS.
“Now, Mr. Rowhani, who won the election, I think indicated his interest in shifting how Iran approaches many of these international questions, but I think we understand that under their system the supreme leader will be making a lot of decisions.”
At the G-8, Obama has been forced to defend his decision to arm Syrian rebels, creating a direct confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been providing military support to the Bashar Al-Assad regime. — AP


Clic here to read the story from its source.