BARACK Obama performed faultlessly on his European Tour. Eloquent, charming and unruffled, wherever he appeared he demonstrated his immense personal popularity. His implicit message – that America had turned a decisive corner away from the crass ignorance and numbing brutality of the Bush years – was greeted with a palpable sense of relief. America could now, once again, be respected and admired. But there was another aspect of his performance which was more surprising. Behind the beautiful words beautifully delivered, behind the disarming modesty, there was more than hint of steel. Obama appears to know what he wants, and – more importantly – he seems determined to get his way. The world should take note: this is not an American president who can easily be bamboozled or led astray. There is an iron fist in the velvet glove. Obama's speeches – notably the one he delivered in the Turkish parliament to a standing ovation – contained a number of challenges to friend and foe alike. Some of his targets were predictable. As was to be expected, he pledged to ‘disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al-Qaeda'. To their delight, he told the Turks that “I pledge that you will have our support against the terrorist activities of the PKK” – the Kurdish Revolutionary Workers Party, which has been battling, by violent means, to carve an independent Kurdistan out of Anatolia. Obama refrained from threatening Iran, but he sent it a blunt message all the same. Its leaders, he said, “must choose whether they will try to build a weapon or build a better future for their people...The peace of the region will be enhanced,” he said, “if Iran foregoes any nuclear weapons ambitions.” What was perhaps less predictable was the challenge he threw down to some of America's allies – to Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, for example, but also to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, and to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. To Israel he spoke as follows: “Let me be clear: The United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security... that is the goal I will actively pursue as President.” There is no message Netanyahu and his right-wing colleagues would less like to hear, since their political lives have been dedicated to preventing the emergence of a Palestinian state. “Israel does not take orders from Obama,” was the angry response to Obama's speech of Gilad Erdan, Israel's Environment Minister and a Likud member. A clash of wills seems inevitable, especially as George Mitchell, Obama's Special Envoy, is due in the region shortly to pursue his peace mission. Netanyahu's position is unenviable. So great is Israel's dependence on the United States, that it would be rash of him to clash openly with the American President. But if he gives way, and accepts the principle of a two-state solution – something he has never done – his far right partners would quickly abandon him and his government would fall. To Sarkozy and Merkel, Obama had this to say: “Let me be clear: The United States strongly supports Turkey's bid to become a member of the European Union.... Turkish membership would broaden and strengthen Europe's foundation... Turkey is an important part of Europe.” This is not a message Sarkozy is happy to hear, since he has never concealed his visceral hostility to Turkish membership of the EU. Turkey, he has often said, is part of Asia, to be held by Europe at arms' length. Markel, in turn, has insisted that she favours only a ‘special relationship' with Turkey – a long way short of EU membership. Obama often seems to preface his key statements with the words, “Let me be clear...” There was a slight variation of this formula when he came to address one of his main themes – his determination to bring about an end to the conflict between America and the world of Islam. Under George W Bush, the relationship was strained to breaking point by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, by the excesses of the ‘Global War on Terror,' and by America's uncritical support for Israel. This was Obama's message: “Let me say this as clearly as I can: the United States is not at war with Islam and will never be. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject... We seek broad engagement (with the Muslim word) based in mutual interests and mutual respect.” Obama continued: “We will listen carefully, bridge misunderstanding, and seek common ground. We will be respectful, even when we do not agree. And we will convey our deep appreciation for the Muslim faith, which has done so much over so many centuries to shape the world for the better – including my own country. The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country – I know, because I am one of them.” No American President has ever addressed Muslims in this way before. And, of course, none has grown up in the Third World and none before Obama is the product of a mixed race background – which makes him an ideal candidate for the task he has set himself. Barack Obama is a peace-maker. It is one of his most attractive features. He wants peace between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus; peace between Turkey and Armenia, in spite of the memories of what he termed ‘the terrible events of 1915'; peace between Israel and Syria, as well as between Israel and the Palestinians; peace in Iraq, “because the future of Iraq is inseparable from the future of the broader region;” peace, too, between the US and Iran. Clearly, he seemed to say, Turkish mediation would be welcome to help launch the dialogue he hopes to have with the leaders of the Islamic Republic, after 30 years of sterile hostility. There is something of the preacher about Barack Obama as he spreads his balm over the squabbling and feuding Middle East, quelling its anger with soft words. Will his message be heard? What is certain is that words will not be enough. For Middle East conflicts to be resolved once and for all – and not merely ‘managed', as so often in the past – there will come a time when the iron fist will need to emerge from the velvet glove. That will be interesting to watch.
