Advice for Obama from 10 Leading Global Pundits

This is a Newsweek Special with an article of Fareed Zakaria, reflecting his impressions and view from his interview with Barack Obama . I agree with Fareed nearly completely. And I see signs in Baracks language, global views and appearences that a basic understanding of stratified democracy is emerging in him.

And--....his best advisors are still to come later....

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC

What the World Thinks

A survey of world citizens' opinion of John McCain vs. Barack Obama and a look at the major issues in the countries being visited by the Democratic candidate. Plus: Match the international pundit with what he said about Obama in an interactive game.

 Obama Abroad.
 
An Emerging World View. Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria writes that in the realm of foreign policy, Barack Obama has been made out to be a softheaded idealist. John McCain and his campaign, conservative columnists and right-wing bloggers all paint a picture of a liberal dreamer who wishes away the world's dangers. Zakaria disagrees. "Over the course of the campaign ... Obama has elaborated more and more the ideas that would undergird his foreign policy as president," he writes.
 
"What emerges is a world view that is far from that of a typical liberal, much closer to that of a traditional realist. It is interesting to note that, at least in terms of the historical schools of foreign policy, Obama seems to be the cool conservative and McCain the exuberant idealist." Zakaria adds that McCain is a pessimist about the world, "seeing it as a dark, dangerous place where, without the constant and vigorous application of American force, evil will triumph." To Obama "countries like Iran and North Korea are holdouts against the tide of history. America's job is to push these progressive forces forward, using soft power more than hard, and to try to get the world's major powers to solve the world's major problems."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/147763

As part of the cover package, ten international writers, professors and government officials contributed essays on how their country would view an Obama presidency.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/147678
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- Timothy Garton Ash, a professor of European studies at Oxford University, writes that the good news from Britain is that they're all Obamamaniacs now. But enthusiasm for Obama is "equaled by skepticism about his country. That means there's a lot of ground for him to make up."

-- Dominique Moisi, senior adviser to the French Institute of International Relations, writes that Obama should know how much he is loved in France. (85 percent of Frenchmen would vote for him, according to one poll). "You not only incarnate the best of America but give us hope for the full integration of our own black and Arab citizens."

-- Josef Joffe, publisher-editor of Die Zeit in Hamburg, writes that Obama can change the tune of U.S. foreign policy. "But he can't get rid of the brass and the kettledrums, so when he visits, he might gently prepare Berlin for the dissonances to come."

-- Tom Segev, Israeli historian and a columnist for Haaretz writes, that when Obama arrives in Israel, he'll find Israelis are as eager for change as his supporters at home. And that most Israelis "feel deeply dependent on America and will not risk major policy differences with the United States. That means Obama may find them open to a new, more rational approach to the Middle East conflicts."

-- Marwan Muasher, the former foreign minister of Jordan and author of "The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation," writes that Obama, while in the Middle East, should begin a candid dialogue and to learn about the area's aspirations. "As you rightly articulated, the United States' approach to the Middle East needs to be reoriented."
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- Ali Alawi, Iraq's minister of Finance from 2005-06 and author of "The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace," writes, "Obama should realize that the picture of Iraq he'll get from meetings with military commanders, U.S. diplomats and senior Iraqi leaders will be incomplete, offering him only a glimpse of the country's true conditions."

-- Ashraf Ghani, the former Finance minister of Afghanistan and current chairman of the Institute of State Effectiveness, writes that Washington and Obama should recognize that Afghanis are "frustrated by the waste and lack of transparency in the international aid system ... Growing violence, especially civilian casualties (many inflicted by international forces) are making us feel less secure. So are rising food prices and a youth-unemployment rate of 40 to 60 percent."

-- Michael Anti, a Chinese political blogger and Nieman Fellow at Harvard, writes that the one key fact Obama should remember is "trade is now central to the U.S.-Chinese relationship. China needs more trade-not just for its economy or its government, but for the sake of its civil society as well."
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Shekar Gupta, editor in chief of The Indian Express, writes that the first thing Obama needs to know about India is that he doesn't need to fix America's battered image there-and it is a big reason he should have included India in his travel plans.
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- Luis Fernando Verissimo, a Brazilian journalist and author, writes that if Obama came to Brazil-and he should-they would impress him with their bigness in everything. "We might even cause him to ponder just what all this bigness and ambition means for the United States."

Mediterranean Bridge Building. Special Correspondent Eric Pape reports on French President Nicolas Sarkozy's recent actions between France and Israel. Until very recently, France and Israel have had bitterly difficult relations. But Sarkozy has changed all that by very publicly embracing the Jewish state. He takes every opportunity to reassure Israel, whether on Iran's nuclear ambitions or by calling talk of a politique arabe "nonsense," as he did in his 2006 political book "Testimony." Last month Sarkozy lauded the universal values of Judaism in a speech before the Israeli Knesset. Sarkozy used the occasion to tell Israel: "The French people will always be [there] when your existence is threatened."