Assessing Obama's "Report Card" (QATAR)

The first 100 days in office is traditionally a honeymoon period for US presidents.

The marker is an artificial deadline perpetuated by the media to have an excuse to issue a school style "report card" on a new president and may not reflect how the rest of a president's term will unfold.

Nonetheless, it gives the public a chance to get a sense of the president's direction as he selects his team and finds his stride.

Barack Obama has already made his name as one of the most active presidents in US history during this period.

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After the First 100 Days (UAE)

Analysts and experts usually analyze the performance of any newly elected president hundred days after he assumes power. They believe that this period is enough to assess his performance, as it allows him to draw his agenda, choose his aides, and review the proposed dossiers at the domestic and foreign fronts.

Attention is currently shifting, in an unprecedented manner, to President Obama who has completed the first hundred days of his tenure. This is because Obama's personality is exciting and worth analyzing, while his policies influence all the hot files in the world.

At the personal level, the Afro-American president of the United States still enjoys a dominant popularity, supported by his continued appearance in the media and direct communication with millions of Americans who volunteered in his electoral campaign. This popularity is also strengthened by his wife Michele. Together, they constitute the couple that was the most admired and appreciated in the White House ever since late President John Kennedy.

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100 Points of Light (INDIA)

Today marks the end of 100 days since US President Barack Obama’s inauguration. There were many factors about him and his campaign that appealed to most Americans. This included his use of technology, age and oratory skills. Crucially, his promise of change quickly gained popularity at home and abroad. Whether such change has been incorporated into US foreign policy is questionable.

One of the foreign policy highlights of the Obama administration has been the rapid engagement with Muslims and Muslim-dominated States. Policies such as the closure of Guantanamo Bay and Central Intelligence Agency ghost prisons, among others, have been both a sign of good faith and a message of change. Nevertheless, Obama has failed to go the extra mile by refusing to communicate with terrorist groups, despite Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal praising his approach to the West Asia conflict.

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Faltering U.S. Strategy (PAKISTAN)

The new US policymakers led by President Obama must now shelve the messy canvas that was left for them by George W Bush. That canvas is in shreds and beyond repair. In order to redeem the image of the great American nation in the eyes of the world the Obama's administration will have to carve a new legacy for themselves distinctly different from the Bush legacy.

First, A resolution must come forth from all the stakeholders—i.e., the USA, the UN Security Council, NATO, the UK, other major EU and NATO countries, and from Russia, China, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India—that they all resolve to bring peace to southwest Asia by replacing military activity with developmental activity. A unilateral ceasefire should be announced by US and NATO Forces saying that military operations, henceforth, will only be undertaken in self-defence. Simultaneously, the offer of peace talks must be made to the Taliban.

Secondly, The USA must also announce unilaterally that after the preliminary rounds of peace talks it shall relocate its forces in a non-combat posture as a prelude to an eventual and complete military evacuation within a foreseeable time frame.

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GM: Better Late Than Never (CANADA)

General Motors Corp. is wise not to have waited until the 11th hour to deliver a strenuous restructuring plan, as Chrysler LLC has done. General Motors has thus left itself a little more than a month to haggle over and refine the specifics, before the end-of-May deadline imposed by the U.S. government.

Chrysler is up against a similar deadline only a few days away, but the company may have scraped through by reaching agreements with the Canadian Auto Workers and the United Auto Workers.

The current upshot for the two insolvent automobile manufacturers is curious. General Motors is in effect orchestrating its own nationalization by the U.S. government, while Chrysler is submitting to a foreign takeover by Fiat SpA, in obedience to that same government.

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A New Partnership with Jakarta (INDONESIA)

One could say that observing Indonesia-US relations has become more interesting since the Obama administration came into power, particularly after the visit of US state secretary Hillary Clinton to Jakarta in February 2009.

Indonesia-US relations have been and will always be a very important factor for both countries' foreign affairs. As the largest country in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is home to the largest Muslim population in the world and is the fourth most populous country in the world.

At the same time, as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono mentioned during a speech at the London School of Economic and Political Sciences, Indonesia's history has never been an easy one, an epic story of survival against the odds.

However, such a picture of disorder and uncertainty no longer captures the Indonesia of today. Having overcome its trials and tribulations, Indonesia is now a resilient country that plays an active role in many strategic international issues such as climate change, interfaith dialogue, democracy as well as peace and security.

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A Canadian Model? (CANADA)

I grew up during a time when it was said that everything that happened in the United States would eventually come to Canada. For me, the most evocative annual illustration of this was the auto show at Toronto's Exhibition Place, where Detroit's latest contributions to mobility and status were put on display for aspirational Ontarians to drool over. I beamed with pride the day my dad brought home a spanking new 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air two-tone salmon and grey convertible. We were rich - just as rich as my Michigan cousins.

Even beyond the world of commerce, as the tempestuous sixties began to take shape, the idealism of the civil-rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, both obviously products of America and its political culture, spilled over the border. My generation of Canadians, especially those of us who were the first in our families to go to university, joyfully brought to campus ersatz versions of the idealism our American baby boomer cousins displayed.

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King, Queen Return Home From US Visit (JORDAN)

AMMAN (JT) -Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania returned on Sunday following a several-day working visit to the US.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah received a letter yesterday from Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasir Al Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah on means to foster bilateral ties in different fields and developments in the region.

The letter was handed by Kuwaiti Ambassador in Amman Sheikh Feisal Al Hmoud Al Malek Al Sabah to Royal Court Chief Nasser Lozi. In the US, King Abdullah met with US President Barack Obama last Tuesday and with several US administration officials and congressmen through Friday.

Discussions covered means to strengthen ties and efforts to bring about peace in the region. A summit held with Obama during the visit focused on means to bring about a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution.

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A Message Obama Can’t Ignore (EGYPT)

AMMAN: President Barack Obama received a message from the Arab world when he met King Abdallah of Jordan in Washington earlier this month. It was an important message that the American president and his administration should appreciate because of its timing and content.

The message that King Abdallah carried was carefully phrased in Amman on 10 April when six Arab foreign ministers met along with the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. The message outlined the Arab position on the peace process as stated and reiterated in the Arab peace initiative. It also warned against Israel’s policies of expanding settlements and changing the nature of Arab East Jerusalem.

The Arab position is not new. Since the peace initiative was adopted in Beirut in 2002, the Arab side has adhered to it in spite of Israeli vacillation and rejection of its basic tenets.

Obama and his aides heard warnings that unless the two-state solution is implemented soon, the Arab-Israeli conflict will enter a critical phase. Arab leaderships are under pressure to abandon the peace offering if Israel continues to ignore it.

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Ousting a Terrible Enfant (RUSSIA)

There is a good reason the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has not rushed to defend Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is essentially under 24-hour siege by angry protestors. As the opposition demonstrations continue in Tbilisi, with thousands of Georgians expressing their rage against the authoritarian regime, the mood in Washington has shifted.

No longer the poster boy for democracy, Saakashvili is now seen as an irresponsible enfant terrible whose political capital has been squandered by foolish mistakes and a stubborn refusal to deal with Russia.

One of Obama's first priorities will be to repair the damage to U.S.-Russian relations. He is a healer by nature, not a divider. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton clearly see Saakashvili as a liability and an unsavory leftover from the past. Saakashvili should resign from power and return the government back to the Georgian people.

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Critics Unleash the F-word at Obama (CANADA)

The F-word jumped out at me as I read the Savannah Morning News during a recent visit to this historic Deep South city.

It was buried in a column by syndicated conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer, who wrote: "Some find in this descent into large-scale industrial policy a whiff of 1930s-style fascist corporatism."

Krauthammer was writing about the pressure U.S. President Barack Obama put on GM boss Rick Wagoner to quit.

While he offered a tepid disavowal, adding, "I have my doubts" to the comment, I was stunned that a columnist had dared to link an American president to fascism.

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Obama's Torture Policy (IRAN)

Obama authorized the release of graphic “torture memos” that outlined the harsh interrogation tactics the CIA used during the administration of George W. Bush, but getting the abuses behind him is turning out to be more complicated than it may have seemed at first.

The disclosures have divided Obama’s administration; some intelligence officials argued against the release. Also, Obama’s decision to shield from prosecution those who carried out the practices is being challenged by human-rights activists and some Democrats.

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