Naturally, I greatly admire President Obama, and am looking forward to 8 years of wise governance from him.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised to see that he seemed to agree with me on the subject of nuclear weapons.
As I said before, this business of non-proliferation treaties which are respected by some and ignored by others is rather wobbly, and I think it would be better if nobody had those weapons.

I was surprised by what Obama said, and I don't think it represents the view of many people in the US-- It's certainly not the view of people in power in France, or the opposition, and as for the man in the street, I don't know, he probably has other worries.

So this is what Obama said in Cairo:

I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons

(emphasis mine).

Yesterday I happened to listen to Newt Gringrich on CNN, criticizing Barack Obama's policies about the environment. His solution was to drill for more oil in Alaska, so that America would not have to change its lifestyle.

So don't bother with using technology to produce cleaner cars, houses that that heat you you by using less energy, just drill, drill drill the erth dry and we'll all live happily ever after after; or some of us will , for a while longer.


So, although Bush left through the back door, all those people and their idiotic views haven't disappeared. We hear them less now (at least outside the US), but at the first opportuity, they 'll be back....

Disagreement over the entry of Turkey in the European Union.

Obama said in two high profile speeches (one in Europe, one in Cairo) that he strongly supports Turkey's becoming a member of the EU.
If this had been said by George W, there would have been talk about insufferable meddling, but Obama is so respectful and polite, and he says so many other things that we are pleased to hear that no one is bearing a grudge. It's still meddling though, however politely it may be done. As one humourist said on television, what would the US think if Sarkozy gave a high profile speech in Mexico City, urging the US to accept Mexico as the 51st US state? Mind your own damn business, perhaps? (Yes, I know, Mexico hasn't applied).
Also we're not worried because Obama has no power to influence things one way or another. The EU isn't being run with American funds that could be cut for example. So, we like Obama, and if he wants to express an opinion, I suppose he is entitled to.

At some stage in the future we are going to have to make a decision about Turkey and that's going to be a major decision to take. It's been postponed for years, Obama's words are reminding us that we can't pospone forever.

Here is the background from wiki:

]

Turkey's application to accede to the European Union (previously the European Communities) was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since 1963.[2] After the eleven founding members, Turkey was one of the first countries to become a member of the Council of Europe in 1949, and was also a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1961[3] and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1973. The country has also been an associate member of the Western European Union since 1992, and is a part of the "Western Europe" branch of the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) at the United Nations. Turkey signed a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and was officially recognised as a candidate for full membership on 12 December 1999, at the Helsinki summit of the European Council. Negotiations were started on 3 October 2005, and the process is likely to take at least a decade to complete.[4] The membership bid has become a major controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union.

(I'm still having trouble giving links.) If you look at the map of Turkey, it is difficult to argue that it is part of Europe. Historically, it's difficult to defend that position as well. The Ottoman Empire invaded countries in the Balkans, and Greece... But then the Mongols also invaded us.


However, the Turks want to join the EU, and the US are grateful to them for their role in NATO, so this is Obama's way of thanking and helping Turkey.
As one analyst recently said on TV, the US only sees the EU as a vast business partnership, and from that point of view there is no reason not to accept Turkey, but in fact the EU is much more than that. (to be continued)