Can Obama win back world opinion in second term?

This is a very interesting analysis regarding Obama presidency during the first and the second term. The article describes different reasons on how the presidence's image has been damaged and the level of approval of US Foreign policies by foreign countries such China, Indonesia, Argentina, and Egypt has decreased by 20%. In some other countries like Canada, Russia, Britain, Poland, France, Turkey, Jordan, and Japan, the decrease in approval of US foreign policy is at around 10%.

The reasons seem to be different. Starting with the NSA policy on tracking and saving American citizens phone calls, use of drones to attack suspected terrorists, spying in other countries, leak of classified information by WikiLeaks and Al-Jazeera.

Considering all of this it is not surprising to see the decrease in world support to Obama. The policy which was approved by the White House and which requires companies to save all the information that they track regarding their consumers has been often categorized by citizens as an invasion of privacy and as an unconstitutional act of the government. The use of drones in other hand, has also been very criticized because of the number of casualties it has caused. Many civilians, who were later confirmed to have had nothing to do with terrorists, have been shot and killed. Also, many people in Pakistan claim to be afraid to leave their houses where drones operate because they might be killed.

Spying in other countries is something that has been internationally condemned and many Prime Ministers and Presidents have protested against them. The latest case with the Brazilian President has caused the cancellation of US-Brazil Presidents meeting and the President of Brazil has also openly addressed the issue during one of the meetings of UN. It should be mentioned that the United States was caught spying on some of the most important allies in Europe such as Germany, France, etc.

While the WikiLeaks have threatened to reveal more information that other medias such as Al-Jazeera can use as a political propaganda. It is still to be seen what the next scandal is going to be in American Foreign Policy.

For the original article please click here.

Fatlum Gashi