A change at last

US Vice-president Joe Biden was in Munich, recently, at a security conference. According to The Guardian Mr. Biden "set a new tone...offered a new approach". He is, along with the new administration, working to change the international perception of America. The hawk has been grounded and the dove has been given the green light. Hopefully it will be allowed fly.

Last year, in the Chronical, I wrote of the damage the US neo-cons were doing across the world. The appalling way American diplomacy was being used, the outrages Abu Ghraib prison to Guantanamo Bay and the acceptance of torture in the form of 'Water boarding'. Mr. Obama is now beginning to rectify these negative actions. In early 2009 his government is sending out a good message to Russia: co-operation, not coercion.

This effort on the part of the new American leaders must not go unheeded by Russia. It is their duty to meet and match the US position and the proliferation of nuclear armaments must be ended. It is imperative that Vladimir Putin accepts that change, for the better, is needed and that his government understands that a more peaceful world is in all of our hands.

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton echoes her colleagues in the new administration and identifies this positive emphasis, by her government, on world affairs. She told BBC News:”There is a pent-up desire on the part of the United States government under the Obama administration, as well as partners around the world, that we begin to work together to solve a lot of our common problems...on climate change, pandemic prevention, nuclear proliferation, on all of these serious threats and challenges that we face, we are going to assume a leading role again.”

Could this be a new departure by the US? Perhaps. A positive start – let’s hope it continues moving in that direction.
© Ian Callagy 2009