Lucia

de Vernai

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November 10, 2008

The World Hails Obama; World Leaders, On the Other Hand . . .

To see how the global community feels about the outcome of the latest presidential election, the British magazine The Economist conducted a “Global Electoral College” survey of 52,000 of its readers around the world. Like in the real election, Obama won by a landslide with the only four countries going to his opponent: Algeria, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq. It may be a relief to many Obama supporters to see the outcome of this global survey. After eight years of self-interested leadership has strained American international relations, a diplomacy-oriented commander-in-chief will be a welcome alternative to the trigger-happy current administration.

Sadly, the sentiments of The Economist subscribers, even if we assume that $200-subscription holders are a representative sample of Albanian and Haitian populations, is hardly an indicator of how the governments of respective countries respond to the results of the election. For example, while 87 percent of Russians may be Obama supporters, the Kremlin has shown less excitement over the outcome of the election.

On November 5, Russia’s new president, Dmitry Medvedev, announced that he is ready to deploy ballistic missiles over Europe. He doesn’t want another Cold War, he said, but is not afraid of one either. Well that’s just excellent.

Then again, the Americans building a missile shield in Poland, which the Russians believe is aimed at them, and the deployment threat from the Russians may be an early warning to the Obama Administration to not build the proposed shield. While not aimed at Obama directly, the promise of Iskander missiles pointed at NATO is hardly a congratulatory fruit basket.

Not to be outdone, Muslim extremists have also sought audience with the president-elect. Several jihadist web sites have posted a 22-minute video tape from the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq demanding the release of prisoners and other sundry demands that have been falling on deaf ears for years. The exciting news came from the Middle Eastern party we are currently interested in, Iran. Unfazed by the failure of California’s Prop A, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Obama on his win, stating: “The great nation of Iran welcomes basic and fair changes in U.S. policies and conducts, especially in the region.”

It’s good to know that the Great Satan in the West is finally getting due respect.

The welcome wagon came to a grinding halt in Italy, however, when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called Obama “young, handsome and tanned,” ironically at a meeting with the Russian president.  Ballistic missiles, racist humor . . . with world leaders, you really do get to pick your poison.

Nevertheless, The Economist results may be indicative of something. Not so much for Obama, but for domestic governments who can gain some insight as to how their constituents feel about world events. In some countries like Cambodia and Montenegro, both of which voted 100 percent for Obama, the answers may be clear. For others, like the almost evenly divided Algeria, it may be a good starting point for forecasting future events.  

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