In his first year in office, Obama has generated tremendous international goodwill towards the United States. Some of it stems from the historic fact of his election as the first American leader of African descent. More of it stems from his repositioning the country from its go-it-alone attitude towards the international community towards a position of working with countries worldwide to identify and address issues of common concern.
Also contributing to the US' improved international reputation is the Obama administration's willingness to consider engaging both friends and foes to resolve international conflicts. While some are critical of this approach, it has produced some tangible progress, even if it has yet to produce true breakthroughs.
One area where Obama's diplomatic approach has produced some progress is in improving relations between Turkey and Armenia. Longstanding Armenian grievances stemming from the forced deportation and execution of some two million Armenians by Ottoman authorities in 1915, exacerbated by the Turkish government's refusal to acknowledge the event as an act of genocide, have kept relations between the two neighbors frosty for decades, but this past year, the intercession of the Obama administration has produced an agreement that will open the border between the two countries for the first time since Armenia gained independence from the Soviet Union and appoint an international commission of Turkish and Armenian scholars to study the Armenian massacre. While activists in the Armenian diaspora faulted Obama for failing to use the word "genocide" in referring to the massacre, they have credited him for at least getting the Turks to move a little on the issue.
Another area where Obama's diplomatic approach may yet bear fruit is in Iran, where the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been vacillating on the issue of suspending its suspected nuclear weapons program. Here critics have been more vocal over the administration's reluctance to take advantage of political instability in the wake of a presidential election many Iranians still consider stolen and come down solidly on the side of pro-liberalization forces in Iran, but the administration's efforts thus far have gotten traditional Iranian friends Russia and China to lean harder on Ahmadinejad to accept Western demands.
How all this translates into improved perceptions of the United States as a place to visit, live and do business in remains something of a mystery, and even the sponsors of the Country Brand Index survey, which the US topped for the first time ever this year, have publicly wondered whether this is a long-term trend or a momentary phenomenon. But the improvement is real all the same, and it presents an opportunity for the United States to capitalize on its good fortune.
Written by Sandy Smith
Posted November 6th, 2009 by Sandy Smith
