Launching a landmark visit to long shunned Myanmar, President Barack
Obama said he comes to "extend the hand of friendship" to a nation
moving from persecution to peace. But the praise and personal attention
come with an admonition from Obama: The work of ensuring and protecting
freedoms has just begun.
Obama touched down Monday morning, becoming the first U.S. president
to visit this Asian nation, which is also known as Burma. He will meet
with the nation’s prime minister and democracy advocates, and close with
a speech at the University of Yangon, where he will praise the
country’s progress toward democracy but urge further reforms.
"Instead of being repressed, the right of people to assemble together
must now be fully respected," the president said in speech excerpts
released by the White House. "Instead of being stifled, the veil of
media censorship must continue to be lifted. As you take these steps,
you can draw on your progress."
Obama’s visit was to last just six hours, but it carries significant
symbolism, reflecting a remarkable turnaround in the countries’
relationship.
Hundreds of children and young people dressed in white shirts and
green sarongs, many of them wearing traditional cheek makeup smears and
holding small U.S. flags, lined both sides of the road for more than
half a mile heading out of the airport.
Obama will meet separately in Myanmar with Prime Minister Thein Sein,
who has orchestrated much of his country’s recent reforms. The
president will also meet with longtime Myanmar democracy activist Aung
San Suu Kyi in the home where she spent years under house arrest.
Obama has rewarded Myanmar’s rapid adoption of democratic reforms by
lifting some economic penalties. The president has appointed a permanent
ambassador to the country, and pledged greater investment if Myanmar
continues to progress following a half-century of military rule.
In his speech, Obama recalls a promise he made upon taking office —
that the United States would extend a hand if those nations that ruled
in fear unclenched their fists.
"Today, I have come to keep my promise, and extend the hand of
friendship," he said. "The flickers of progress that we have seen must
not be extinguished. They must become a shining North Star for all this
nation’s people."
Some human rights groups say Myanmar’s government, which continues to
hold hundreds of political prisoners and is struggling to contain
ethnic violence, hasn’t done enough to earn a personal visit from Obama.
The president said from Thailand on Sunday that his visit is not an
endorsement of the government in Myanmar, but an acknowledgment that
dramatic progress is underway and it deserves a global spotlight.
The president’s Asia tour also marks his formal return to the world
stage after months mired in a bruising re-election campaign. For his
first postelection trip, he tellingly settled on Asia, a region he has
deemed the region as crucial to U.S. prosperity and security.
Aides say Asia will factor heavily in Obama’s second term as the U.S.
seeks to expand its influence in an attempt to counter China.
China’s rise is also at play in Myanmar, which long has aligned
itself with Beijing. But some in Myanmar fear that China is taking
advantage of its wealth of natural resources, so the country is looking
for other partners to help build its nascent economy.
Even as Obama turned his sights on Asia, widening violence in the Middle East competed for his attention.
Obama told reporters Sunday that
Israel
had the right to defend itself against missile attacks from Gaza. But
he urged Israel not to launch a ground assault in Gaza, saying it would
put Israeli soldiers, as well as Palestinian citizens, at greater risk
and hamper an already vexing peace process.
The
U.S. and Britain on Sunday warned about the risks of Israel expanding
its air assault on the Gaza Strip into a ground war, while vigorously
defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket
attacks.
The remarks by President Barack Obama and Britain Foreign
Secretary William Hague were part of a diplomatic balancing act by the
West as it desperately seeks an end to the escalating violence without
alienating its closest ally in the region.
"Israel has every right
to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,"
Obama said at a news conference in Bangkok at the start of a
three-nation visit to Asia.
"If that can be accomplished without a
ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," Obama
said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also
preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're
much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."
The
president spoke shortly before an Israeli airstrike leveled a home in a
residential neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday. Among the 11 dead were
four small children and five women, including an 81-year-old,
Palestinian medical officials said. The attack was the single deadliest
incident of the five-day-old Israeli operation.
A similar scene
unfolded elsewhere in the city early today, when an airstrike leveled
two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and two
adults and injuring 42 people, said Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra.
Rescue workers were frantically searching for 12 to 15 members of the Azzam family under the rubble.
In
all, 81 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed and 720
have been wounded. Three Israeli civilians have died from Palestinian
rocket fire, and dozens have been wounded..
The Israeli military
said the target of Sunday's attack was a top rocket mastermind of the
Islamic Jihad militant group. The claim could not be verified, and the
attack raised speculation that Israel could face increased international
pressure if the civilian death toll continued to rise.
Hague said
Hamas, Gaza's militant ruler, "bears principal responsibility" for
initiating the violence and must stop all rocket attacks on Israel. But
Hague also made clear the diplomatic risks of an Israeli escalation.
"A
ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community
to sympathize with or support, including the United Kingdom," he said.
Israeli
officials say the airstrikes are aimed at ending months of rocket fire
out of the Hamas-ruled territory. Israel began the offensive with an
airstrike that killed Hamas' military chief, and since then has targeted
suspected rocket launchers and storage sites.
The Mideast ally is
now at a crossroads: launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led
truce efforts. But with Israel and Hamas far apart on any terms of
cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the
start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, "The Israeli military is prepared
to significantly expand the operation."
The crisis threatened to
overshadow Obama's trip to Asia, which includes stops in Myanmar and
Cambodia as part of a broader effort to expand the U.S. economic and
military presence in a region long dominated by China.
So far, the U.S. has thrown its weight behind Israel, and Obama has called on Egypt and Turkey to intervene on Israel's behalf.
Obama
said he has told Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, and Turkey's prime
minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that "those who champion the cause of
the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of
the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any
kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be
pushed off way into the future."
Obama also pointed to the next 48 hours "to see what kind of progress we can make."
Members
of the U.S. Congress, which overwhelmingly supports Israel, criticized
Egypt and Turkey for not doing enough to intervene. They said all eyes
were on Morsi.
On ABC's "This Week," Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of
the Armed Services Committee, called Egypt's response to the crisis
"pretty weak" so far. "I think that they're going to have to take some
very serious steps diplomatically to make it clear to Hamas that they're
going to lose support in the Arab world if they continue these rocket
attacks on Israel," said Levin, D-Detroit.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/NATION/211190332#ixzz2Cf9n3mZ8
The
U.S. and Britain on Sunday warned about the risks of Israel expanding
its air assault on the Gaza Strip into a ground war, while vigorously
defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket
attacks.
The remarks by President Barack Obama and Britain Foreign
Secretary William Hague were part of a diplomatic balancing act by the
West as it desperately seeks an end to the escalating violence without
alienating its closest ally in the region.
"Israel has every right
to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,"
Obama said at a news conference in Bangkok at the start of a
three-nation visit to Asia.
"If that can be accomplished without a
ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," Obama
said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also
preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're
much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."
The
president spoke shortly before an Israeli airstrike leveled a home in a
residential neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday. Among the 11 dead were
four small children and five women, including an 81-year-old,
Palestinian medical officials said. The attack was the single deadliest
incident of the five-day-old Israeli operation.
A similar scene
unfolded elsewhere in the city early today, when an airstrike leveled
two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and two
adults and injuring 42 people, said Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra.
Rescue workers were frantically searching for 12 to 15 members of the Azzam family under the rubble.
In
all, 81 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed and 720
have been wounded. Three Israeli civilians have died from Palestinian
rocket fire, and dozens have been wounded..
The Israeli military
said the target of Sunday's attack was a top rocket mastermind of the
Islamic Jihad militant group. The claim could not be verified, and the
attack raised speculation that Israel could face increased international
pressure if the civilian death toll continued to rise.
Hague said
Hamas, Gaza's militant ruler, "bears principal responsibility" for
initiating the violence and must stop all rocket attacks on Israel. But
Hague also made clear the diplomatic risks of an Israeli escalation.
"A
ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community
to sympathize with or support, including the United Kingdom," he said.
Israeli
officials say the airstrikes are aimed at ending months of rocket fire
out of the Hamas-ruled territory. Israel began the offensive with an
airstrike that killed Hamas' military chief, and since then has targeted
suspected rocket launchers and storage sites.
The Mideast ally is
now at a crossroads: launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led
truce efforts. But with Israel and Hamas far apart on any terms of
cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the
start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, "The Israeli military is prepared
to significantly expand the operation."
The crisis threatened to
overshadow Obama's trip to Asia, which includes stops in Myanmar and
Cambodia as part of a broader effort to expand the U.S. economic and
military presence in a region long dominated by China.
So far, the U.S. has thrown its weight behind Israel, and Obama has called on Egypt and Turkey to intervene on Israel's behalf.
Obama
said he has told Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, and Turkey's prime
minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that "those who champion the cause of
the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of
the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any
kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be
pushed off way into the future."
Obama also pointed to the next 48 hours "to see what kind of progress we can make."
Members
of the U.S. Congress, which overwhelmingly supports Israel, criticized
Egypt and Turkey for not doing enough to intervene. They said all eyes
were on Morsi.
On ABC's "This Week," Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of
the Armed Services Committee, called Egypt's response to the crisis
"pretty weak" so far. "I think that they're going to have to take some
very serious steps diplomatically to make it clear to Hamas that they're
going to lose support in the Arab world if they continue these rocket
attacks on Israel," said Levin, D-Detroit.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/NATION/211190332#ixzz2Cf9n3mZ8
