The London-based Al Quds al Arabi daily carried an opinion piece by Omar Abdul Hadi who said that under Obama's administration, "Washington sent new messages to the four corners of the world, especially to our Arab and Islamic world which saw the emergence of the most important message of all with Obama's address to Iran, as a government and a people, on Nowruz and his offer to engage in open dialogue without any prior conditions."
The American President Barack Obama inherited a heavy burden, the author added, "that was left behind by a reckless former president who only brought on defeat, disappointment and massive financial losses". "We must recognise that the United States' current weakness has forced it to change its imperialistic behaviour, while the changes which are currently affecting this American behaviour might mark the beginning of drastic turns and final reconciliations with our region and the entire world. In other words, the world is heading toward safer shores due to the emergence of multiple poles which will enable countries to enjoy their own decision-making powers and true autonomy."
Syria's Al Watan daily carried an opinion piece by Dr Ibrahim Darraji who wrote that the statements of the new Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman "in which he bluntly announced his rejection of negotiations, the peaceful settlement process and the commitments of the Annapolis conference - which were meagre in the first place - raised angry reactions in the Arab world."
Nevertheless, Avigdor Lieberman "became the most qualified to carry the Israeli diplomatic banner and honestly convey its convictions. This is also why, as Arabs, we should be pleased with his appointment, considering that he will reveal Israel's true racist face to the whole world without any deceit. "We have long suffered from the duality between Israeli rhetoric and Israel's political behaviour, considering that it always spoke of peace and the necessity to engage in negotiations at a time when it was practically thwarting any chance for a real, just and comprehensive peace through settlements and murder. Now that Lieberman has put forward a clear and unjustifiable political conviction, the Arabs should use this position to expose Israeli political and media behaviour and reveal which side truly hindered the peace process."
Nahid Hatr, a regular Jordanian columnist for Lebanon's Al Akhbar, wrote: "Under the influence of three complementary factors, the United States is headed towards a strategic withdrawal, not only from Iraq, but from the whole Middle East. These factors are: the pressures of the financial crisis which is still a time-bomb that could topple all the rescue plans; the pressures of the redistribution of power in the global financial and economic system with Europe, but also with China, Russia, India, and Brazil; and the pressures of redefining the security threat to the interests of the United States from a political threat to a social threat that menaces the whole global capitalist system.
"The enemy is no longer a network of 'terrorist' cells or a group of 'rogue' countries, but social revolutions that are starting to loom over the whole world. The American pressures, and the means through which they are brought to bear on the Arab regimes, are at their weakest yet and thus are no longer useful for justifying the policies that are being used by regimes which have always pointed to the American threat. This forces us to think of the internal factors that determine the policies of our regimes."
Issa al Halyan, a regular columnist for the Saudi daily Okaz, wrote about media reaction to a report that the General Auditing Bureau found waste exceeding tens of billions of dollars among government agencies. "The mandate of the General Auditing Bureau, as outlined in the official statements that head its statutes, is wide and loose but the mechanisms and powers allowed it to implement this mandate are too weak and helpless.
"The reality is that anyone can see the difficulties and obstacles that hinder the working of the General Auditing Bureau and other supervisory and comptroller institutions. These difficulties include a lack of skilled professionals to fulfil the duties that are necessary for this role and a lack of co-operation from official institutions who resort to all sorts of tricks like hiding or destroying crucial information and financial documents, as well as many other obstacles. Thus we can see why the role of these supervisory bodies is still insufficient and has no impact whatsoever: because they cannot do anything with the resources available to them." * Digest compiled by www.mideastwire.com
