Thursday 6 November 2008

Hope from across the pond?

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States is a great moment for America and the world – a time of celebration and tears. .... We have restored hope and made possible the restoration of America’s credibility in the world.
writes David Krieger in President-elect Obama and a World Free of Nuclear Weapons

concluding:
For the first time since Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev met at the Reykjavik, Iceland Summit in 1986 and came close to reaching an agreement on abolishing nuclear weapons, the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons appears to be within the realm of possibility. This will require presidential leadership, and the President-elect will need support and encouragement from the American people and from people throughout the world.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) meanwhile, with many other organisations, has issued a

"... call on the next U.S. President and administration to engage in a new foreign policy based on these five core principles. 1. Our nation should invest in peace. 2. Strengthen the civilian agencies that work on peace and development issues. 3. Give diplomacy a chance. 4. Be a part of global peacebuilding efforts. 5. Create justice through good development and trade policies."
in its Roadmap for Peace