tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2492007072400883438.post1483652800400548699..comments2023-10-18T03:22:50.455-07:00Comments on truthjihad.com blog: My Letter to Obama: "Build a Mega-Mosque ON Ground Zero to Atone for 9/11 Inside job!"Kevin Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674471854209420488noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2492007072400883438.post-33031754366686836762010-08-08T11:00:29.993-07:002010-08-08T11:00:29.993-07:00Asia Times: Iran gains as Arabs' Obama hopes s...Asia Times: Iran gains as Arabs' Obama hopes sink<br /><br />http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LH07Ak02.html<br /><br />By Jim Lobe<br /><br />Aug 7, 2010<br /><br />WASHINGTON - United States President Barack Obama has suffered a sharp drop in popularity in the Arab world over the past year, and Iran may be reaping the benefits, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries...<br /><br />Only 20% of respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) now view the US president positively, compared to 45% who did so in the spring of 2009, according to the 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll conducted by Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution and the Zogby International polling firm. <br /><br />Moreover, negative views of Obama have skyrocketed - from 23% to 62% - since the last poll was conducted in April-May 2009. The new findings were based on interviews with nearly 4,000 adults in the six countries between June 29 and July 20 this year.<br /><br />When respondents were asked to name the world leader they admired most, Obama's standing was less than 1%. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was cited most often (20%), followed by last year's top pick, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (13%), and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad (12%). <br /><br />Erdogan's rapid rise to the top - he was cited by only 4% last year and never mentioned in the 2008 survey - was due to his outspoken denunciation of the 2008-9 Gaza war waged by Israel and the Turkish role in the aid flotilla to Gaza that was intercepted by Israeli commandos at the end of May, Telhami noted. <br /><br />Much of the disillusionment with Obama appears related to his failure to make progress in achieving a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, according to Telhami, who has conducted eight previous surveys of Arab opinion since 2000. <br /><br />Asked what policies pursued by the Obama administration they were most disappointed with, 61% of respondents in the new poll identified the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. That was more than twice the percentage of the next-most-cited example, Washington's Iraq policy (27%). <br /><br />"This is the prism through which Arabs view the Untied States," Telhami said, referring to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. <br /><br />Iran appears to have benefited, at least indirectly, from Arab disillusionment with Obama, the poll results suggested. <br /><br />While a majority of respondents (55%) said they believed Tehran's nuclear program was aimed at developing weapons - a charge denied by Iran - nearly four out of five respondents (77%) said the country had the right to pursue the program - a whopping increase of 24% since last year.<br /><br />Support for the program was strongest by far in Egypt and Morocco and weakest in the UAE, where a strong majority said Iran should be pressured to halt it. <br /><br />Conversely, only 20% of respondents said they favored applying international pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program. That was down from the 40% who took that position one year ago.<br /><br />"Overall, there is very little support here for the notion that Arabs are secretly yearning for the US to attack Iran," wrote Marc Lynch, a Middle East expert at George Washington University, whose blog on foreignpolicy.com has a wide readership.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com