International reactions to the 2008 Presidential Election
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The Jerusalem Post:
Regarding concern in Israel about an Obama presidency, [longtime Obama friend and former Congressman Abner] Mikva said that 'Barack will be the first Jewish president in the US.'
'He has a yiddeshe nishama,' [a 'Jewish soul'] Mikva said. 'He is committed to Israel and its security concerns and understands that democratization does not happen by force but by example, and there is no better example in the Middle East than Israel.'
Haaretz:
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Israel hoped the president-elect would maintain the U.S. friendship with Israel and commitment to peace talks. 'Israel expects the close strategic cooperation with the new administration, president and Congress will continue along with the continued strengthening of the special and unshakeable special relationship between the two countries.'"
Lebanon
The Daily Star:
The deeper hurtful reality this election campaign has revealed is that Arabs and Muslims are the new Jews and blacks in the US, because they are treated today in the same way that Jews and blacks (then called negroes) were treated in the early-mid-20th century…The new president will inherit this world where racism against Arabs-Muslims is the last permissible form of wholesale slander and denigration."
al-Akhbar:
The black Kennedy to the White House.
Canada
The Globe and Mail:
[T]oday, Ottawa will make its own transition from George W. Bush's security agenda to Barack Obama's economic agenda. The changing times mean Canada must focus on finding shelter from a wave of protectionism expected in Congress, persuading Washington's new power brokers that U.S. and Canadian jobs are linked, and possibly, selling Canada as a path to reducing U.S. dependency on Middle East and Venezuelan oil, analysts say."
Germany
Spiegel Online:
Obama is America's offer of reconciliation after all those years of premeditated political provocation, of military action not backed by international law, of America's claim to be entitled to military pre-emptive strikes. The Bush doctrine was scrapped last night. The unilateralist stance of the Western superpower is likely to be over for now."
Britain
The Times of London:
Yesterday’s results were head-spinning stuff… The country regarded loftily by many Europeans as hopelessly racist and irredeemably right wing has voted to be ruled by a black man, at the head of a party committed to economic redistribution and a foreign policy rooted in peaceful diplomatic engagement."
The Telegraph:
José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, expressed hopes that the incoming Democrat President Elect will reverse the policy of George W Bush by uniting with the EU to fight global warming. 'This is a turning point for the United States. It may also be a turning point for the world,' he said."
France
Le Figaro:
The World Waits For Obama's 'Change': The victory of Barack Obama arouses hope and attention in the four corners of the globe, even in countries usually hostile to Washington"
Le Monde:
Barack Obama's victory brings a new American dream"
Australia
The Australian:
Obama’s New Dawn: President-elect to reshape America"
Venezuela
Ultimas Noticias:
A Black in the White House"
Click to viewthe 4 train in NYC :)
International
Chi-town
Obama, Japan!
Times Square, NYC
Union Square, NYC
Australia
Article on the global perspective of Obama's election...
Source and source!
I also want to share this from a BBC article:
ANONYMOUS, CHINA
American elections have shaken me to the core.
I have always thought the Chinese political system is the best in the world, but it is not so.
We are deprived of our sacred rights, rule of law and human rights are trampled upon and to have a democratic system like the one in the USA would be more difficult than reaching the sky.
But we long to achieve freedom and democracy, which is a difficult task for us young people in China. (Sent from a mobile phoneto BBC China.com)
MORE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7710949.stm
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1105/worldreaction.html