Syrian Pundits Remain Divided on Obama

Media outlets in Syria continue to debate how the policies of the administration of United States president Barack Obama might affect their country.



“Barack Obama has already proven to be much different to George Bush,” wrote Ahmad Hamad in an April 19 opinion piece in the official newspaper Al-Thawra.



To support this, Hamad pointed to Obama’s recent address to the Turkish parliament in which he declared that the United States “is not and will never be at war with Islam”.



Other actions, however, suggest Obama has quite a bit in common with his predecessor, wrote Eid Abu Seka in an April 9 comment for the state-backed Al-Baath newspaper.



Seka cited Obama’s surprise visit to Baghdad as an example of “what Bush always used to do”.



He also noted the US president’s decision to increase the number of forces in Afghanistan.



An April 9 piece by Esa al-Ayoub in Al-Watan suggested it could take months for Obama’s true intentions to become clear.



“Right now, he’s just sorting through all of Bush’s mistakes,” wrote Ayoub. “It will take time for him to realise where he stands.”