Timid Obama

Obama It's hard to say if Obama's trip to China has achieved some results. The American president has reached a compromise with the Asian nation on climate change, but in practice that excludes binding decisions at the summit in Copenhagen in December. He demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, but said almost nothing to the Chinese government about the many imprisoned dissidents and repression of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang.

For many the soft attitude of his administration with the Chinese government is a mistake because it allows China to continue undisturbed its internal repression and to maintain its continued support for authoritarian regimes like Burma, Vietnam, North Korea and others. We're not talking about abstract concepts, we speak of people being imprisoned and killed without committing any crime, just because they have criticized the ruling party or have fought for freedom.
Even the "compromise" about the environment is not seen as positive, especially in Europe where the EU was willing to reach a much more ambitious agreement at the summit in Copenhagen, which would have ensured the cut of half the carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. But Obama is in trouble because its environmental laws will not be approved in the U.S. Congress before next year, the Republicans filibuster and probably he doesn't want to find himself in the situation of Al Gore post-Kyoto, with an agreement signed but not ratified by the Congress.
Besides, China also has a growing economic power on the United States, because it has acquired most of the U.S. public debt. Wanting to be hopeful, one could say that a patient attitude toward China, and about the climate could still get in a few years much more than what have achieved so far all previous U.S. and European governments. But this situation is also worrying for the future, because if the economic power of China continues to grow without significant improvements in democracy we will have to live with an authoritarian superpower that will have great influence on much of the world. And if we'll not sign within one or two years a binding agreement to stop climate change, the future of humanity could be jeopardized. Also here is not about abstract concepts, it means floods, disasters, rising sea levels.
Bad news too about fighting world hunger, since the major economic powers have deserted the FAO summit which begins tomorrow in Rome, so that the Director-General Jacques Diouf has begun a hunger strike. Something positive only in the concrete possibility that the U.S. and Russia will arrive in the coming days to sign a significant agreement on the limitation of nuclear weapons.
Some say that Obama is much better to talk than to do. The audacity of hope of his speeches correspond to a great reluctance in acting and endless compromises with the various souls of his party, with opposition demands and with the various obscure economic, political and military lobbies infesting Washington. It's been only a year after his election and it is still early to tell, but certainly if on the environmental point of view there will be no significant progress over the next three years, and if China will continue to not give the slightest sign of openness on human rights, as regards the future of the world the Obama presidency is likely to become a total failure.