Eyes and Ears: Obama’s Last Year of Foreign Visits

This month, President Barack Obama completes his seventh year in office and will stay until January 2017 when his final year ends. A review of his plans has revealed that he will spend more of his time outside of the U.S., as foreign politics are easier than domestic politics, and there is opposition to his every decision from the Republican majority in Congress.

Foreign politics followed President Obama to Hawaii where he was spending a Western holiday with his family when six American soldiers were killed in an attack on the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. There are those who want to return American troops to Afghanistan for a new war, but Obama has promised to reduce the number of remaining American soldiers there to 5,500 at the end of this year. However, the number was raised to 9,800 due to military developments, according to a statement made by Gen. John Campbell.

The following program was developed for President Obama, which must be amended and increased in other countries he will visit before he leaves the White House:

- The president will host a group of Southeast Asian countries in California on the Feb. 15 and Feb. 16;
- He will visit Latin America in March of this year, a trip which will include a visit to Cuba after an improvement in relations with the country, as well as Colombia, where the government and rebels have reached a peace agreement;
- In April, President Obama will visit Germany and meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Hannover and attend the world’s largest exhibit of industrial technology;
- In the summer, President Obama will visit Poland to participate in a NATO conference;
- In November, President Obama will visit Peru to attend an Asia-Pacific economic cooperation meeting. It is expected that the leadership of Argentina will weaken after the election of President Mauricio Macri, which will improve relations with the United States.

I stop here to stay that I have not read any available references to a visit by President Obama to a state in the Middle East; however, all references say that the defeat of the alleged Islamic State will be at the top of foreign interests, and that the president may stop in a given country without prior notice.

Some of the references say that the final destruction of the Islamic State group this year is not possible, but the Obama administration may succeed in weakening it to the point that it is no longer in control of large areas in Iraq and Syria. Indeed, no politician in the United States wants boots on the ground, which means sending American soldiers to fight, with the exception of the enemies of Arabs and Muslims, John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

All of the foregoing does not signify success, but if Obama is able to implement the nuclear deal with Iran in the coming months, follow up on the climate agreement signed by the world countries in Paris, normalize relations with Cuba without the veto of Congress, implement the 12-nation Pacific trade treaty, and weaken the Islamic State group, there will be no return of danger to the region or the world. Additionally, he may further restrict the limits regarding Americans carrying guns, which I do not think will work despite his tears as he spoke on the topic in front of the TV cameras.

To me, there is no logical reason to expect the failure of Obama’s implementation of these projects; however, he needs to achieve clear and tangible success in the Middle East, particularly in Syria and Iraq, in order to consider his administration successful.

The problem here is that the president will find that most of the congressional opposition toward him is about the Middle East, wherein Congress implemented an Israeli policy that does not serve any American interest.

All I can say today is wait and see.