O secretário do Tesouro dos EUA, Henry Paulson, disse nesta quarta-feira que esboçou um projeto de lei como forma de conceder fundos de emergência para a indústria de automóveis. Por enquanto, ele disse que o programa de socorro do Tesouro de US$ 700 bilhões foi concebido para as firmas financeiras, não companhias de automóveis.Ele observou que o Congresso recentemente aprovou uma legislação para fornecer US$ 25 bilhões para as montadoras. Uma opção para obter dinheiro adicional seria "fazer uma emenda naquela lei e tornar (as montadoras) disponíveis (aos novos fundos)", disse Paulson durante entrevista coletiva à imprensa.O secretário do Tesouro disse que a administração Bush acredita que a indústria automobilística é crítica para os EUA, mas qualquer solução para os profundos problemas da indústria precisa conduzir a viabilidade no longo prazo.
Paulson disse ainda que o programa inicial para injetar US$ 250 bilhões em recursos governamentais em empresas financeiras deve ser concluído antes de iniciar-se um segundo programa para canalizar recursos para empresas não-bancárias, de modo que o governo tenha como avaliar o impacto da fase inicial e estimar o tamanho e o foco do novo programa. As informações são da Dow Jones.
Fonte:Agência Estado-Correio Braziliense
quarta-feira, 12 de novembro de 2008
Mundo:El 15 de noviembre se reúnen en Washington, líderes de veinte países para diseñar una estrategia común para salir de la crisis
El sábado 15 de noviembre se reúnen en Washington los líderes del llamado G-20 para tratar de paliar las terribles consecuencias de la crisis financiera. De buscar soluciones comunes se trata. Asistentes serán los representantes de las economías más fuertes del planeta, las del G-8, y también Brasil, Rusia, Italia, India y China, pues impera el consenso de que una salida a la crisis no es posible sin ellas.
Los países miembro de la UE han logrado con las justas elaborar una postura conjunta; el Estados Unidos del saliente presidente George W. Bush convocó a esta reunión en este formato con la esperanza de aunar fuerzas para tirar en una misma dirección… En realidad, todos esperan algo realmente bueno de esta magna cumbre económica.
Las turbulencias en los mercados financieros internacionales han arrastrado en su caída al crecimiento económico. Una fuerte recesión se avecina. La Comisión Europea estima que el crecimiento de su producto interno bruto será apenas del 0,1 por ciento.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, ministro alemán de Exteriores, aseveró al respecto en entrevista a DW-WORLD: “En todo caso todos están conscientes de que la crisis en los mercados financieros sólo podrá ser solucionada si entran nuevos actores al escenario internacional”. La referencia es a los nuevos centros económicos del mundo.
Según Steinmeier, los países BRIC tienen que sentarse a la mesa; y países musulmanes como Turquía, Indonesia y otros países del Golfo también. Y es que por los recursos que poseen estos países de economías emergentes se les hace agua la boca a los más industrializados; su potencial de crecimiento va acompañado de una creciente autoestima y una exigencia de voz y voto políticos. “En China, India, Brasil y Sudáfrica he percibido un creciente sentido de la responsabilidad por el futuro del mundo. Por eso tenemos que crear la posibilidad de incluirlos en los formatos y los foros internacionales”, aseveró Steinmeier. Europa por mayor control
La misma Unión Europea plantea, representada en este semestre por el presidente francés Nicolás Sarkozy, un gobierno económico de los países de la zona Euro, idea que no todos los miembros encuentran atractiva pues les sabe bastante a socialismo. Que los institutos y los mercados financieros sean si no reguladas por lo menos controladas internacionalmente; que el Fondo Monetario Internacional debe adquirir una nueva función: la de faro de alarma temprano; que a los altos gerentes se les debe cambiar el gran incentivo que representan las jugosas ganancias a corto plazo por la satisfacción del desarrollo a mediano y largo plazo: ésta es la postura que de los europeos llevan al G-20. Es decir, más Estado, más control.
¿La salida a la crisis pasa por más Estado y más control?
Deutsche Welle
Los países miembro de la UE han logrado con las justas elaborar una postura conjunta; el Estados Unidos del saliente presidente George W. Bush convocó a esta reunión en este formato con la esperanza de aunar fuerzas para tirar en una misma dirección… En realidad, todos esperan algo realmente bueno de esta magna cumbre económica.
Las turbulencias en los mercados financieros internacionales han arrastrado en su caída al crecimiento económico. Una fuerte recesión se avecina. La Comisión Europea estima que el crecimiento de su producto interno bruto será apenas del 0,1 por ciento.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, ministro alemán de Exteriores, aseveró al respecto en entrevista a DW-WORLD: “En todo caso todos están conscientes de que la crisis en los mercados financieros sólo podrá ser solucionada si entran nuevos actores al escenario internacional”. La referencia es a los nuevos centros económicos del mundo.
Según Steinmeier, los países BRIC tienen que sentarse a la mesa; y países musulmanes como Turquía, Indonesia y otros países del Golfo también. Y es que por los recursos que poseen estos países de economías emergentes se les hace agua la boca a los más industrializados; su potencial de crecimiento va acompañado de una creciente autoestima y una exigencia de voz y voto políticos. “En China, India, Brasil y Sudáfrica he percibido un creciente sentido de la responsabilidad por el futuro del mundo. Por eso tenemos que crear la posibilidad de incluirlos en los formatos y los foros internacionales”, aseveró Steinmeier. Europa por mayor control
La misma Unión Europea plantea, representada en este semestre por el presidente francés Nicolás Sarkozy, un gobierno económico de los países de la zona Euro, idea que no todos los miembros encuentran atractiva pues les sabe bastante a socialismo. Que los institutos y los mercados financieros sean si no reguladas por lo menos controladas internacionalmente; que el Fondo Monetario Internacional debe adquirir una nueva función: la de faro de alarma temprano; que a los altos gerentes se les debe cambiar el gran incentivo que representan las jugosas ganancias a corto plazo por la satisfacción del desarrollo a mediano y largo plazo: ésta es la postura que de los europeos llevan al G-20. Es decir, más Estado, más control.
¿La salida a la crisis pasa por más Estado y más control?
Deutsche Welle
sábado, 8 de novembro de 2008
Hans Blix:“Obama significa una distensión increíble para el mundo“
¿Qué significa la elección de Barack Obama para la política internacional?
Hans Blix: Yo creo que la elección significa, desde el punto de vista político, una distensión increíble para el mundo. Durante mucho tiempo hemos tenido que soportar una política de Bush, en parte casi extremista y netamente militar. Bush tenía la costumbre de dar órdenes a la gente en vez de hablar con ella. Obama ya ha señalizado lo contrario. Que quiere sentarse a hablar con los jefes de Estado y de Gobierno de este mundo, quiere negociar con ellos.
¿Tiene Obama una oportunidad para intermediar de manera pacífica y hábil en el mundo?
Hans Blix:Lo que más valoro de Obama es su llamado al desarme nuclear. La Guerra Fría ha terminado y lo que por ningún motivo necesitamos son armas nucleares. Claro que es utópico pensar que pueden eliminarse de manera inmediata todas las bombas atómicas. Pero habría que dar los primeros pasos en esta dirección. Obama apoya fuertemente esta idea. Quiere reducir la producción de misiles y en eso yo deposito una gran esperanza. Estados Unidos podría ahorrar mucho dinero. El gasto militar a nivel global asciende a 1,3 billones al año, la mitad de esta cifra, casi 700 mil millones es lo que gasta Estados Unidos al año. Obama y su nuevo gobierno podrían dedicar buena parte de ese dinero a otros proyectos.
Deutsche Welle
Hans Blix:Lo que más valoro de Obama es su llamado al desarme nuclear. La Guerra Fría ha terminado y lo que por ningún motivo necesitamos son armas nucleares. Claro que es utópico pensar que pueden eliminarse de manera inmediata todas las bombas atómicas. Pero habría que dar los primeros pasos en esta dirección. Obama apoya fuertemente esta idea. Quiere reducir la producción de misiles y en eso yo deposito una gran esperanza. Estados Unidos podría ahorrar mucho dinero. El gasto militar a nivel global asciende a 1,3 billones al año, la mitad de esta cifra, casi 700 mil millones es lo que gasta Estados Unidos al año. Obama y su nuevo gobierno podrían dedicar buena parte de ese dinero a otros proyectos.
Deutsche Welle
Más verde, menos desigualdad
Los espacios verdes, aunque sean pequeños, pueden contribuir a disminuir la brecha entre ricos y pobres, señalan investigadores de dos universidades escocesas.Incluso, dicen los científicos, los parques chicos en el corazón de la ciudad pueden protegernos de enfermedades coronarias, porque contribuyen a reducir el estrés y a estimularnos a hacer ejercicio.
El estudio, publicado en la revista especializada The Lancet, comparó información sobre cientos de miles de muertes y las contrastó tomando en cuenta los espacios verdes que existían en diferentes zonas.
Los municipios deben incorporar más parques para mejorar el estado de salud de los habitantes de las ciudades, recomendó el informe. El contacto con la naturaleza también ayuda a disminuir la presión arterial, y quizás contribuya a una recuperación más rápida después de una operación quirúrgica.Cuanto más grande el espacio verde, mejor, dicen los científicos.
El estudio, publicado en la revista especializada The Lancet, comparó información sobre cientos de miles de muertes y las contrastó tomando en cuenta los espacios verdes que existían en diferentes zonas.
Los municipios deben incorporar más parques para mejorar el estado de salud de los habitantes de las ciudades, recomendó el informe. El contacto con la naturaleza también ayuda a disminuir la presión arterial, y quizás contribuya a una recuperación más rápida después de una operación quirúrgica.Cuanto más grande el espacio verde, mejor, dicen los científicos.
BBC
sexta-feira, 7 de novembro de 2008
Trilha Sonora..
Música:Cigano
Composição:Djavan
Te querer
Viver mais pra ser exato
Te seguir
E poder chegar
Onde tudo é só meu
Te encontrar
Dar a cara pro teu beijo
Correr atrás de ti
Feito cigano, cigano, cigano
Me jogar sem medir
Viajar
Entre pernas e delícias
Resistir
Ao que pode o pensamento
Saber chegar no seu melhor
Momento, momento, momento
Pra ficar e ficar
Juntos, dentro, horas..
Deixar crescer
Até romper
A manhã
Como o mar está sereno
A gente vai ter um dia de calor
quarta-feira, 5 de novembro de 2008
Obama é o presidente eleito mais votado na história dos Estados Unidos
Com números inéditos de participação dos eleitores, o primeiro presidente negro dos Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, se elegeu na terça-feira com uma quantidade recorde de votos, segundo dados do Arquivo Nacional americano.Obama também conseguiu o maior percentual já registrado por um democrata desde Lyndon B. Johnson, que teve 61,1% dos votos em 1964.Às 18H30 GMT de quarta-feira, com resultados divulgados em 48 estados e no Distrito de Coumbia, Obama acumulava 349 delegados no Colégio Eleitoral, contra 163 do republicano John McCain.O senador por Illinois foi declarado vencedor da histórica disputa eleitoral após superar os 270 delegados necessários. As redes de televisão apontam que Obama venceu com 52% do voto popular, contra 46% para McCain.O presidente eleito, de 47 anos, arrecadou 63,25 milhões de votos a nível nacional, enquanto o senador pelo Arizona coletou 55,9 milhões, segundo NBC, CBS e Fox News.Ao todo, mais de 130 milhões de americanos foram às urnas, número mais alto já registrado em uma eleição geral nos Estados Unidos. O Arquivo Nacional americano informou que 63,25 milhões de votos é a cifra mais alta já alcançada por um candidato à presidência no país.Obama marcou sua vantagem desde o início da apuração, vencendo na Pensilvânia e em Ohio, estados que desde 1960 votam sempre no candidato que acaba ganhando a eleição presidencial. Em seguida, o candidato democrata obteve a maioria nos estados do Colorado, Flórida, Indiana, Missouri, Novo México e Virgínia.
Fonte:France Press-Correio Braziliense
Election Unleashes a Flood of Hope Worldwide
Alan Cowell
From the front lines of Iraq to more genteel spots like Harry’s Bar in Paris, the election of Barack Obama unlocked a floodgate of hope that a new American leader will redeem promises of change, rewrite the political script and, perhaps as important as anything else, provide a kind of leadership that will erase the bitterness of the Bush years.
Whether it was because of Mr. Obama’s youth, his race, his message or his manner, some European leaders abandoned diplomatic niceties to compete for extravagance in their praise, while others outside the United States — fascinated by an election that had been scrutinized around the globe — reached for their most telling comparisons.
“There is the feeling that for the first time since Kennedy, America has a different kind of leader,” said Alejandro Saks, an Argentine script writer in Buenos Aires. Or, as Ersin Kalaycioglu, a professor of political science in Istanbul, put it, “The U.S. needs a facelift and he’s the one who can give it.”
There were some glaring departures from the feel-good mood. One in particular illustrated the challenges that will test the president-elect: President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia chose the day to lambaste the United States and threaten new missile deployments.
The final moments of the election were covered in obsessive detail far from America.
Whether it was because of Mr. Obama’s youth, his race, his message or his manner, some European leaders abandoned diplomatic niceties to compete for extravagance in their praise, while others outside the United States — fascinated by an election that had been scrutinized around the globe — reached for their most telling comparisons.
“There is the feeling that for the first time since Kennedy, America has a different kind of leader,” said Alejandro Saks, an Argentine script writer in Buenos Aires. Or, as Ersin Kalaycioglu, a professor of political science in Istanbul, put it, “The U.S. needs a facelift and he’s the one who can give it.”
There were some glaring departures from the feel-good mood. One in particular illustrated the challenges that will test the president-elect: President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia chose the day to lambaste the United States and threaten new missile deployments.
The final moments of the election were covered in obsessive detail far from America.
In Australia, radio stations interrupted their shows to broadcast the Obama acceptance speech.
In Berlin, newspapers printed special editions.
Perhaps one of the most poignant accolades came from Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s former president, who said in a letter to Mr. Obama: “Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.”
Significantly, though, among American troops in Iraq, the hope seemed tinged with skepticism that change in the White House would not automatically mean change in American doctrines that have meant deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s not like even if Obama is elected we’ll up and leave,” said Specialist James Real, 31, of Butte, Montana, as soldiers watched the returns on television at Forward Operating Base Falcon in Iraq.
Indeed, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraq itself did not “expect that much change in the American policies toward Iraq. Any changes won’t be made in one night.”
In Afghanistan, where American troops are also deployed in an increasingly bitter war, the election brought a rebuke .
“Our demand is to have no civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The fight against terrorism cannot be won by the bombardment of our villages,” said President Hamid Karzai, referring to a string of coalition airstrikes that have caused civilian casualties.
For many outsiders, Mr. Obama’s victory raised expectations that a new administration would seek new relationships across the globe.
“I think he can restore the image of America around the world, especially after Bush got us into two wars,” said David Charlot, 28, a lawyer with French and American citizenship who was among a throng of expatriate revelers outside Harry’s Bar in Paris.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said something on similar lines. “Your election raises in France, in Europe, and elsewhere in the world, an immense hope,” he said in a message that called Mr. Obama’s victory “brilliant” and his campaign “exceptional.” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called his victory “historic” and invited Mr. Obama to return to Berlin, where he addressed a huge rally during his campaign.
Even in lands whose leaders are no friends of Washington -- such as Venezuela and Iran -- the election outcome cut through official propaganda to touch some people.
“It’s kind of nice to feel good about the United States again,” said Armando Díaz, 24, a bookkeeper in Caracas, Venezuela, where Enrique Cisneros, a storekeeper summed it up like this: “A few hours ago, the world felt like a different place.” In Iran, too, some said the American example should persuade politicians closer to home to adopt similar political ways.
‘’His election can be a lesson for the dictators of the Middle East,” said Badr-al-sadat Mofidi, the deputy editor of the daily Kargozaran newspaper. Some in Iran focused on their hopes for a change in American attitudes towards their country. ‘’The nightmare of war with the United States will fade with Obama’s election,” said Nehmat Ahmadi, a lawyer.
Indeed, for many who had watched this campaign from afar, there was a sense that the election was not just an American affair but something that touched people around the world, whatever their origin. “I want Obama to win with 99 percent, like Saddam Hussein,” said Hanin Abu Ayash, who works at a television station in Dubai and monitored early returns on his computer. “I swear if he doesn’t win, I’m going to take it personally.”
In Berlin, Anna Lemme, a 29-year-old architect, said she did not usually hurry to catch the news first thing in the morning. ‘’But this morning I jumped to the radio first thing at 5 a.m.,” she said. There was little doubt that for some, Mr. Obama’s skin color made his victory all the more exhilarating.
“The United States is choosing a black man as its president. Maybe we can share a bit in this happiness,” Mr. Cisneros said in Caracas.
The Afghan president, Mr. Karzai, said the election had shown the American people overcoming distinctions “of race and color while electing their president” and thereby helping to bring “the same values to the rest of the world sooner or later.”
For many in Africa — and in Kenya in particular — his election evoked a deepening of pride.
Perhaps one of the most poignant accolades came from Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s former president, who said in a letter to Mr. Obama: “Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.”
Significantly, though, among American troops in Iraq, the hope seemed tinged with skepticism that change in the White House would not automatically mean change in American doctrines that have meant deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s not like even if Obama is elected we’ll up and leave,” said Specialist James Real, 31, of Butte, Montana, as soldiers watched the returns on television at Forward Operating Base Falcon in Iraq.
Indeed, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraq itself did not “expect that much change in the American policies toward Iraq. Any changes won’t be made in one night.”
In Afghanistan, where American troops are also deployed in an increasingly bitter war, the election brought a rebuke .
“Our demand is to have no civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The fight against terrorism cannot be won by the bombardment of our villages,” said President Hamid Karzai, referring to a string of coalition airstrikes that have caused civilian casualties.
For many outsiders, Mr. Obama’s victory raised expectations that a new administration would seek new relationships across the globe.
“I think he can restore the image of America around the world, especially after Bush got us into two wars,” said David Charlot, 28, a lawyer with French and American citizenship who was among a throng of expatriate revelers outside Harry’s Bar in Paris.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said something on similar lines. “Your election raises in France, in Europe, and elsewhere in the world, an immense hope,” he said in a message that called Mr. Obama’s victory “brilliant” and his campaign “exceptional.” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called his victory “historic” and invited Mr. Obama to return to Berlin, where he addressed a huge rally during his campaign.
Even in lands whose leaders are no friends of Washington -- such as Venezuela and Iran -- the election outcome cut through official propaganda to touch some people.
“It’s kind of nice to feel good about the United States again,” said Armando Díaz, 24, a bookkeeper in Caracas, Venezuela, where Enrique Cisneros, a storekeeper summed it up like this: “A few hours ago, the world felt like a different place.” In Iran, too, some said the American example should persuade politicians closer to home to adopt similar political ways.
‘’His election can be a lesson for the dictators of the Middle East,” said Badr-al-sadat Mofidi, the deputy editor of the daily Kargozaran newspaper. Some in Iran focused on their hopes for a change in American attitudes towards their country. ‘’The nightmare of war with the United States will fade with Obama’s election,” said Nehmat Ahmadi, a lawyer.
Indeed, for many who had watched this campaign from afar, there was a sense that the election was not just an American affair but something that touched people around the world, whatever their origin. “I want Obama to win with 99 percent, like Saddam Hussein,” said Hanin Abu Ayash, who works at a television station in Dubai and monitored early returns on his computer. “I swear if he doesn’t win, I’m going to take it personally.”
In Berlin, Anna Lemme, a 29-year-old architect, said she did not usually hurry to catch the news first thing in the morning. ‘’But this morning I jumped to the radio first thing at 5 a.m.,” she said. There was little doubt that for some, Mr. Obama’s skin color made his victory all the more exhilarating.
“The United States is choosing a black man as its president. Maybe we can share a bit in this happiness,” Mr. Cisneros said in Caracas.
The Afghan president, Mr. Karzai, said the election had shown the American people overcoming distinctions “of race and color while electing their president” and thereby helping to bring “the same values to the rest of the world sooner or later.”
For many in Africa — and in Kenya in particular — his election evoked a deepening of pride.
As President Mwai Kibaki said in a message to Mr. Obama, “your victory is not only an inspiration to millions of people all over the world, but it has special resonance with us here in Kenya” — the birthplace of Mr. Obama’s father and paternal grandparents.
That sense of association may also encourage some to believe that Mr. Obama will give Africa special attention. “We express the hope that poverty and underdevelopment in Africa, which remains a challenge for humanity, will indeed continue to receive a greater attention of the focus of the new administration,” said Kgalema Motlanthe, the South African president.
Many outside Africa competed for his attention, too.
In a statement, the 27-nation European Union said it saw “the promise of a reinforced trans-Atlantic relationship” in Mr. Obama’s election. Even big business joined in.
“From a business perspective, I’m very happy that the economic issue was at the top of the agenda in the campaign,” said Lakshmi Mittal, the head of the world’s biggest steel-maker, “and we’re very positive that we’ll see more measures to address the economic crisis with his election.”
On momentous occasions, politicians reach for big words. The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, for instance, said that “American democracy has just lived through a marvelous moment, one of those major turning points that periodically demonstrates its vitality, its belief in the future and its trust in the values on which it was founded over two centuries.”
In Parliament in London on Wednesday, members of Britain’s three major political parties lavished praise on Mr. Obama. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Mr. Obama had run “an inspirational campaign, energizing politics with progressive values and his vision for the future.”
Mr. Brown mentioned several times that he planned to work closely with the new administration, said he had spoken to Mr. Obama “on many occasions,” called him a “true friend of Britain” and said: “I know Barack Obama and we share many values.”
But politicians also peer through the prism of self-interest.
In South Korea, some pondered the destiny of a free-trade agreement negotiated by the Bush administration and criticized by Mr. Obama. Lee Hae-min, South Korea’s top trade negotiator, warned that any change in the deal could undermine South Korea’s support for the deal and “open a Pandora’s box”.
In the Middle East, the focus of much tension that has drawn in successive American administrations, Saeb Erakat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urged Mr. Obama to transform the proposal for a two-state solution in the Palestine-Israel conflict “to a realistic track immediately.”
At the Vatican, a statement urged Mr. Obama to show “respect of human life” and expressed the hope that “God should illuminate the way” for him in his “great responsibility.”
Some saw a chance to patch up old feuds.
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who displeased Washington when he withdrew Spain’s troops from Iraq in 2004, said Mr. Obama’s victory “demonstrated the vitality of this great country, and of democracy and the unstoppable force of the ballot to bring about change.”
“I am confident this opens a horizon of promise for relations between the United States and Spain,” he told a press conference in Madrid.
But even in the moment of triumph, some in Europe questioned whether Mr. Obama would really make a break with his George W. Bush, the least popular American president among Europeans in recent history.
“When Obama takes office on January 20,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said in an editorial, “we will see whether the Europeans — and especially the Germans — really just had a problem with Bush’s presidency or with America itself.”
Others were less cynical. “The margin of victory was emphatic and, whatever else follows, today the world changed,” said an editorial in The Times of London, and The Guardian newspaper proclaimed: “They did it. They really did it. So often crudely caricatured by others, the American people yesterday stood in they eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world.”
That was not a universal view in Moscow where one analyst, Mikhail Delyagin, compared Mr. Obama to Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who is often blamed in Russia for destroying the Soviet Union.
“Not having large-scale management experience, he has greater chances to disorganize America, to destabilize America, out of the very best intentions, as Gorbachev once did.”
But the supporters generally outnumbered the skeptics.. “We were all hoping that he would win,” said Carla Saggioro, a retired architect in Rome. “And the fact that he did with such a large margin is a sign of real change _ at least let’s hope so.”
The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called Mr. Obama’s election a “historic opportunity” for a stronger working relationship with the United States.
“He values highly the resolution of all the conflict issues through dialogue,” Mr. Ban said. “He has expressed publicly that he is willing to meet anybody, any country, so that will provide good opportunity not only for the United States, but also the United Nations as a whole to resolve all issues through dialogue.”
Mr. Ban said he had met Mr. Obama by chance last year on a plane flight. “He was very engaging and he knew a lot about the United Nations,” Mr. Ban said, “and I was very much encouraged.”
That sense of association may also encourage some to believe that Mr. Obama will give Africa special attention. “We express the hope that poverty and underdevelopment in Africa, which remains a challenge for humanity, will indeed continue to receive a greater attention of the focus of the new administration,” said Kgalema Motlanthe, the South African president.
Many outside Africa competed for his attention, too.
In a statement, the 27-nation European Union said it saw “the promise of a reinforced trans-Atlantic relationship” in Mr. Obama’s election. Even big business joined in.
“From a business perspective, I’m very happy that the economic issue was at the top of the agenda in the campaign,” said Lakshmi Mittal, the head of the world’s biggest steel-maker, “and we’re very positive that we’ll see more measures to address the economic crisis with his election.”
On momentous occasions, politicians reach for big words. The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, for instance, said that “American democracy has just lived through a marvelous moment, one of those major turning points that periodically demonstrates its vitality, its belief in the future and its trust in the values on which it was founded over two centuries.”
In Parliament in London on Wednesday, members of Britain’s three major political parties lavished praise on Mr. Obama. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Mr. Obama had run “an inspirational campaign, energizing politics with progressive values and his vision for the future.”
Mr. Brown mentioned several times that he planned to work closely with the new administration, said he had spoken to Mr. Obama “on many occasions,” called him a “true friend of Britain” and said: “I know Barack Obama and we share many values.”
But politicians also peer through the prism of self-interest.
In South Korea, some pondered the destiny of a free-trade agreement negotiated by the Bush administration and criticized by Mr. Obama. Lee Hae-min, South Korea’s top trade negotiator, warned that any change in the deal could undermine South Korea’s support for the deal and “open a Pandora’s box”.
In the Middle East, the focus of much tension that has drawn in successive American administrations, Saeb Erakat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urged Mr. Obama to transform the proposal for a two-state solution in the Palestine-Israel conflict “to a realistic track immediately.”
At the Vatican, a statement urged Mr. Obama to show “respect of human life” and expressed the hope that “God should illuminate the way” for him in his “great responsibility.”
Some saw a chance to patch up old feuds.
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who displeased Washington when he withdrew Spain’s troops from Iraq in 2004, said Mr. Obama’s victory “demonstrated the vitality of this great country, and of democracy and the unstoppable force of the ballot to bring about change.”
“I am confident this opens a horizon of promise for relations between the United States and Spain,” he told a press conference in Madrid.
But even in the moment of triumph, some in Europe questioned whether Mr. Obama would really make a break with his George W. Bush, the least popular American president among Europeans in recent history.
“When Obama takes office on January 20,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said in an editorial, “we will see whether the Europeans — and especially the Germans — really just had a problem with Bush’s presidency or with America itself.”
Others were less cynical. “The margin of victory was emphatic and, whatever else follows, today the world changed,” said an editorial in The Times of London, and The Guardian newspaper proclaimed: “They did it. They really did it. So often crudely caricatured by others, the American people yesterday stood in they eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world.”
That was not a universal view in Moscow where one analyst, Mikhail Delyagin, compared Mr. Obama to Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who is often blamed in Russia for destroying the Soviet Union.
“Not having large-scale management experience, he has greater chances to disorganize America, to destabilize America, out of the very best intentions, as Gorbachev once did.”
But the supporters generally outnumbered the skeptics.. “We were all hoping that he would win,” said Carla Saggioro, a retired architect in Rome. “And the fact that he did with such a large margin is a sign of real change _ at least let’s hope so.”
The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called Mr. Obama’s election a “historic opportunity” for a stronger working relationship with the United States.
“He values highly the resolution of all the conflict issues through dialogue,” Mr. Ban said. “He has expressed publicly that he is willing to meet anybody, any country, so that will provide good opportunity not only for the United States, but also the United Nations as a whole to resolve all issues through dialogue.”
Mr. Ban said he had met Mr. Obama by chance last year on a plane flight. “He was very engaging and he knew a lot about the United Nations,” Mr. Ban said, “and I was very much encouraged.”
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