London, Dec 11, IRNA, Barack Obama’s foreign polarding the Middle East will have no “fundamental difference” with his predecessor George W. Bush even though the president-elect has promised hope and change, a senior analyst with the most powerful private organisation to influence US foreign policy said.
Lisa Anderson, a member of the US Council on Foreign Relations, said in meeting hosted by University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies that politicians from both the Republican and Democrat camps are engaged in US foreign policy decision making.
“Therefore, no fundamental change is expected as a deep consensus exists between the two parties on the role of America in the Middle East and the whole world,” she said.
Referring to the election of Obama as the new US president, she said he is highly likely to engage global powers in making decisions about international developments.
Anderson also cast doubt on whether Obama would succeed in influencing global trends in the future.
She said Obama will continue the policies of Bush in bringing US allies in the Middle East closer to each other.
“The war on terror aimed at introducing a common enemy (terrorism) for Arab governments and Israel so that they can become allies in the future. In this case, US goals of guaranteeing access to oil and preserving Israel’s security will be materialised,” she argued.
Also speaking in the meeting, Fred Halliday, a renowned expert on Middle East studies from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences said the US power to influence developments in the region has spectacularly diminished in recent years.
Halliday said although many countries review US stances in the Middle East, they do not make their final decisions based on America’s foreign policy.
“Even close allies to the US are not making decisions based on US policies,” he said.
Halliday suggested that Obama is not capable of creating fundamental changes in international developments.
Referring to the solutions to Middle East problems, he urged the United States to engage Iran and Saudi Arabia in removing challenges in Iraq.