RESPECT!

Many people around the world have enormous expectations on president Obama , they expect him to create a new global order dominated by fairness, equity, sincerity and above all respect for other countries especially those who are not considered as traditional close friends of the US.This expectation is against the background of 8 years of confrontational, threatening and disrespectful attitude of the Bush administration towards countries he and his Neo-con advisers considered as adversaries on the international arena. On Thursday 19 march , President Obama addressed the Iranian leadership and its peoples on the eve of their new year. The tone and content of the address was very different from what we are traditionally used to when it comes to dealing with Iran. the president gave strong indications that he will be willing to negotiate with the Iranian leadership in a fair way while respecting its rights to its sovereignty and independence.the speech was devoid of any threats of use of force which is significant in that it calms the environment and prepares the ground for more meaningful engagement.The Obama administration has clearly signaled it is in a mood to engage diplomatically. Another significant aspect of the speech was that it addressed both the people of Iran and their leaders in the same breath: a significant departure from the divide-and-rule tactics employed by previous US administrations that tries to depict the leadership as a monstrous machine that does not have the welfare of its people at haert