And the world rejoiced for the 44th President of the United States of America.

We begin with Canada.

“Hell yeah!” exclaimed seven star, a University of Manitoba psychology student in western Canada, continuing about the Obama win:

In what amounts to an historic election, Obama seemingly blew the old fart McCain away. I almost feel sorry for John, tear…./tear. Only thing is, Obama is inheriting a nice deficit, and 2 long wars. Will he be able to give the people what he promised, I mean, the money has gotta come from somewhere, but where that is will be something we will find out soon.

Farther west, California resident Jennifer Ayala, blogging at College in Canada, eh, marking her status as a first-year student at the University of British Columbia, wrote the next four years will be interesting:

I was totally praying for a McCain-shaped victory, but I’m not one to dwell on disappointments. Okay so future-President-Obama supports things that I am 100% against, but that just means that in order to win those battles, I (and anyone else who feels the same way I do) need to be more creative.

…allow me to address any fellow Americans that may be reading: regardless of whether you supported Obama or McCain, there’s no better time than the present to be the change you wish to see in the world. The United States is OUR country, not one man’s country, and let’s never forget that. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Several hundred miles east, Patti, a middle-aged woman from eastern Ontario, laments about traditionally not following American elections. In this case, she argues history was made:

The American people have elected a black person to their highest office. I never thought I’d live to see it. I just learned that for the first time in American history, 17 woman have been elected to their Senate. Here I thought 30 women in our House of Commons was just a good start. I guess progress has different measures.

Elsewhere in Canada, the folks behind leftcoast.ca praised Obama as:

…the most amazing and most statesman-like individual that has graced the world stage in a very long time. Congratulations to the USA for electing an amazing individual as their 44th President. Beautiful.

And the woman behind Canadian blog My Mental Milkcrate is happy for Lucky Number 44 and wants to know where you were when you heard the news:

Where were you? I was arriving home from my writing class to find my husband at the kitchen table, watching McCain’s concession speech on MSNBC Live. I was shocked that the results were declared so early. I interrupted a writing session to watch Obama’s first speech as president-elect. Because it will be history. Except I can’t help thinking that they’ve called it with too few votes actually counted. So tonight I will let out this breath I’ve been holding for months, and tomorrow I will breathe normally.

Also worth mentioning is Jason Kadlecik, a Canadian blogger from the province of Alberta, who is happy for his southern neighbors, though questions Obama's socialist leanings:

I predict that four years from now people will look back on the Obama presidency and say “Wow. We voted for change. Now…what exactly did he change?” The money for “spreading the wealth around” has to come from somewhere.

I wonder if Americans will realize that it’s THEM that the money is going to come from.

Regardless, he’s an educated, charismatic man and I wish him luck in the next four years. As any previous president can tell him, he’s going to need it!

Emotions are similar across the pond, albeit few are awake at this late hour.

With a blog title of “Byebye Bush,” a blogger behind Dutchfiction yelped:

YIHAAA!!

I’m happy I didn’t sleep and watched CNN live. Obama made it, and it feels so good. All alone in my livingroom (the rest of the house is still asleep) I witnessed the start of a new beginning.

Belgian blogger Marco Rossi offers simple words that change can happen:

Thank you Obama.

You did it. You showed the world that change can happen.

In Manchester, United Kingdom, blogger John McGough believes Obama can not only provide change but America proved it can overcome its differences and prejudices, signs that the world is ready to accept Obama with open arms:

What you should see happening in the coming hours, weeks and days is leaders the world over going out of their way to congratulate the President-Elect, most will try to network with him and develop and ongoing relationship which has often soured under the Bush administration.

As a result of Obama's election, overnight worldwide opinion of America will change. Suddenly countries which were frosty and cold towards America will soften their stance and offer an open hand toward the new president, leaders will view America as a changed country, a country that has finally began to embrace global ideals of the world, a country that has finally began to to shine as the true beacon of the land of the free, yeah one man can really make that much of a difference.

Finally, we turn to British blogger Nadeem Walayat and editor of The Market Oracle, who theorizes the first 100 days of an Obama Administration:

1. Clearly President Obama's focus will be on reinvigorating the U.S. Economy by a series of stimulus packages running to several hundreds of billions aimed at Main Street, that will aim to spread the wealth so as to bolster consumer spending, which will actually have an positive impact on the economy and this boost therefore stock markets, instead of the Bush administrations version of spreading of wealth to Wall street banks which have no intention of using these funds to provide loans to Main Street but rather utilising the billions in merger and acquisitions activities.

2. Withdrawal from Iraq, and bring to a close America's Afghanistan moment, the invasion of Iraq was built on blatant lies of a. Iraq being connected to Sept 11th, and b. that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. These lies were perpetuated by an incompetent Bush administration so as to grab Iraq's oil reserves. The quick 3 month war has turned into a 6 year quagmire costing more than 4,000 american lives and more than 100,000 iraqi lives, with the bill of $3 trillion strangling the U.S. economy, a significant amount of which has disappeared in Bush and Cheney cronie corporations.

3. Greater world wide co-operation following the failed Bush policy of “your either with us or against us,” both with regards the economy and military threats.

As the world rejoices, Voices without Votes react and are brought to Reuters' web server from near and far.

What does the world think of its peers? Please add a comment below or link to us from your blogs and spread the love for a new American President, a welcoming world, and yourselves.

©2008 PoliGazette. All Rights Reserved.

“But I've decided I don't care if they hate me or not. After all, they say that we as Americans shouldn't care whether people outside the United States hate us. So why should I care if they hate me?”

The question is: should the candidates care about the rest of the world’s perception of America ?

After the first presidential debate on national security and foreign relations, bloggers from around the world have spoken. Here is more of what transpired from the Francophone blogosphere:

François Clemenceau from France highlights the fact that the two candidates have very contrasted views on how to mend the relationship with the rest of the world (fr):

« McCain a évoqué pour la première fois devant un si vaste public son concept de Ligue des Démocraties sans préciser qu’il aimerait la voir remplacer les Nations Unies alors que c’est bien ce qui se cache derrière les inventeurs néoconservateurs de cette formule. Obama n’a pas évoqué les Nations Unies qui sentent un peu le souffre chez l’oncle Sam mais il parlé du monde global et des alliés en insistant sur la perte considérable de prestige et de crédibilité des Etats-Unis ces huit dernières années dans le monde. »

McCain evokes for the first time in front of a large audience his concept of a League of Democracy, without precising whether he'd like for that league to replace the United Nations which is the hidden agenda of neocons who created that concept. Obama did not mention the UN which is a sensitive subject in the US, but he spoke of US allies in the global world and the US critical loss of prestige and credibility in the past eight years.

Nathalie Mattheiem also sensed a major contrast of viewpoints on the US role in the world during the debate (fr):

“Les deux hommes représentent une approche différente du rôle des États-Unis dans le monde, mais ce n’est pas la préoccupation première des Américains en ces temps de crise économique »

The two candidates have a very different approach of the US role on the global scene. However, it does not matter much to Americans in this time of economic crisis.

She adds :

« John McCain, à force d’insister sur son expérience et sa familiarité avec le terrain international, a souligné involontairement le fait qu’il n’apparaît pas radicalement plus qualifié que son rival démocrate. Le léger mépris dont il ne se départit pas envers son rival s’en trouve d’autant moins justifié… surtout compte tenu de ses propres moments d’hésitation - en particulier sur le Pakistan. »

By insisting on his experience and familiarity with international politics, John McCain highlighted involuntarily that he is not really more qualified than his Democract opponent. The slight spite he showed towards his rival is even less justified when we saw his own hesitations about Pakistan.

Jerome Bernard, former French AFP journalist, was amused that nothing during the debate probably made more of an impact than Obama countering McCain’s bracelet story with his own story (fr). It might have been decisive in not losing too much ground in the patriotic votes.

From France, Patrick Sabatier points out that John McCain has a tough task ahead of him because his basic philosophy on the economy, fewer regulations and less transparency on financial transactions, are at the very core of the current failing of the finance giants of Wall Street.

” Il y a quelques mois encore, le candidat républicain déclarait au Wall Street Journal “être en toutes circonstances favorable au minimum de régulation”. Mardi matin encore il expliquait en Floride “ne pas aimer les réglementations excessives et inutiles”. Sa colistière Sarah Palin promettait dans le Colorado que le tandem républicain allait résoudre la crise en “dégageant la voie pour le secteur privé en en écartant le gouvernement”. Propos en parfaite contradiction avec la politique suivie depuis des mois par l'administration républicaine et assez irresponsables puisque pratiquement tous les économistes conviennent que le krach des géants de la finance de Wall Street est la conséquence directe de l'absence de contrôle, de réglementation et de transparence de leurs activités, dont McCain reconnaît lui-même qu'elles tiennent plus de la table de jeu au casino que d'autre chose. Mais les candidats républicains ne peuvent ni dénoncer la politique passée de Bush, ni applaudir sa politique actuelle, sans auparavant abjurer leur credo ultra-libéral.”

A few months ago, the Republican candidate stated to the Wall Street Journal that he was under all circumstances in favor of minimal regulations. Tuesday morning, he was still explaining in Florida that he was against excessive, useless regulations. His VP Sarah Palin promised in Colorado that the Republican tandem will solve the crisis by moving aside the government to make ways for the private sector. Unfortunately, those statements are in perfect contradiction to the strategy followed by the Republican administration for a few months and quite irresponsible because practically all economists agree that the current crisis in Wall Street is a direct consequence of the absence of control, regulations and transparency for the activities of these financial giants. McCain himself recognizes that their activities are closer to gambling at the casino than anything else. However, the Republican candidate cannot denounce the politics of the past by Bush, neither his current policy without denying their ultra conservative credo first.

Mariane Enault from France argues that although one may think that this argument is only reserved to Europe, it is the same old debate all over again: interventionism vs laissez-faire. She explains each candidate's basic philosophy.

McCain argues that the foundations of the economy are sound:

“la crise bancaire, “ce n'est pas la faute des Américains”. Pour lui, les coupables sont tout trouvés, “les intérêts particuliers, la cupidité, l'irresponsabilité et la corruption qui ont miné le dur labeur des Américains”. Il promet s'il est élu “de mettre fin aux abus”. En la matière, le républicain se veut plutôt rassurant. “Les éléments fondamentaux de l'économie sont solides”

The banking crisis is not the fault of the American people. For him, the culprits are obvious: “particular interests, greed, irresponsibility and corruption have undermined the hard labor of Americans”. He promises to “put an end to the abuse.” For that matter, the Republican wants to be reassuring: “The basic elements of the economy are solid”

Democratic candidate Barack Obama has a different view:

“De quelle économie parle-t-il? Je pense que [McCain] ne comprend pas” [..] Obama souhaite ainsi renforcer l'autorité des organismes de régulation, restructurer le secteur des agences de régulation et améliorer la transparence du marché. En bref, une réglementation “qui protège les investisseurs et les consommateurs”.”

“What economy is he talking about ? I think he [McCain] does not get it.” He (Obama) wishes to reinforce the authority of a regulating agency, restructure the sector of regulating agencies and improve market transparency. In short, regulation that protects “investors and consumers”

Martin Even from Belgium notes that the economic crisis does not affect only the US. He writes in Jeune Afrique:

“Au Capitole, le sénateur de l’Illinois vient de parrainer et de faire voter, dans l’indifférence quasi totale des médias, le Global Poverty Act, qui engage les États-Unis à participer aux Objectifs du millénaire pour le développement adoptés par l’ONU en 2001.”

On Capitol Hill, amidst the complete indifference of mainstream media, the senator from Illinois supported and pushed to pass the Global Poverty Act, which commits the United States to participate in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) proposed in 2001 by the UN.

“On a le droit de dire « je rêve de tuer Obama et voilà comment je m’y prendrais », mais tant qu’il n’y a pas le moindre commencement de mise en pratique, tout cela relève de la liberté d’expression”.

One is allowed to say “I dream of killing Obama and this is how I will do it” but until there are not concrete action initiated towards that goal, it all comes down to freedom of expression.

Guillemette Faure of rue89 is also amazed at how freely people of various opinions are expressing themselves at the convention and how tolerant the attendees are of people with different ideologies:

“Cette faculté de la société américaine à laisser s’exprimer les adversaires est toujours étonnante. On s’en fait encore une idée à l’extérieur de la convention où des groupes anti-avortement portent d’immenses photos de foetus sanguinolents et traitent Obama de » tueur de bébés » (parce qu’il défend le droit à l’avortement). Chacun passe devant eux sans leur dire quoi que ce soit…”

The ability of the American society to let their opponents express themselves is always amazing. One telling picture is the fact that outside the convention, anti-abortion groups carry large photos of bloody foetuses and call Obama a “baby-killer” (because he is pro-choice). Everyone walks by without saying a word..

François Clemenceau points out to a second wrinkle of these elections that is unique to the US. He wonders why traditionally red states (Kansas, West Virginia, Arkansas, Colorado, Caroline du Nord, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kentucky) have elected democrats as governors. He explains:

“Il semble juste que ces Etats du Sud et du Grand Ouest font la distinction entre des gouvernements de proximité, où l’on peut programmer des politiques assez centristes et de bon sens, et l’Etat fédéral à la tête duquel on cherche à placer quelqu’un qui « incarne » l’Amérique.”

“It seems that the Southern and Southwestern states make the distinction between local state governors, who can implement political strategies that are fairly moderate and based on common sense whereas for the country as a whole, they are looking for someone who embodies “America”.

The final characteristic that seems to have stood out to European bloggers at the convention is thirst for the melodramatic speeches and the hollywood-like atmosphere of a political meeting:

“Ce n’est pas de donner dans le mélo qui est critiquable, c’est l’ambivalence qui consiste à jouer Cendrillon sur la scène et Machiavel en coulisses. Les américains savent qu’on ne gouverne pas avec des bons sentiments. Ils veulent des hommes « strong ou tough » pour diriger leur pays.”

The melodramatic speeches are not to be condemned, it's the ambivalence of being Cinderella-like on the surface and then Machiavelli in the background. Americans know countries should not be governed by good sentiments. They want people who are “strong/ tough” to lead their country.

After President Clinton's endorsement of Obama, Guillemette Faure notes that 16 years earlier, Bill Clinton made his supporters at the convention repeat in unison “we can do it”, reminiscent of the ubiquitous “yes we can” Obama slogan.

"We have decided unanimously to lift the 2003 measures and initiate a phase of dialogue that is not conditioned or limited by any measures," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said in a press conference after the meeting.

Cuba has been calling on the EU to completely abolish the sanctions before Havana could engage in a dialogue with the grouping.

Spain wanted the sanctions on Cuba to be lifted officially after Fidel stepped down in February handing over power to his younger brother Raul.

Via / Hindustan Times

Below are a few snippets of this lively discussion, all translated from Russian.

LJ user iraan reported from Kosovo on Feb. 15:

[…] In Kosovo, everyone is promising independence - even this hotel ad.

A picture of a roadside ad for a hotel in Kosovo's capital Priština accompanied the post; the ad read:

INDEPE
NDENCE

HOTEL AFA IS READY

On Feb. 17, the day Kosovo declared independence, LJ user iraan wrote:

…Priština. Today
…celebrations are in full swing here already. Here you go, my dear ones

In the comments section, she later added two photos of happy-looking men waving Albanian flags. LJ user cqdx - who served in Kosovo (RUS) as part of Russia's peacekeeping mission, but is currently based in Geneve, Switzerland - noted:

[…] If at one point Yeltsin's Supreme Council hadn't chickened out and instead accepted Serbia as part of Russia, there wouldn't have been today's [orgy] in Kosovo. […]

In another Feb. 17 post, LJ user iraan made this observation about the flags she was seeing in Kosovo's capital:

…there are more stars and stripes in Priština than even the black eagles. It is obvious who the papa is and who is directing the process.

LJ user vikrussia left this comment:

How sad. I am speechless. There was hope until the very last moment. And now there's only one thought in my head: this is what they are going to do to us, too - “in a civilized manner,” [pretending to observe principles] of “legality” and “law.” The Slavic world has died. God has turned away from us. We have to figure out what for.

Serbia-based LJ user sanielisse wrote this on Feb. 19:

I've been reading and watching the news non-stop for the second day in a row. […] Kosovo, an independent state?
On Friday and Saturday, they began sending SMS's - “pray fro Kosovo… […]”
Where were you before? Why didn't you pray every day in Serbian temples for the rescue of Kosovo and its relics, and its Serbian people?
A female student at the university declared to me today: “I want to live and not to think about Kosovo…”
It's easy to sell your past. But then you'll be walking through a swamp.
After these words I joined the protest rally with my friends. My heart was aching…
Is this a protest, or a funeral of Kosovo, or a holiday? Not very clear… God, what can one understand here, in Serbia, when the president declares, “Be peaceful…” How could those who carried out the pogroms on Sunday night stay peaceful if the country's heart and soul had been torn out?
And if today you stopped those who were yelling “Kosovo is Serbia's heart” and asked WHAT IS KOSOVO, would many of them have an answer?
And no one but [Bishop Artemije] has mentioned that it's not just an attack on Serbia. It's a new blow to Orthodox Christianity.
[Abkhazia's Sergei Bagapsh] and [South Ossetia's Eduard Kokoity] said beautifully today: Serbia is a country well-established politically, it's not in turmoil, and a piece of it is being cut off only because two ethnic groups look at each other through gun muzzles… And what can be said about Georgia, a country that isn't well-established yet, which is permanently on fire, and into which North [sic] Ossetia and Abkhazia are being squeezed? […]

LJ user dreamy_tanger left this comment:

[…] Why wasn't your heart aching when [Slobodan Milošević] organized the genocide of Albanians and Bosniaks? Was Orthodox Christian “compassion” an obstacle? As for Kosovo, there's no use worrying about it anymore, it has not been part of Serbia de facto for a long time, now at least they'll be obliged to observe minorities' rights as an independent state.

LJ user drugoi, on Feb. 16, posted five photos of the pre-independence celebrations in Kosovo, titled his post, “Farewell, Serbia?” - and received four pages of comments. Here are some of them:

drakon_1 [Israel-based]:

Hurrah!!!

dtxysq [Russia-based]:

Hurrah?

sergey_sht [Ukraine-based]:

He doesn't live in Kosovo.
“Freedom and land to Palestine!”

drakon_1:

Palestinians, too, should have a state of their own, with clearly defined borders - I don't see any contradiction in this.

sergey_sht:

Albanians also should have a state of their own with clearly defined borders. But for some reason they want Kosovo, too, just like Arabs want Jerusalem.

Don't you understand that it can't be just ‘We want it and that's it.' It's not as simple over there.

dao_b [Russia-based]:

Russians also should have a state of their own with clearly defined borders. But for some reason they want a small Russian republic on the territory of Moldova, too.

Don't you understand that it can't be just ‘We want it and that's it.'

***

polinsky_yard:

[…] Well, good luck to them.
Why are we saying farewell to Serbia as if it's something that belongs to us? We have no more rights for it than Americans.

terskiy_kazak:

Oh-oh, are you serious?! [Count with me]: faith, language, history… Damn, we are the same people with Serbs! It's somehow awkward to even discuss this subject: it's like proving that the Earth is round…

LJ user shupa (originally from Belarus, currently based in Prague, Czech Republic) wrote this in the yugo_ru LJ community, whose focus is on “culture, history and literature of the former Yugoslav states”:

Someone has reminded us here today: “I'm reminding you that Kosovo is a historically Serbian territory, which, in the past half a century, has become dominated by Albanian population.”

What kind of term is that - “historically XXX territory”? If we start looking for all the historical territories and all those who are occupying them now, then Russians should be kicked out from behind [the Urals] or even closer (definitely [Smolensk], [Prussia], [Ingria]). And I'm not even talking about [the Americans]. Anyway, let's all return to the borders of the 14th century, when [the Grand Duchy of Lithuania] stretched from one sea to the other :)

The most important thing now is for them not to start killing one another again. As for all this screaming - we are not giving Kosovo away, Moscow is behind us - these are indeed [calls to action]. There must be plenty of them on the other side, too, only we don't see or hear them, and “the other” side isn't really advertising them. […]

LJ user michail wrote this:

[…] Serbian [dear brothers] deserve our sympathy, of course. But, honestly, would all that's happened be possible if Serbs hadn't exchanged their resistance will for the sweet promises of the Eurocommissars? One's gotta pay for “the European choice.” […]

I suspect that we need the proverbial solidarity with [dear Serbian brothers] more than Serbs do. I haven't forgotten yet that the [Russian mass awakening] began with the [1999 NATO bombing of Belgrade]. We were throwing stones at the U.S. embassy then and singing [Kosovo Front] all together - was it in vain? Cannon fire in Serbia awoke the Russian bear, ridding him of a whole package of the most dangerous illusions of the 1990s. […] And, thank God, it was someone else's war that served as a catalyst for national awakening. […]

LJ user michail ended his post with a video of a Corsican band “L'Arcusgi,” which included a Corsican female singers' performance of “the famous ‘Hegoak' - a patriotic anthem of [the Basque Country].”

Israel-based LJ user aristocrate was not sincere when he congratulated Europe on the birth of its “new child”:

I congratulate Europe with a new child - Kosovo!

And since the EU has so happily supported the unilaterally declared independence of a new Muslim state on its territory, I'm also wishing it to have many, many more kids: independent Catalonia, Corsica, Wallonia, Flanders, the Basque Country, Wales, and, somewhat later, Normandy, Ruhr, Gascony, Wallachia, Prussia, Sicily, etc.

You deserve it, idiots. […]

LJ user varfolomeev66, a Russian journalist, was “more concerned” with the fate of Russia than with that of “the USA and the leading European states. He wrote:

I'm trying to understand: our diplomats and those who sometimes listen to their recommendations - are they fools or enemies?
I'd like to have a look at the authors of the thesis on the “precedent-making nature of Kosovo case,” about which Putin and [Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov] have been talking incessantly for the past few months. Do they understand what they are doing?
I assume they […] were trying to intimidate Europe and America this way: like, Wales and Montana will follow Kosovo's example. But [they] ended up prescribing treatment that's worse than the disease itself.
The president, who has called the unilateral separation of Kosovo a precedent, has given [freedom to act] to our own, home-grown separatists. If, for example, Ingush, Karelian or [Primorye] comrades decided to split from Mother Russia, they would remind those who'd try to stop them that Putin himself had shown them the way! Wasn't it Putin who said that other peoples may follow after Kosovars - and we are following them!
[…]
Instead of emphasizing the uniqueness of the Kosovo case along with the countries of the West and talking of the impossibility of repeating it, our regime is voluntarily provoking our own secessionists. […]

LJ user freetatarstan - which is actually a “journal for those who support the idea of independence of [the Republic of Tatarstan]” - wrote:

KOSOVA!

Remember how some observers used to assert that as soon as Russia starts being nice to Abkhazia and Ossetia in response to Kosovo's independence, the national autonomies of the Russian Federation will raise their voices as well…
Well, what can you say to this… We wouldn't want to disappoint them… […]