THE Barack Obama era is over! He entered into the American glory, achieving some remarkable feats particularly with regard to his policies at home. But in the Arab world there was a great sigh of relief following his departure. Obama began his era with an ideal speech he delivered at the Cairo University, the largest Arab country's capital in 2009. His speech — full of values, principles and good intentions for a serious and new vision to build bridges of trust and communication between the West, the Arab and the Islamic world after long and disturbing years of uncertainty and suspicions — resulted in widening the gap between them. With Obama's entry in the White House, there was jubilation and cheers across the Arab world because of his perceived Islamic origin and other slogans. Then soon it was realized that what he planned to do was for his personal achievement. He "copied" the idea of freeing the Middle East and to enter the history books, exactly as former US President Ronald Reagan did when he played an important role in bringing down the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, thus freeing those nations from the clutches of communism. It was Obama's idea to find a new "sponsor" in the region, the one that will have its presence in all the countries of the region. He found this in the Muslim Brotherhood, the group whose ideology is the promotion of aggression and violence and whose motive is to create fissures in the societies in the region, bloody signs of which still exist. Obama, who called for freedom and then renounced it and said that he was going to fight tyranny and religious extremism, suddenly entered into a deal with Iran, an icon of tyranny, ignoring its intervention and its terrorist acts in the countries of the whole region, without exception. This led to distrust, concern and fear of Obama's intentions and his objectives toward Iran, the state that is always heading the list of axis of evil. Obama's worst page in the history books will be his inability to stop the crimes and the massacre of the people of Syria from the Bashar Al-Assad's regime. He ignored the constant killing and displacement of people and permitted the regiments of terrorists to fight alongside the Assad regime and defend it until Syria was turned into a savage zone. All this happened as Obama failed to fulfill his promise and so the situation further worsened with the arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the scene. Putin completely exploited the situation in Syria and now dictates his terms to Bashar Al-Assad, Iran, Turkey and the United States as well. The United Sates chose to opt out and leave the scenario in the Middle East into chaos after Obama's great promise failed in its implementation. It is astonishing that Obama, a man with legal background, familiar with the laws of human rights, an advocate of freedom, chose to be an ally of Iran, a rogue state which is a distant away from values and principles of an ideal partner. If he had chosen an alliance with "Djibouti" in the region for example, it would be far more convincing. Djibouti is a manifestation of democracy, moderation and tolerance exponentially more than the Iranian project. He would leave behind good memories among the Arabs if alliance was formed with modest civil Arab countries that have shunned terrorism and who have suffered extremism, bloodshed and killing of innocent people. Obama chose a losing battle. The result was turmoil and anxiety experienced by the Arab region. But in all honesty, the first and primary blame should be on the people of the region themselves who still allow poisonous thoughts which destroy the mind and thus the societies; and this is the biggest concern!
