'Difficult to predict future US position on Arab issues'

By Mariam Al Hakeem, Gulf News, Nov 12, 2008.

Highlights:

An Arab expert on American issues says it is too early to predict the policies of the US President-elect Barack Obama toward the major issues in the Middle East.

"Obama is a political novice and he does not have experience in tackling ... foreign affairs. Therefore, it is very difficult for us to make predictions about his policies toward major Arab issues, such as Iraq, Palestine, Iran, democracy in the Arab countries and the like," Alaa Bayoumi made these remarks in his recently released book entitled Barack Obama and Arabs, published by the Doha-based Peninsula Studies Centre.

His conclusions are based on documents and reports carried by various international and US media sources focusing on the policy announcements, statements and speeches made by Obama during his campaign trail.

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