Foreign policy experts discuss future at UM High school students told challenges ahead

ORONO – There was a round of applause and a few cheers from the more than 120 high school students when senior foreign policy fellow Bruce Riedel said that Barack Obama is the favorite presidential candidate among Israelis overseas.

“They are excited about the 2008 presidential election,” Riedel, a fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., said Monday. “Many were very excited about what they were hearing about America’s direction in the future.”

Riedel has just returned to the United States after a more than two-week U.S.-Islamic World Forum in the Persian Gulf.

In the Islamic world, approval ratings of the United States are at an all-time low, he said.

“We have our work cut out for us,” Riedel said.

Riedel and Mark Bellamy, senior fellow in residence for Africa and international security programs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies also in Washington, D.C., were at the University of Maine where they addressed the group of high school students Monday afternoon from Hampden and Mattanawcook academies, Orono, Ellsworth, and Bangor high schools. Students at other high schools throughout the state also were able to listen via live Web feed.

“There are no faraway places in the world anymore,” Bellamy said. “What happens around the world affects all of us today in ways that it did not used to in the past.”

During their visit to campus, Riedel and Bellamy, who are advisers to UM’s School of Policy and International Affairs, also gave an evening presentation titled, “The Roots of Terrorism: From the Horn of Africa to Pakistan – and What To Do About It.”

Both men agreed that the challenges facing the next administration are great and global, and will begin on the first day of office.

“We need to get out of Iraq a lot smarter than we got into Iraq,” Riedel said, noting that the U.S. can’t sustain its current military involvement in Iraq, and that the Iraqis are ready for U.S. soldiers to leave.

After their brief remarks, the speakers took questions from the students, which ran the gamut from terrorism to humanitarian aid to the role of the next U.S. president.

Bourcard Nesin, 18, a senior at Mattanawcook High School in Lincoln, asked how vital it is for the next administration to talk to U.S. enemies and allies.

“I think a lot depends on the enemy,” Riedel said. “There’s no point in talking to al-Qaida … There’s nothing to negotiate with them.”

Bellamy noted five key issues that need to be addressed by the incoming administration. Those include:

. Repairing relationships with allies and institutions, such as the United Nations.

. Paying more attention to global development.

. Marketing the country’s message and intentions in a clear manner.

. Fostering trade relationships, and promoting technology and innovation.

. Addressing issues involving climate change.

Bellamy made similar comments, citing Iraq, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as three key issues that need to be addressed immediately.

“The next president’s got to figure out how to juggle these three balls together,” he said.

For Ellsworth High School social studies teacher Jill Cohen, Monday was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for her students. She brought about 65 students to listen to the foreign policy specialists and ask questions.

“This is just an incredible opportunity for students to hear experts in the field on a topic that is so relevant to what we live and breath every day,” Cohen said.

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