Barack Obama’s Middle East speech – live coverage

Follow live updates as President Obama makes a key speech on the ‘Arab spring’ and the US’s role in the Middle East 4.20pm BST / 11.20am ET: PJ Crowley, the former State Department spokesman, tweets his thoughts on what Obama needs to do today: We’ll find out in about 20 minutes or so. 4.10pm BST / 11.10am ET: The New York Times puts Obama’s speech today into the context of a busy week for Middle East diplomacy: Thursday’s speech at the State Department is designed to be the first in a series of rhetorical opportunities for the president. On Friday, he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a conversation that will be closely watched by the Jewish community in the United States. And this weekend, Mr Obama will address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel lobby in the United States. Together, the post-speech events will give the president a chance to assert his support for Israel early in the 2012 campaign cycle. 4pm BST / 11am ET: If you want to watch Obama’s speech from the State Department from the comfort of your computer or iPad, the White House is offering a live video stream here . Good morning from Washington DC, where Barack Obama’s speech on the remarkable ‘Arab spring’ and the shape of US foreign policy in the region is eagerly awaited. Obama is scheduled to begin speaking at 11.40am eastern time, that’s 4.40pm BST and 6.40pm EEST in Damascus. Here’s how the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief Ewen Macaskill previewed the speech earlier today , saying it is Obama’s most important speech on the region since his visit to Cairo in 2009: The speech will deal mainly with the Arab spring, hailing the benefits of democracy and respect for human rights, in spite of America’s long-time support for authoritarian regimes in the region. Senior Obama administration officials, briefing on the speech, said he will take a fresh look at the Middle East after a decade of tension and division. With the winding down of the Iraq war and the death of Osama bin Laden, “we are turning a page”, one official said, adding that the democracy movements reinforced this. My colleague Matthew Weaver has done an excellent job blogging the latest Middle East unreast and anticipation of Obama’s speech today, which you can read right here . Barack Obama Arab and Middle East unrest US foreign policy Obama administration Middle East United States Egypt Syria Israel Libya Tunisia Palestinian territories Richard Adams guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 19, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.