Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus '69 spoke on his time at Cornell and its influence on his politics last night in Statler.

During his campaign, President Obama took the unprecedented step of traveling to Europe and giving a speech to thousands in Berlin. Undoubtedly, the trip was motivated by domestic goals; Obama wanted to be portrayed as a leader that could restore greatness to the image of the United States abroad, a leader that we could be proud of. And in that sense, it was effective. Now as the President makes his second trip abroad (and first major one) he is bringing the stump speech from Prague to Ankara in an effort to win over foreign publics and governments.

Yesterday, the World Bank announced — to my absolute shock — that the global economy will shrink in 2009.

I’m writing to take a stand that the time-honored tradition of gifts from one foreign leader to another continue despite this forecast.

I mean, where would our country’s relations with Saudi Arabia be if Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz had not lavished $130,000 of jewelry on Bush and cronies in 2003? Or … our relations with Argentina if President Néstor Kirchner hadn’t provided the First Family with 300 pounds of raw lamb?

Abdallah Hajji and Lofti Lagha knew the worst was not behind them when they boarded a plane from Guantánamo Bay detention facility back home to Tunisia in 2007. After being held in Guantánamo under suspicions of terrorist involvement, the two Tunisian nationals were independently cleared as non-enemy combatants and released back into the hands of the Tunisian government, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch. Despite pleas by the detainees to forgo the repatriation and known reports of torture in Tunisia, the U.S. government went ahead with the transfer. To no one’s great surprise, Hajji and Lagha were both viciously tortured in Tunisian prisons — all of which could have been prevented.