Obama Must Forge New Relationship with Russia - Shirley Williams

Baroness Shirley Williams warned today that Barack Obama's foreign policy was in danger of failing unless he succeeded in forging a "new partnership with Russia". She argued that his current plans were based on a "false estimate" of US power and called upon the President-Elect to work with countries that America didn't like.

At a Fabian Society conference, Dr Timothy Lynch rejected hopes of change in American foreign policy arguing that Barack Obama was a "hard power Democrat" who had won a mandate for a third George Bush term - albeit with a better managed foreign policy. Obama, he argued, wanted not to bring troops home but rather to "visit violence abroad but more appropriately".

ABC News correspondent Jim Sciutto, however, was sceptical of Dr Lynch's soundbites, reasoning that Lynch was in danger of dismissing significant changes in US policy with throwaway lines. Obama was not "the second coming" but his election did mark a definitive turning point in US foreign policy.

Obama is a post-American president,"American leadership still remains important but it is not going to be leadership on their own", said Robert Cooper, director general for external and politico military affairs at the Council of the European Affairs.

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