Obama Administration Opts for Engagement

The winds of US change are blowing not only in Washington but also beyond American borders.

In a clear break with the previous administration, President Obama's Sate Department will be attending the preparatory meetings of the World Conference Against Racism, also known as Durban II, whose second gathering will take place in Geneva in April.

Here's from the Voice of America:

Obama administration officials are not committing to send a delegation to the actual conference in April. But they have sent a U.S. team to the preparatory meeting, saying that not doing so would leave the field open to those who would subvert the goal of combating racism.

 Israel, which condemned the 2001 conference as an exercise in anti-Semitism and a sounding board for Arab political attacks against the Jewish state, had called for a boycott of the conference and the preparatory meeting this week in Geneva.

 However, the Obama administration, after consulting with members of Congress and leaders of the American Jewish community, has decided to take part in the preparatory talks in an effort to bring some balance to a draft declaration being prepared for the April plenary session.

State Department Deputy Spokesman Gordon Duguid says the new administration believes that if it is not engaged in the process, it cannot affect the outcome.

"The administration wanted to highlight the fact that we are looking at this declaration, and we're taking a hard look at it. What we've seen so far is not promising. And the way to change that and make this committee work, is to go in and engage. There's no guarantee of success. We're not going in with any ideas that, having not been engaged over several years, we are going to go at this point and change it. But we are going to try to see what we can do," he said.