Washington, Jan 21 : America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe from Asia to the Middle east, US President Barack Obama today said in his inaugural address after being sworn in for a second innings.
“We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully, not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear,” Obama said.
“America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation,” the 51-year-old president said.
“We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom,” Obama said.
“And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalised, the victims of prejudice - not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice,” he said at the 57th inauguration ceremony of an American president.
However, there was no mention of any specific country, neither there was any mention of the war in Afghanistan which is coming to an end by 2014 or that of the first against terrorism including the defeat of Al-Qaeda.
Obama said Americans still believe that their obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.
“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms,” he said.
