US President Barack Obama made a strident case for his successor Donald Trump to retain America's support for a liberal world order on Sunday, warning world peace and prosperity depend on it.
"The main advice that I give to the incoming president is the United States really is an indispensable nation in our world order," Obama said in Peru as he wrapped up his final foreign visit.
The United States' ability to uphold "international norms and rules …that's what's made the modern world," Obama said, admitting that Washington had not always fulfilled its own ideals, but remained vital to global security.
"Here in Latin America there's been times when countries felt disrespected and on occasion had cause for that."
But he argued history served as a warning for those imagining or flirting with a revised global order.
"Take an example like Europe before that order was imposed. We had two world wars in a span of 30 years. In the second one, 60 million people were killed. Not half a million, not a million but 60 million. Entire continents in rubble."
"We're not going to be able to handle every problem, but the American president and the United States of America, if we're not on the side of what's right, if we're not making the argument and fighting for it even if sometimes we're not able to deliver it 100 percent everywhere, then it collapses."
"There's nobody to fill the void. There really isn't," he said.
Obama said he doesn't intend to become his successor's constant critic - but reserved the right to speak out if President-elect Donald Trump or his policies breach certain ''values or ideals''.
Offering a rare glimpse into his thoughts on his post-presidency, Obama suggested once he was out of office he would uphold the tradition of ex-presidents stepping aside quietly to allow their successors space to govern. He heaped praise on his predecessor George W Bush, saying he ''could not have been more gracious to me when I came in'' and said he wanted to give Trump the same chance to pursue his agenda ''without somebody popping off'' at every turn.
But Obama suggested there may be limits to his silence. ''As an American citizen who cares deeply about our country, if there are issues that have less to do with the specifics of some legislative proposal or battle or go to core questions about our values and ideals, and if I think that it's necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, I'll examine it when it comes,'' Obama told reporters.
Yet Obama suggested that while he might not always hold his tongue, his goal wasn't to spend his time publicly disparaging his replacement.
''My intention is to, certainly for the next 2 months, just finish my job,'' Obama said. ''And then after that, to take Michelle on vacation, get some rest, spend time with my girls, and do some writing, do some thinking.'' Source: domain-b.com
Pesident Barack Obama on Saturday said the US would intervene everytime it could to prevent “massacre of innocent people”, justifying his decision to carry out targeted airstrikes in Iraq against Islamist militants. “The US cannot and should not intervene everytime there’s a crisis in the world. But when there’s a situation like the one on this mountain — when countless innocent people are facing a massacre, and when we have the ability to help prevent it — the US cannot just look away,” Obama said. “That’s not who we are. We are Americans. We act. We lead,” he said in his weekly address to the nation. Thousands of families from the Yazidi minority community are trapped in the Sinjar mountains in north Iraq without food and water after fleeing the rampaging fighters of the Islamic State, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS. Obama said he has directed US military to take action “to protect our American diplomats and military advisers serving in the city of Erbil.” His order to send warplanes back to Iraq, three years after pulling the last US troops out of the country, came after the IS made huge gains on the ground, seizing a dam and forcing a mass exodus of religious minorities. “Thursday night, I made it clear that if they attempted to advance further, our military would respond with targeted strikes,” Obama said. “We have Americans serving across Iraq, including our embassy in Baghdad, and we will do whatever is needed to protect our people.” The US operation began with air drops of food and water for thousands of people hiding from the Sunni extremist militants in a barren northern mountain range. Many of America’s allies backed the US intervention, pledging urgent steps to assist the legions of refugees. “We have begun a humanitarian effort to help those Iraqi civilians trapped on that mountain. The terrorists that have taken over parts of Iraq have been especially brutal to religious minorities — rounding up families, executing men, enslaving women, and threatening the systematic destruction of an entire religious community, which would be genocide,” the US President said. “The thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Iraqi men, women and children who fled to that mountain were starving and dying of thirst. The food and water we airdropped will help them survive,” he said. Obama took over his office determined to end military involvement in Iraq, and he even oversaw the withdrawal of US ground forces from there in his first term. But the capture of huge swathes of land by the militants, who proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq in late June, has brought the country closer to collapse. Earlier this week, one anguished Iraqi cried to the world that “there is no one coming to help.” “Today, America is helping,” said Obama. He, however, ruled out putting “boots on the ground” in Iraq. “American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq, because there is no American military solution to the larger crisis there. What we will do is continue our broader strategy in Iraq. We will protect our citizens…We will help prevent these terrorists from having a permanent safe haven,” he said. 
