The following are editorial opinions from newspapers from around the world which may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers.

Jerusalem Post, Israel,–Barack Obama and Iran

The challenges facing President-elect Barack Obama are formidable. ...

Even with so much on his plate, there's no avoiding the Middle East — either because some flare-up will demand his attention, or because of the alluring temptation to go down in history as the president who finally — finally — brokered the deal that gave the Palestinian Arabs a state and delivered Israel from decades of terrorism.

Obama's secretary of state may feel drawn to fast-track the Israel-Syria peace negotiations, seeing a deal there as low-hanging fruit.

But we think Obama can be smarter than his predecessors by homing in on this harsh Middle East peacemaking reality: As long as the Islamic Republic of Iran remains on the ascendant, there will be no peace between Israel and the Palestinians, no way to bolster Palestinian moderates by chipping away at the rejectionists, no treaty with Syria, and no prospect of saving Lebanon.

So rather than going down the fruitless path taken by many of his predecessors, Obama might want to begin with a different set of assumptions:

Since 1979, the chief obstacle to peace in the Middle East has been Iran. Break its stranglehold, and you pave the way toward progress on all peacemaking fronts. ...

What matters is what America talks to Iran about and the environment in which "unconditional" talks take place.

The talks need to be aimed at persuading Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons. But talking is not an end itself. ... Bilateral talks between Washington and Tehran need to be accompanied by draconian sanctions led by the US and EU; and the threat of the military option if all else fails must be more than perfunctory. ...

Whatever (Obama's) game plan, if he wants to help foster the normalised relations Israel seeks with its Arab neighbours his administration will first have to sideline the region's number-one obstacle to peace.

Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon,–on Barack Obama

The election of Barack Obama as America's first black president has instantly thrown decades of assumptions about that country and how it will behave into a state of suspended animation. Not for the first time, the Western world's original revolutionary republic has decided to reinvent itself during an era of crisis. ...

For all his inspiring experiences and masterful oratory, however, Obama remains a single mortal tasked with some of the most intimidating challenges ever left for someone entering the Oval Office. And meeting all the expectations heaped on him — both at home and abroad — will not simply be a matter of reversing the disastrous course set by his predecessor, George W. Bush. ...

Especially in the Middle East, therefore, no miracles should be expected. An entire subculture operates within the American political arena, and although it is widely known as the "Israel" or "Jewish" lobby, it represents neither US nor Israeli interests, only those of far-right ultra-Zionists, and its influence on American views of the region is enormous. ...

We know America 4.0 is in the making, and we know that it will forever be associated with Barack Obama. What we do not know includes virtually everything else. Following one of the worst leaders of modern times allows plenty of room for improvement, but it also means negotiating a minefield of hot spots in which a single misstep can make matters even worse.

The Dallas Morning News, Texas,–on Barack Obama's next moves

In hiring Rahm Emanuel and John Podesta to his staff last week, President-elect Barack Obama selected two hardball politicos from Bill Clinton's administration. At least the new Democrat in charge will have veterans who can tell him what not to do.

The Clinton White House famously steered off course by picking a fight over gays in the military, which really wasn't one of candidate Clinton's top agenda items. By the time the untested Clinton team settled that one, the administration had lost a good bit of political capital before its first term was barely in motion. ...

Unlike Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama will not have the luxury of time. ...

Mr. Obama will start strong if he can secure early bipartisan victories. ...

Of course, there's no guarantee the Democrats running both houses of Congress will have similar aspirations. ...

In fact, they could prove his greatest obstacle, as President Bush learned when he first tried to work with leaders in his own party. ...

As with Mr. Clinton's early mistake, Mr. Obama should learn from the way Mr. Bush overplayed his hand. For his sake, and the nation's, Mr. Obama will need extreme discipline and good judgment to avoid two things: overreaching and the partisans waiting for him from his own party.

Albany Times Union, New York,–on John McCain and Sarah Palin

What now for the defeated political team of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin? ...

Mr. McCain goes back to the Senate, of course, and to a political arena that clearly suits him better than a presidential campaign does, or at least the 2008 version of one. ...

The Senate will need a seasoned and conciliatory figure who can help mediate the battles ahead. ...

Mr. McCain might begin by ditching Ms. Palin. She'll be a force on the Republican right, and the man who bears the responsibility for that would do well to disavow his running mate and all her brash ambition.

(Election) night had Ms. Palin apparently ready to deliver her own concession speech. That would have been one more for the history books, after a campaign full of milestones. ...

Ms. Palin will be the focus of still more attention. She can expect to be asked about, among other things, a Fox News report that the McCain campaign had said she didn't know Africa was a continent. The wardrobe tales continue, from her $150,000 shopping spree to "Palin 2012" T-shirts for sale back in Wasilla.

And then there was the phone call — from Canadian comedian Marc-Antoine Audette, pretending to be President Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr. Audette told Ms. Palin in a conversation that would have been unusual for being so casual that she would make a good president someday.

"Maybe in eight years," Ms. Palin replied.

Or maybe not.

Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio, on an auto industry bailout

On (November 6), American auto executives pleaded with congressional leaders for $50 billion in loans to help their industry weather a rapidly deteriorating market for car sales. (That sum would be in addition to the $25 billion in loans already available to assist in developing more fuel-efficient cars.) ...

Should Washington come to the rescue?

One answer is no. If General Motors runs out of cash, the argument goes, let the company proceed into bankruptcy, where it will be forced into an overdue restructuring. ...

The trouble is, automakers differ from airlines, which have flown into and out of bankruptcy with some regularity. Consider the economic impact in Ohio and Michigan of bankruptcy for an automaker, especially at this time, the overall economy headed into a recession. The auto industry employs more than 200,000 workers directly and millions indirectly in this country. The object in these conditions should be to press the companies to restructure and consolidate yet provide a cushion from the blow for workers and their families.

In other words, the correct answer is yes. Congress must help. ...

The News-Press, Fort Myers, Florida, on the prospect of a 'wired' administration

Franklin Roosevelt revolutionized White House communications with fireside chats via the radio. John Kennedy mastered the medium of television to take his message to the public.

Now, dialogue between the president and the nation is about to reach another level, as Barack Obama creates the first "wired" administration, providing Americans with unprecedented access to the Oval Office.

With plans to name a Chief Technology Officer, who will oversee the design and development of new ways to use technology, Obama will emphasise "new media" as a means to communicate with citizens and solicit their opinions. ...

It will bring government closer to the people, and make elected officials more accountable.

This new emphasis will not only change the relationship between the president and Americans, it will impact the relationship between America and other nations — with mass communication via the World Wide Web. ...

Between his website, e-mails, social networking, blogs, text messages, YouTube and podcasts, Obama can connect like never before.

Putting us closer to government by the people.

Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas, on financial education in schools

Next to election results, the most important numbers for many Americans may be their credit scores.

There's at least one very simple lesson for average Americans in the Wall Street/subprime mess: Some of us are pretty clueless about how credit works, and we need to fix that.

As a nation, maybe we need to add a "C" to the traditional curriculum of the Three R's. That's "C" as in credit and how to use it wisely and well. Flunking this financial basic helped land us in our current predicament.

To be sure, many of us do handle credit responsibly. ...

What's worrying is that more than a third of those who do carry balances of more than $10,000 on their cards have annual incomes under $50,000, according to MSN Money columnist Liz Pulliam Weston. ...

While we're at it, a word to the credit card pushers: You helped get us into this, too. You should do your part to help get us out.

Enough of the weasel wording on credit offers that is specifically designed to push less-than-careful consumers into usurious interest rates. Enough of the offers to high school students with no work history.

Now, the credit card industry is shutting off credit even to those with perfect credit scores because it's no longer a license to print money.

This won't do, either. ...

Just as Sputnik launched a generation of scientific and mathematics education in this country in the 1950s, the debt debacle should provide the painful boost to lift financial education to greater emphasis in our schools.

That is the long-term answer and a wise investment in our future.

New York Post,–on Sen. Joe Lieberman

Sen. Joe Lieberman finds himself a man without a political home.

Democrats, their Senate majority bolstered, want to punish him for his apostasy in not only endorsing Republican John McCain but also addressing last summer's GOP convention — where he openly criticised Barack Obama. ...

In retaliation, the party wants to strip him of his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship. ...

Now he's reportedly in talks with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell about joining the GOP line-up (he officially became an independent after the 2006 election, although he caucuses with the Democrats).

But that's a step Lieberman insists he doesn't want to take.

And, frankly, to expel him — as the Democrats seem intent on doing — would be an act of mean-spiritedness that runs sharply counter to the kind of bipartisanship upon which Obama campaigned. ...

After all, on issues other than the War on Terror, he has voted in lockstep with the Democrats. ...

But when it comes to national security, Lieberman remains one of a vanishing breed of Democrats — like the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Henry "Scoop" Jackson — who understand that America needs to remain strong and vigorous.

More important, Lieberman is one of Washington's few truly principled legislators; he steadfastly refuses to compromise his beliefs on behalf of expediency. ...

It remains to be seen whether vengeful Democrats will be petty enough to strip Lieberman's chairmanship.

Whatever happens, no one should lose sight of the fact that Joe Lieberman has consistently put the national interest ahead of his own political needs. ...

Los Angeles Times,–on Barack Obama and Latinos

Latinos voted in record numbers in last week's presidential election and threw their support overwhelmingly behind Democrat Barack Obama. ...

The results upend strategist Karl Rove's plan to create a permanent Republican majority with socially conservative Latinos. It turns out the bloc is up for grabs.

Although a majority of Latino voters started the election year as supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and many were sceptical that an African American president would be good for them, like much of the rest of the country they ended up putting the economy ahead of race or social issues and booting out the incumbents for Obama's promise of change. ...

But they have an additional issue: immigration. ...

Latino voters felt unrepresented, if not betrayed, by the Republican Party. ... Furthermore, many were angered by John McCain's retreat from immigration reform for what they saw as a sop to the hard-line Republican base.

Obama has said his priorities are to right the economy and aid the middle class. Although he has promised immigration reform in his first year, it is not first on his to-do list, and he is unlikely to spend political capital to halt construction of the border fence. But there are steps the new president can take to show Latino voters he means to take on the issue. ...

However he does it, he must deliver on their dream of change.