BERLIN (AFP) — Barack Obama Thursday told a staggering crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin that Americans and Europeans must tear down walls between estranged allies, races and faiths, in a soaring challenge to a new political generation.
In an unprecedented overseas campaign speech, the Democratic White House candidate warned, near the footprint of the old Berlin Wall, that humanity must build "a world that stands as one," before the biggest crowd of his campaign.
"The greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another," said Obama, who has scorched through US politics at lightning speed to challenge Republican John McCain for the White House in November's election.
"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand," he said, referring to festering divisions between Europe and the United States opened up by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
"The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand," said Obama, in an address beamed live on US and German television channels and to viewers around the world.
"The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down," Obama said, drawing cheers and applause....
The Truth, however, brings a sword and divides. Definition brings understanding only through division. This is a time of choosing, a time when truth must be defined and separated from the false and the dangerous. This is no time to tell us that isn't necessary, even though that is exactly what people want to hear.
"People of the world -- look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one," Obama said.
To state the obvious, the Berlin wall was removed because one side won and one side lost.
In a speech that risked being seen as presumptuous, considering Obama will not even face US voters for another three months, he warned of a world where partnership was not a choice but the only means of survival.
"We cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone," he said.
He promised America under his watch would be serious about tackling global warning, a huge concern in Europe and a cause of rifts between the continent and the United States during the Bush administration.
But Europe must live up to its side of the bargain, he said, asking for more help in the struggle against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation."
He also demanded more help for Iraqi civilians, for an effort to solve Myanmar's political agony and a new drive for Middle East peace.
Just like Bush, Obama assumes the "Afghan people" and "Iraqi civlians" are on our side. They and the "Palestinian people" are "ordinary Moms and Dads" who want peace and prosperity "just like us."
