House of Wisdom

House of Wisdom: "One year after Obama's 'new beginning'

Obama.jpgSlightly more than one year ago, US president Barack Obama visited Cairo, Egypt, to give his historic speech, widely seen as an outreach effort to Muslim-majority countries around the world.

As he stood in the fabled, gold-adorned grand hall of Cairo University, one of the oldest secular universities in the region, Obama gave a rousing speech, with several promises to Muslims around the world.

Many of these promises remain unfilled or largely ignored today. But to me, and most of the science community in the region, the most important promise the US president made that day was related to increasing science dialogue, outreach and exchange between the US and Islamic countries.

So one year later, where do we stand on that pivotal promise? What are the hits and misses?"