Obama is a competent, charismatic George W Bush

But the US ruling elite is not serious about a “solution” in the Middle East. The present chaos - the imprisonment of Palestine and the imposition of friendly Arab and Muslim dictators - is their preferred position.

It is in the interests of US imperialism to have the Middle East permanently destabilised through Israel. This enables it to control the whole region indirectly through the Zionist state and directly through its dictators.

In doing that it helps the US control imperialist rivals like China.

In essence Israel is the armed wing of US imperialism in the region and Obama will not change that.

As an aside, Obama has deliberately conflated criticism of Israel with holocaust denial.

The Zionist project - the establishment of an exclusive Jewish homeland on the bones of the Palestinian people - has appropriated the holocaust for its own genocidal purposes. That is not to deny the holocaust but to understand the malevolent use of history as justification by some for another form of genocide.

To me the solution appears to be a democratic and secular Palestine for all who want to live there. That can only come about in the long term through the Arab masses overthrowing their US supported dictators.

Many will believe Obama’s talk about a new beginning. Their hopes will crash upon the rocks of imperialism. Barack Obama is the Commander in Chief of Terror. His goal is the same as that of George W Bush - continued US dominance around the world. The only difference is his methods are more nuanced and subtle.

Changing drivers on the bulldozer doesn’t change the bulldozer.

His Cairo speech is a panegyric to imperialism by denying its existence. “America” he proclaims, “is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire”.

I agree. It is much more than a crude stereotype. It is the pre-eminent empire of capital.

Such an empire can only survive on the labour of its workforce. And therein lies our hope for the overthrow of the US Empire - the US working class.