Barack Obama has given his first television interview as US president to a Saudi-backed channel, reinforcing his message to the Muslim and Arab worlds that "Americans are not your enemy".
After promising mutual respect for Muslims in his inaugural speech and moving swiftly to address the Arab-Israeli conflict by appointing George Mitchell as his special envoy, Mr Obama's interview on the Dubai-based al-Arabiya channel raised hopes across the region that a line can be drawn under the past eight years of tense relations.
The president pledged a renewed drive towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, saying he had instructed Mr Mitchell to keep an open mind.
The television interview drew a positive response from the Middle East. "The [US] engagement is earlier than anyone expected," said a senior Arab official yesterday. "All the signs are very encouraging . . . Obama is aware that the Middle East is a priority."
A state department official said: "It is a clear example of this administration's desire to reach out to the Muslim world and engage. I suspect you'll see other attempts to do that."
Analysts said the attention given to the region underlined the extent to which Mr Obama understood the damage wreaked by the Bush administration, and the impact the Gaza conflict has had on the image of the US and its regional allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
"We're in for a whole new strategic thinking," said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a professor of political science at Emirates University in Dubai. "We are looking at a president who has thought this through carefully and who wants to build bridges, a president who wants to go back to before the September 11 [2001] attacks, scrap all the mistakes and bad feelings."
Mr Obama went further than before in speaking openly about his own personal ties to the Muslim world. He spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia, which is widely tipped to be the first majority-Muslim country he will visit within his initial 100 days in office.
Jamal Khashoggi, editor of Saudi Arabia's al-Watan newspaper, said it was clear the president saw himself as a mediator between the US and Muslim world.
"My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives," Mr Obama said. "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. "
Although it is the more controversial Qatari-owned al-Jazeera channel that speaks most loudly to frustrated Arabs and Muslims, the conservative al-Arabiya is widely watched in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis have been infuriated by the US, not least because of its unequivocal support for Israel.
Last week Prince Turki al-Faisal, a prominent member of the Saudi royal family and former spy chief, wrote a scathing article in the Financial Times warning that US failure to change drastically its policies towards Israel and the Palestinians would damage ties between Washington and Riyadh and radicalise the kingdom's stance.
In his interview, Mr Obama insisted that Israel's security was "paramount". But, unlike the Bush administration, he appeared to recognise the role the Arab-Israeli conflict played in other crises in the region, and on the radicalisation of Muslim youth.
"It is impossible for us to think only in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not think in terms of what's happening with Syria or Iran or Lebanon or Afghanistan and Pakistan," he told al-Arabiya.
Middle East watchers in Washington welcomed his gesture but said they were awaiting a change in substance from the new president.
"At some point we will need to know whether the Obama administration is prepared to talk to [the Palestinian militant group] Hamas, directly or indirectly, and whether it will take a different stance on the Israeli settlements. Beyond the tone, what will be the substance?" said Peter Bergen, an al-Qaeda expert.
The al-Arabiya channel also pointed out that Mr Obama had yet to speak out strongly on the issue of civilian casualties resulting from Israel's Gaza offensive.
"His continuing silence on the enormous amount of civilian casualties during the Israeli offensive . . . spoke volumes to an audience that has waited for America to take a more balanced approach to the conflict," it said.
Snake wine (rÆ°á"£u rắn in Vietnamese) is an alcoholic beverage that includes a whole venomous snake in the bottle. It originated in Vietnam and can be found around Southeast Asia. The snakes, preferably venomous ones, are usually not preserved for their meat. They are preserved to have the snake poison dissolved in the liquor. However, because snake venom is protein-based, they are unfolded and therefore inactivated due to the influence of the denaturing effects of ethanol.
A large venomous snake can be placed into a glass jar of rice wine, often with many smaller snakes, turtles, insects, or birds, and left to steep for many months. The wine is drunk as a restorative in small shots or cups
Body fluids of snake are mixed into wine and consumed immediately in the form of a shot. Snake blood wine is prepared by slicing a snake along its belly and draining its blood into a mixing vat with rice wine or grain alcohol. Snake bile wine is done through a similar method by using the contents of the gall bladder. Snake meat, liver, and skin can be prepared to accompany the drinks
