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Iran Nuclear Program

March 26, 2012 by · Comments Off on Iran Nuclear Program 

Iran Nuclear Program, President Barack Obama on Monday made a direct appeal to the leaders of North Korea and Iran, urging them to “have the courage” to step away from their nuclear weapons programs, rather than follow a path toward greater isolation and economic distress.

“You can continue down the road you are on, but we know where that leads,” Obama said in a speech that balanced notes of diplomatic persuasion with hard-edged pressure.

Addressing new leaders in Pyongyang, Obama warned that their current path would lead to “more broken dreams, more isolation and ever more distance between the people of North Korea and the dignity and opportunity they deserve.”

To Tehran, he said that “time is short” for diplomacy to defuse a standoff over its nuclear program.

Obama made the remarks on the second day of a visit to Seoul, where he is attending a nuclear t*rror*sm summit. Speaking before a group of students at Hankuk University, Obama touted his initiative to lock down loose nuclear material, as well as his broader goals of blocking the spread of nuclear weapons.

The trip started in ways that reprised similar journeys by his last two predecessors, reflecting the Korean peninsula’s status as one of the last vestiges of what used to be a worldwide divide.

Iran Nuclear Program

March 2, 2012 by · Comments Off on Iran Nuclear Program 

Iran Nuclear Program, Iran’s nuclear program will be the central topic when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Ottawa for a three-day visit on Friday.

There is a belief Prime Minister Stephen Harper will find himself caught between Israel’s desire to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Islamic republic and the Obama administration’s efforts to defuse the crisis with diplomacy and sanctions.

Whether Netanyahu will ask Canada to support military action is unclear, but if recent history is any indication, Harper’s support for Israel will overrule any concern about damaging the Canada-U.S. relationship.

There has been a growing sense in recent months that Israel is on the verge of attacking Iran as the latter continues to defy the international community and move ahead on its nuclear program, which many fear is aimed at building an atomic arsenal.

Not only has Harper positioned Canada as one of Israel’s strongest supporters, but the prime minister has also warned that Iran is the world’s greatest threat and that it won’t hesitate to use nuclear weapons should it acquire them.

“We are facing a regime that not only wants to attain nuclear weapons but a regime that has, compared to virtually all other holders of nuclear weapons in the past, far less fear of using them,” Harper said in an interview with Postmedia News last month.

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