FACTBOX - Highlights of Obama speech in Berlin

Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:34pm EDT
 
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BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama called on Europe to stand with the United States in bringing stability to Afghanistan and fighting threats from climate change to nuclear proliferation in a speech on Thursday.

Below is a selection of quotes from his speech:

GERMAN-U.S. TRUST

"People of the world -- look at Berlin! Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle."

NEW DANGERS

"The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers.

"No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone."

U.S.-EUROPE DIFFERENCES/PARTNERSHIP

"In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future.

"The greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

"Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic."

AFGHANISTAN

"No one welcomes war. I recognise the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone."

NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION, IRAN

"It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era.

"My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions."  Continued...

 

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