Obama expects ‘clearer process’ within 48 hours
BANGKOK - The Associated Press
United States President Barack Obama said yesterday that he hoped for a clearer progress over the next 48 hours, at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.“We’re going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours,” Obama added.
Obama defended Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians.
Right to defend
“Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,” Obama said. “If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that’s preferable,” he said.
Obama said there’s “no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.”
He said Palestinians will have no chance to pursue their own state and a lasting peace with Israel as long as rockets are fired into Israel.
Obama to visit Myanmar
U.S. President Barack Obama said his visit to Myanmar today did not represent a premature endorsement of its government, but was designed to encourage more political reform. Myanmar must do more to move towards genuine democracy, Obama said at a press conference with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on the first leg of a three-nation Asian tour. Obama will be visiting isolated today and will meet with President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
