Tag Archives: speech

At Israel’s Holocaust Memorial, Many Find the Pope’s Silence Deafening

Few question Pope Benedict XVI’s good will, nor the eloquence of his prose. But for the second time in three years, the Pope has delivered a highly anticipated discourse on the Holocaust that was moving but, by its silence on specific subjects, missed an opportunity of historic proportions. Welcomed at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial early Monday evening, Benedict spoke powerfully of the victims, and called on humanity never to forget the attempt to exterminate the Jews as a way “to ensure that hatred will never reign in the hearts of men again.” But, in a highly unusual criticism of an honored guest’s remarks, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, chairman of the Yad Vashem council, told Israeli television that though the speech was moving, “Something was missing.

Obama to address Muslim relations in Egypt speech

President Obama will deliver a speech June 4 in Egypt on America’s relationship with the Muslim world, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced Friday. Egypt is “a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world,” Gibbs said.

Iran’s leaders on ‘wrong side of history,’ Israeli president says

Iran’s "fanatical rulers" pose a nuclear threat to the Middle East and "are on the wrong side of history," Israeli President Shimon Peres said Monday. “In addition to their nuclear option, they [Iran] invest huge capital in long-range missiles,” the Israeli president said. “Iran is not threatened by anybody.

Holder seeks help from Europe to relocate Guantanamo detainees

Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday night, appealed to European nations to accept some of the detainees held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to help the Obama administration close down the prison facility. “I know that Europe did not open Guantanamo, and that in fact, a great many on this continent opposed it,” Holder said in his address at the American Academy of Berlin

Gorbachev, Shultz, Nunn, Perry Urge a Nuclear-Free World

President Obama’s call for a “world without nuclear weapons,” and his agreement with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to work towards just that, have helped revive an issue that slipped off the foreign-policy agenda following the end of the Cold War two decades ago. But nuclear disarmament hasn’t been completely forgotten in recent years. In 2007, four diplomatic heavyweights — former U.S

Iranian leader: No one dares threaten us

The Iranian president on Saturday hailed the nation as "one of the strongest in the region" during a celebration to mark Army Day, according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency. “Today our nation is one of the strongest in the region and a great part of the world,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, according to Mehr.