Obama Stresses Iraq Unity, Discusses Ukraine with Hollande

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande agreed that Russia could face further actions by the West if it fails to de-escalate tensions on the border with Ukraine, the French presidency said on Friday.

Speaking by phone, the leaders urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to call on separatist militants to stand down and to stop sending military equipment to Ukraine.

"Without any progress in this direction, new measures would be taken against Russia," the French presidency said.

On another level, Obama warned Friday that no amount of US firepower could keep Iraq together if its political leaders did not disdain sectarianism and work to unite the country.

Obama told CNN, a day after announcing the dispatch of 300 special forces advisors to Iraq following a lightning advance by the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" terrorists, that American sacrifices had given Iraq a chance at a stable democracy, but it had been squandered.

"There's no amount of American firepower that's going to be able to hold the country together," Obama said in an interview.

He added: "I made that very clear to [Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri] al-Maliki and all of the other leadership inside of Iraq."

"We gave Iraq the chance to have an inclusive democracy. To work across sectarian lines to provide a better future for their children. And unfortunately what we've seen is a breakdown of trust," Obama said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team