Biden tells Europe U.S. will push diplomacy

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Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the International Conference on Security Policy at the hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Germany, on Saturday.


Biden tells Europe U.S. will push diplomacy
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, February 8, 2009

MUNICH, Germany — Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday vowed that the United States will emphasize diplomacy over military force and seek to set a new tone with its European partners.

But, he said, it also will be asking more of its allies.

"America will do more; that’s the good news," Biden told French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others attending the 45th Munich Security Conference. "The bad news is America will ask more of our partners as well."

Some 300 government officials, defense policy experts and heads of state have gathered in Munich for a weekend of consultations on a host of thorny security matters. Nuclear proliferation, cybercrime, the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan and Iran’s nuclear program are all on the table.

During a wide-ranging keynote speech, Biden talked about everything from a commitment to fight global warming to the need for help from allies in accepting prisoners from Guantanamo Bay detention vamp, which President Barack Obama has ordered closed within a year.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60566