Obama: respect countries' sovereignty
Updated on 07 July 2009
In a speech to graduate students in Moscow, US President Barack Obama asserts the right of countries to choose their own leaders.
Citing the example of Honduras, whose president was recently deposed, he said: “Even as we meet here today, America supports now the restoration of the democratically elected president of Honduras… because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders.
And he told Russia that it should respect the sovereignty of neighbouring countries such as Georgia and the Ukraine.
“State sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order… States must have the right to borders that are secure, to their own foreign policies,” the US president said.
“That is true for Russia just as it is true for the United States. Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy.
“That’s why we must apply this principle to all nations - and that includes nations like Georgia and the Ukraine.”
And he concluded by stressing that the future of any country lay not in military confrontation but with a young and educated population.
“The future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground. The future belongs to young people with an education and the imagination to create.”
