Iran, Syria among topics for G-8 and NATO
May 18, 2012, 8:57 PM
AP National Security Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is using weekend gatherings of world leaders _ dominated by discussion of European economic woes and Afghanistan _ to solidify world resolve against development of an Iranian nuclear bomb and to encourage a more forceful response to worsening violence in Syria.
Obama will have the ear of key players on both issues during back-to-back G-8 and NATO summits that begin Friday evening at the secluded presidential retreat in Camp David, Md. Discussion will be aimed directly and indirectly at Russia, a sometime protector of both Iran and Syria and the chief blockade to such U.S. goals as an arms embargo on Syria.
The gatherings come in the shadow of the eurozone debt crisis and plummeting public support for the war in Afghanistan.
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