Mr.Abbas has postponed elections indefinitely that were due for January, as some accused him of failing to persuade the Israelis to freeze settlement growth and grant other concessions.

VOA: standard.2009.11.16

"But our view is, there is still time for diplomacy and,I might say, sanctions to persuade the Iranians that their security will be diminished by going down the track of nuclear weapons."

VOA: standard.2009.09.17

"At the end of the day, the way to avoid a nuclear-armed Iran is to put together a package of incentives and disincentives that persuade the Iranian government that they would actually be less secure with nuclear weapons than if they had them,".

VOA: standard.2009.12.12

"What we want to do, along with friends like the Philippines and other ASEAN members is to encourage,urge, persuade the leadership of Burma to enter into this dialogue with their own people-to create the conditions for legitimacy that should be apparent when you have an election, and that is what we are looking to achieve,"

VOA: standard.2009.11.12