Obama supports Middle East uprisings

"The status quo is not sustainable," Obama said in a major speech at the state department in Washington on Thursday, the first on the Middle East since he spoke in Cairo in 2009. In a speech dubbed Cairo 2, he threw US weight behind the protesters, saying: "We face a historic opportunity. We have embraced the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator ... After decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be."

He was addressing criticism that America has moved too slowly in response to the pro-democracy movements sweeping the region. As well as support for the newly emerging democracies in Egypt and Tunisia, he criticised long-term US allies such as Bahrain, where America has a large naval base, for its suppression of democracy movements.