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Summary US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a security conference in Munich urged the Middle Eastern leaders to undertake democratic reforms
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday urged the Middle Eastern leaders to take the protests in Egypt and countries of the region as a mandate to undertake democratic reforms. Hillary told a security conference in Munich that a perfect storm of powerful trends--large, young populations facing grim economic prospects and more limited natural resources--made change imperative. The US is ready to help nations in the region take systematic steps such as free elections and constitutional reform, she added. Mrs. Clinton said that Washingtons motivating strategy will be to minimize the risk that Mideast nations will shift from one authoritarian regime to another. Some leaders may honestly believe that their country is an exception, Mrs. Clinton said and added, In the short term that may be true, but in the long term it is untenable...Governments who consistently deny their people freedom and opportunity are the ones who will in the end open the door to instability.
