TNN, Washington :Defending his administration’s foreign policy in view of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the Gaza conflict, President Barack Obama has said that the US does not control everything that happens across the globe despite being the most powerful country.”Apparently people have forgotten that America, as the most powerful country on Earth, still does not control everything around the world,” Obama told White House reporters at a news conference.”So our diplomatic efforts often take time. They often will see progress and then a step backwards. That’s been true in the Middle East. That’s been true in Europe. That’s been true in Asia. That’s the nature of world affairs. It’s not neat, and it’s not smooth,” he said when asked if the United States has lost its influence in the world.”But if you look at, for example, Ukraine, we have made progress in delivering on what we said we would do. We can’t control how (Vladimir) Putin thinks.”But what we can do is say to Putin, if you continue on the path of arming separatists with heavy armaments that violates international law and undermines the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, then you’re going to face consequences that will hurt your country,” he said.”There was a lot of scepticism about our ability to coordinate with Europeans for a strong series of sanctions. Each time we have done what we said we would do, including this week, when we put in place sanctions that have an impact on key sectors of the Russian economy – their energy, their defense, their financial systems. It hasn’t resolved the problem yet,” he said.Obama said in the 20th century and the early part of this century, there are a lot of conflicts that America did not resolve.”That’s always been true. That doesn’t mean we stop trying. It is not a measure of American influence on any given day or at any given moment that there are conflicts around the world that are difficult,” he said.
