US Mission Geneva

Sec. Kerry: “The United States of America has been more engaged on more issues with more crises simultaneously and with greater outcomes and consequence to that engagement on a global basis than at any time in American history.”

In re-engaging the United Nations, we have not compromised our national interests, but advanced them; we have not overlooked the dysfunctions of the UN system, but sought to tackle them; and we have not muted our values, but defended them vigorously and credibly.

U.S. Embassy Bern informs U.S. citizens that on December 19 a gunman shot and wounded three people near the Islamic Center at Eigasse 6, Kreis 4 in Zurich. Police are searching for the gunman. We encourage U.S. citizens in Switzerland to avoid the area around Eisgasse. We urge U.S. citizens in Zurich to contact family members and loved ones to notify them that you are safe.

There is absolutely no justification whatsoever for the indiscriminate and savage brutality against civilians shown by the regime and by its Russian and Iranian allies over the past few weeks, or indeed for the past five years.

The United States welcomed the continued successful operation of the Gali and Ergneti Incident Prevention Response Mechanisms (IPRMs), as an independent contribution to peace and stability. The United States also congratulated the EU Monitoring Mission for its efforts to facilitate medical crossings and maintain the incident hotline, work that has helped to reduce tensions along the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) and maintain relatively calm conditions on the ground.

We’ve weathered great storms together. I know this is a time of uncertainty. I ask you not to be diminished by the crosscurrents that are flowing through the world today because I’m convinced – and I really believe this – I see the world – I see the glass as definitively half full, not half empty.

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack today on Christian worshippers outside St Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo that has killed more than 25 people and injured dozens more.

Ambassador Samantha Power: “Instead of isolating Cuba, as President Obama has repeatedly said, our policy isolated the United States… After 50-plus years of pursuing the path of isolation, we have chosen to take the path of engagement.”

John Kerry: “Suffice it to say that all of us are more than concerned and deeply, deeply disturbed by and outraged by what is happening in Aleppo, which is in the year 2016, in the beginning of the 21st century, a horrendous step back in time to a kind of barbarianism, a use of force that is of insult to all of the values that the United Nations and most countries believe should guide our actions.”