Weber said the report recommends fighting poverty and using U.S.political and economic leverage with authoritarian governments to promote democratic reforms and create a middle class and a civil society.

VOA: standard.2009.04.24

President Obama has said he would be willing to speak with Cuba's leaders, but would maintain the embargo as leverage to push for democratic change and an improvement in human rights.

VOA: standard.2009.04.07

"I mean,he hands over 80 percent of his low-enriched uranium: that means for the next 13 months he will not be able to go down that path, meaning that he will lose a lot of leverage with the West,"

VOA: standard.2009.10.28

Although a major oil producer, Iran must import most of its gasoline because of a lack of refining capacity, creating what U.S.lawmakers have long seen as a crucial point of leverage with Tehran over its nuclear program.

VOA: standard.2009.10.28

Saying President Obama has offered Iran every opportunity for constructive diplomatic dialogue on its nuclear program, Senate Democratic Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry said more robust sanctions are in his words the only way to dramatically increase the economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran from the outside and help leverage pressure on the regime from its own population which wants a different relationship with the world.

VOA: standard.2009.09.25