After defusing standoffs in Queens, Cuomo was appointed secretary of state, where he represented New York State in a land claims dispute with American Indians upstate.
Mr Liu recommended a moderate line to defuse the standoff with Shouwang.
Mr. Geng said that China was committed to using negotiations to defuse the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons.
Earlier this year, the United States military sent troops into Kirkuk to help defuse a standoff between rival groups of security forces that had threatened to destabilize the city.
For the man nicknamed the 'keeper of the cloth cap' it was the ultimate test: surely, if anyone could defuse the standoff, it should be him.
American officials stepped in to help defuse the standoff and apply pressure to Pakistan, whose leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, pledged to crack down on terrorism emanating from its soil.
As the motorcyclist, Edwin Mieses Jr., was trying to defuse the standoff, the S.U.V., a Range Rover, accelerated suddenly and ran him over, the lawyer, Gloria Allred, said at a news conference.
MOSCOW — A tense first day of talks between Iran and six world powers broke no new ground on Monday evening, offering little hope that the negotiations would defuse the standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
That position began to shift late last year when Iranian leaders rejected a United Nations-brokered uranium enrichment plan, which Russia had helped draft, to defuse the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
While Mr. Noda apparently hoped to defuse the standoff by keeping the islands out of the Tokyo governor's hands, the move drew outrage in China, where attacks on Japanese businesses and boycotts of Japanese goods hurt economic relations.
