Clearly the prime minister is adopting a negotiating stance ahead of tough talks over terms of departure.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters in northern Iran on Tuesday, Mr. Ahmadinejad took a hard stance ahead of the talks.
The euro declined against the dollar as European finance officials gathered to devise a currency stance ahead of a summit meeting next weekend.
Saudi Arabia has threatened to spark a new kind of nuclear arms race in the Middle East, setting out a bullish stance ahead of a rare, high-profile meeting of the US and its Gulf allies at Camp David.
Abbott called a combined meeting of the Liberals and Nationals in Canberra on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Coalition's stance ahead of the introduction of a cross-party bill to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The data, she added, "underlines the dilemma of sorts that the MPC faces in guiding markets on its policy stance ahead and particularly on its likely path to rates liftoff".
Some analysts here said Thursday that Mr. Shapiro's remarks might have been aimed at reassuring an Israeli administration — and an Israeli public — worried that the United States was softening its stance ahead of the talks with Iran and other world powers scheduled for next week in Baghdad.
In remarks that could either be seen as a tough stance ahead of a potential negotiation with the Liberal Democrats or outright opposition to the principle of coalition, Miliband said: "The reality is this coalition has further undermined politics because it has made people feel [politicians] are just a bunch of scoundrels that break promises.
Concern over training camps and infiltration prompted Indian officials to strike a tough stance ahead of Mr. Rumsfeld's arrival, after several conciliatory steps like opening India's airspace to commercial flights from Pakistan and moving navy ships away from Pakistan's coast.
