Washington's allies in the Asia Pacific can transform the region into a better place if threats like ISIS, Ebola, and "aggressive Russia" are contained - and this can be done with America's leadership, US President Barack Obama told Australian students, reports GHN based on RT.
The leader - speaking in the Australian city of Brisbane, where world leaders have gathered for the G20 summit - reiterated his view of which problems pose the greatest threat to the world.
The top three threats, according to Obama, are the same as those voiced before the UN General Assembly, although the order has changed. Militants from the Islamic States, previously put in third place by the US president, have apparently been upgraded to being the worst threat to humanity, provided that the order of mentioning indicates the severity. Meanwhile Russia, number two in the earlier speech, has drifted to third place.
READ MORE: Russia tops ISIS threat, Ebola worst of all? Lavrov puzzled by Obama's UN speech
Obama pledged to lead the fight against all three for the sake of universal values championed by America.
"We're leading in dealing with Ebola in West Africa and in opposing Russia's aggression against Ukraine, which is a threat to the world, as we saw in the appalling shoot-down of MH17," Obama told the audience at Queensland University.
The Australian government and media are siding with the US in blaming Russia for the tragedy, the circumstances of which are still under investigation. Washington accuses Russia of supplying Ukrainian rebel forces with a sophisticated surface-to-air missile which it says was used to shoot down the plane. Moscow denies the allegations and points to alternative scenarios, including an accidental attack on the plane by the Ukrainian military.