Putting the World on Notice, Trump Addresses the United Nations
Following up on a speech he delivered to the United Nations General Assembly on September 19th, 2017 (http://www.drewnickell.com/?p=1481), President Donald Trump addressed the world body on Tuesday, September 25th, 2018, reiterating the themes of last year’s address.
In this year’s address, he underscored the national sovereignty of the United States, rejecting the drift towards globalism and internationalism, saying that “the United States will never submit its sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy.” In doing so, he reiterated the United States’ rejection of the International Criminal Court, indicating that the United States does not and will not recognize the authority of this court in any matter coming before it.
It was a far cry from the last three decades, where a succession of U.S. Presidents, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, markedly pushed an agenda towards a “new world order,” where the United States would gradually surrender its authority to an international, one-world government. Trump’s rejection of that philosophy will no doubt find scorn amongst the elitist apparatchiks who have pushed such an agenda for decades, but this rejection is nevertheless an effort to put the world on notice, that the United States will maintain and assert its national sovereignty regardless of international attempts to do otherwise.
In the speech to the U.N., the President also laid out the following premises, specific to issues facing the world, today:
- With regards to North Korea, citing the real progress towards peace on the Korean Peninsula, the President stressed the need to maintain international sanctions until the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula is achieved;
- With regards to the Middle East, the President cited the financial commitments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan to aid the people of Syria and Yemen caught in the horrific civil wars taking place in those two countries. He also put the Assad regime in Syria on notice, that the United States will intervene if and when chemical weapons are once again used against the Syrian people;
- Trump excoriated the corrupt leadership in Iran for their role in fomenting terrorism around the world, their pursuit of deliverable nuclear weapons and the regime’s efforts to destabilize the governments of their neighbors across the Middle East. He stressed that the United States’ withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal was backed by many of the nations in the Middle East, who know first hand of the dangers associated with Iran’s behavior, and he called on the world to support and augment economic sanctions in an effort to isolate the Iranian regime for as long as its aggression continues;
- Regarding international trade, the President reiterated that the days of capitulation by the United States, which favors the economies of its trading partners over U.S. interests, are over. Citing specifically China’s use of currency manipulation, trademark infringement, theft of technology and its unfair trade practices, he announced further implementation of punitive tariffs aimed at leveraging substantive change in China’s behavior;
- Trump also reinforced the tenants of the Monroe Doctrine, which rejects the interference of foreign nations in the Western Hemisphere. Specifically, he cited U.S. efforts to strengthen border security in an effort to combat illegal immigration and its related threats of drug smuggling, human trafficking and criminal gang activity. He also announced that the United States will not participate in the new Global Compact on Migration, stressing that “migration should not be governed by an international body unaccountable to our own citizens.” He bemoaned the human tragedy taking place in Venezuela- once the richest and most prosperous nation in South America- as the result of pursuing socialism which has impoverished its people. He called for the restoration of democracy in that country and announced new sanctions against the Maduro regime;
- Finally, he put the entire world on notice that, going forward, U.S. foreign aid and financial assistance will be limited to those countries who act in coordination with and in support of our own national interests. No longer will countries who oppose U.S. policies and who undermine U.S. efforts to combat terrorism enjoy the generosity of the American people. He also announced that the United States will cap its financial support for U.N. peacekeeping missions at 25%, encouraging its other member nations to more equitably share in this burden.
At last, we have an American President who dares to question a thirty-year pursuit of internationalism and globalism. At last, we have an American President who dares to place the interests of his own country ahead of the interests of other countries. At last, we have an American President who rejects the efforts by many domestic politicians in both parties, and foreign agents to subjugate our own national sovereignty to unelected bureaucrats in Europe who do not have our own best interests at heart…
…and it’s about time, isn’t it?
-Drew Nickell, 26 September 2018
© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Bending-Your-Ear-Collection-Essays/dp/1633932907?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc
Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2