President Obama addressing the United Nations.
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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz wasted no time highlighting the failings of President Barack Obama’s remarks before the United Nations on Tuesday, where the president called for LESS freedom and to effectively abandon the Constitution in favor of “binding ourselves to worldwide rules”.
“I want to emphasize that from their perspective this isn’t charity”.
“We are facing a crisis of epic proportion”, Obama said.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said that a global response was needed against terrorists who are exploiting banking networks, targeting airlines and using social media “to spread an ideology that is recruiting people to their cause all over the world”.
Speaking about the big picture, the Obama recounted the progress made during his presidency, on issues such as the global financial crisis, worldwide terrorism and re-establishing relations with Cuba. They are coming not just from Syria but many other countries and regions as well, including Afghanistan, Iraq and any of a dozen or so other nations in sub-Saharan and North Africa. He acknowledged “deep fault lines in the existing global order” where “basic security, basic order has broken down” in the Middle East with “terrorist networks using social media to prey upon the minds of our youth, endangering open societies and spurring anger against innocent immigrants and Muslims”. “The countries that have succeeded are the ones in which people feel they have a stake”, he says, going on to reference the uprising in Ukraine as evidence for the power of citizen engagement.
“This is the paradox that defines the world today”, Obama said, adding that the world could not afford to “dismiss these visions”. He said the report should be a “wake-up call” to the government to get tougher on immigration and border security.
Obama also warned that “the embers of extremism will continue to burn” in the world, but that “the world is too small for us to simply be able to build a wall” and prevent it from affecting society. He put countries like Russian Federation and China on notice, making digs at them for China’s actions in the South China Sea, for instance, and for Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Speaking at a US-led refugee summit at the United Nations, Obama praised Germany and Canada among other countries for opening up their doors to those fleeing the war in Syria and other conflicts. “Human ingenuity now gives us the capacity to feed the hungry and give all of our children – including our girls – the education that is the foundation for opportunity in our world”.
Obama spoke for about 45 minutes. Those pictured include (front row, from right): Marijcke Anne Thomson, wife of the General Assembly President; Yoo Soon-taek, wife of the UN Secretary-General; Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States; Jill Biden, Second Lady of the United States; Mette Holm, wife of Mogens Lykketoft, outgoing President of the General Assembly; Mr. Lykketoft.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who steps down on December 31, and U.S. President Barack Obama who will leave office in January, will be addressing the 193-member world body for the last time.
Obama, who stands down in January after eight years in office, acknowledged that the extremist and sectarian violence wreaking havoc in the Middle East and elsewhere “will not be quickly reversed”.
He took particular aim at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the wake of an attack on a humanitarian aid convoy Monday that killed 20 people.
“We cannot unwind integration any more than we can stuff technology back into a box”, Obama said. Ban called the bombers “cowards”.
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“A political transition is long overdue. And those nations with these weapons, like the United States, have a unique responsibility to pursue the path of reducing our stockpiles, and reaffirming basic norms like the commitment to never test them again”, Obama said.
