“I called this summit because this crisis is one of the most urgent tasks for our time, our capacity for collective action”, the USA leader said in his final address to the UN General Assembly.
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“Our societies are filled with uncertainty and unease and strife”, he said.
President Barack Obama speaks during a bilateral meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 19, 2016.
“This is the paradox that defines our world today”, Obama said.
He called for more work to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, an unfulfilled goal of his presidency, and for more diplomacy to try to halt the bloodshed in Syria.
Richard Grenel, the longest-serving U.S. spokesman at the United Nations, advising four different U.S. Ambassadors, offered a running commentary on Twitter of Obama’s speech.
The president concluded his U.N. General Assembly speech by returning, as he often did in the earliest days of his presidency, to his remarkable personal story. But he said many countries, “particularly those blessed with wealth and the benefits of geography”, can do more to offer assistance to more than 65 million people who have fled their homes because of war or persecution or to seek a better life.
Obama warned that if communities are not allowed to co-exist, the “embers of extremism will continue to burn” causing sufferings to countless human beings and export of extremism overseas.
In an apparent swipe at United States presidential candidate Donald Trump, Obama said the refugee crisis was a “test of our common humanity, whether we give into suspicion and fear and build walls”. “In a world that left the age of empire behind, we see Russian Federation attempting to recover lost glory through force”, Obama said.
“They are powerful”, he said.
“The symbolism of a day without fighting is a crucial reminder that conflict can and must come to an end”, the United Nations chief said.
At the heart of his approach, Obama said, is a belief that conflicts are best solved when nations cooperate and a willingness to engage with erstwhile adversaries like Cuba and Myanmar.
Obama’s solemn valedictory remarks came less than 50 days before Americans decide whether fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, or Trump, the Republican nominee, will be his replacement.
And hanging over the United Nations gathering was a weekend bombing a short subway ride away that New York’s mayor has declared an act of terror. Obama’s aides have focused on how the US has a fraction of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan than it had when Obama took office and how nations are finally poised to act in concert to reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
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“Surely, Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognizes that it can not permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land”, Obama said.
