United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has accused the Syrian government of killing the most civilians during the country’s five year conflict and said “powerful patrons that keep feeding the war machine also have blood on their hands”.
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Just as Obama and fellow heads of state were gathering Monday, Syria’s military declared the week-old cease-fire over following numerous breaches and airstrikes hitting an aid convoy to a distressed part of Syria, which the US blamed on Syria or Russian Federation. “Instead, we must work together to make sure the benefits of such integration are broadly shared and that the disruptions – economic, political and cultural – that are caused by integration are squarely addressed”. He said these two matters had “tarnished the reputation of the United Nations and, far worse, traumatised many people we serve”.
The line also was one of several oblique references to Donald Trump, as a subtext of Obama’s speech was an argument against the Republican presidential nominee’s candidacy.
Some 50 world leaders took part in the summit, but their participation was conditional on making new commitments to address the world’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos devoted nearly his entire speech to the peace deal reached with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which will be signed in Cartagena later this month and must be submitted to a national referendum on October 2.
“In the eyes of innocent men and women and children who through no fault of their own have had to flee everything that they know, everything that they love, we have to have the empathy to see ourselves”, Mr Obama said in his address to world leaders.
Offering an alternative, Obama touted USA initiatives in negotiating worldwide trade agreements, citing the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a success story in global integration.
Obama said the more than 50 countries and worldwide organizations that participated in the summit had collectively increased their contributions to humanitarian groups and United Nations appeals this year by some $4.5 billion.
“Your compassion will really help these helpless people”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders.
“Among them are more than 21 million refugees who have fled their countries – everything and everyone theyve ever known, fleeing with a suitcase or the clothes on their back”, he said.
World leaders from Pakistan to Ukraine unleashed their regional grievances Wednesday, taking the stage of the U.N. General Assembly to rage against their neighbors and presenting a picture of a chaotic world consumed by intractable conflicts.
“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.
On Tuesday, the White House announced that 51 American companies have made “new, measurable, and significant” commitments to aid refugees in the U.S. and around the world. “And in Europe and the United States, you see people wrestle with concerns about immigration and changing demographics, and suggesting that somehow people who look different are corrupting the character of our countries”.
That’s considered a blistering pace in the world of worldwide diplomacy, reflecting a sense of urgency in the fight against global warming and a desire to seal the deal before the Obama administration leaves office.
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Obama cited his family story as evidence of the existence of universal ideals and principles that are increasingly under assault in a globalizing world.
