“In a time of armed conflicts in many other paces, peace in Colombia sends a powerful message of hope in the world”, Ban said.
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“At this moment, we all face a choice”.
Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli kicks off the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly as world leaders convene to address most pressing global and regional issues. Many times in history, he said, humans think they’ve arrived at an age of enlightenment, “only to repeat cycles of conflict and suffering”. I believe the road of true democracy remains the better path. They did so against a backdrop of mounting bloodshed and a failing cease-fire in Syria, escalating attacks around the world by Islamic extremists, and millions of people fleeing fighting and poverty. “Whether we give into suspicion and fear and build walls, or whether we see ourselves in another”, Obama said, though he didn’t mention Trump by name. Obama spoke of a “crude populism” driving politics in the United States and Europe that fed on “uncertainty and unease and strife” around the world.
“As we’ve seen in the past, countries have a bad habit of coming to pledging conferences and making commitments and then not delivering”, she said.
“Perhaps too many in Washington believed that as well”. But that action must be more global, not less.
In addition, the gathering of world leaders unfolded under the shadow of bombings over the weekend in NY and New Jersey that raised the specter of domestic terrorism and its worldwide influences, as well as the end of a brief ceasefire in Syria’s civil war. “In a world that left the age of empire behind”, he said, “we see Russian Federation attempting to recover lost glory through force”.
He also referred to current crises tearing the world apart, including “Russia attempting to recover lost glory through force” by interfering in the affairs of its neighbours, and the South China Sea, where “a peaceful resolution of disputes offered by law will mean far greater stability than the militarization of a few rocks and reefs”.
Brazilian President Michel Temer is pictured during the annual world leader lunch hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters in NY, the United States, Sept. 20, 2016.
Ban blamed all sides for killing innocent people, but “none more so than the government of Syria, which continues to barrel bomb neighborhoods and systematically torture thousands of detainees”.
JUDY WOODRUFF: French President Francois Hollande added his own demand to stop the killing in Syria.
But Tuesday’s speech also revealed a president still grappling with an argument for a more interconnected world and robust worldwide institutions at a time when many voters on both sides of the Atlantic reject that philosophy. Whole populations are starving.
It was the latest attack on humanitarian workers. Chemical weapons are being used. He said such an agreement is about to be signed with the Hezb-e-Islami group whose leader, Gulbuddin Helmatyar, is a USA -designated terrorist.
PRESIDENT RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkey (through translator): I am calling, from this podium, to all of our friends to swiftly take the necessary measures against the Gulenist terrorist organization for their own safety and the future of their nations.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged continued worldwide commitment to a Korean peninsula free of nuclear arms, telling the General Assembly that new efforts were needed to “reach a comprehensive political solution on the Korean nuclear issue”.
