United Nations - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that it is time to expose and hold responsible those countries which provide funding and safe havens to terror groups.
In his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said that all responsible nations must work together to confront terrorists and “the Islamic extremist that inspires them”.
“We will stop radical Islamic terrorism, because we cannot allow it to tear up our nation and, indeed, to tear up the entire world,” he said. “It is time to expose and hold responsible” nations that provide funding and safe havens to terror groups, Trump said without naming any country.
He said countries must deny the terrorists safe havens, training, funding and any form of support for their “vile and sinister ideology”. “We must drive them out from our nations. It is time to expose and hold those responsible those countries who support and finance terror groups like Al-Qaeda, Hezabollah and the Taliban and others,” he said.
The US president said America and its allies were working together to crush the terrorists and prevent the re-emergence of safe havens they use to launch attacks.
Recalling his new strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia, Trump said it was aimed at defeating terrorists in war-torn Afghanistan. “From now onwards the security agencies will dictate the length and scope of military operations, not our betraying benchmarks and timetables set up by politicians,” he said.
“I have also totally changed the rules of engagements of our fight against the Taliban and other terrorist groups,” he said.
In his bellicose address, President Trump also warned “Rocket Man” Kim Jong-Un is on a “suicide mission” and threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if it targets the United States or its allies.
Appearing for the first time before the 193-member organisation that emerged from the ashes of World War II, Trump boasted of America’s military strength, signalled he was ready to rip up a nuclear accord with the “murderous regime” in Tehran, and berated US foes in Pyongyang, Venezuela, Syria and Cuba.
“The United States has great strength and patience,” Trump said - as he followed in the footsteps of US presidents from Harry Truman to Barack Obama - “but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” he warned.
“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” he said, using his new nickname for the North Korean leader. “The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary.”
In a veiled criticism of China and Russia, who were barely mentioned in the rest of the speech, Trump said any trade with North Korea was morally questionable.
Trump pilloried Iran as a corrupt “rogue state” and threatened to rip up the landmark international deal struck in 2015 to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme.
“Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it,” Trump told the UN General Assembly. “Believe me. It is time for the entire world to join us in demanding that Iran’s government end its pursuit of death and destruction.”
But, the US leader added, the greatest threat to the Tehran regime was not the American military, but the Iranian people who want change.
The packed General Assembly hall greeted Trump’s tough rhetoric and calls for individual nation states - rather than supranational bodies - to form the basis of the global order with periods of silence punctuated by polite applause during his 42 minutes of remarks.
Trump did not back away from his populist “America First” campaign rhetoric, but instead suggested it should be an example to other UN members.
“Our respect for sovereignty is also a call for action. All people deserve a government that cares for their safety, their interests.”
“As long as I hold this office, I will defend America’s interests above all else, but in fulfilling our obligations to our nations, we also realise that it’s in everyone’s interests to seek the future where all nations can be sovereign, prosperous and secure,” he said.
After decades in which America has led the drive toward a global rules-based order, Trump indicated his foreign policy would define the national interest more narrowly.
“For too long the American people were told that mammoth, multinational trade deals, unaccountable international tribunals and powerful global bureaucracies were the best way to promote their success,” Trump said.
“But as those promises flowed, millions of jobs vanished and thousands of factories disappeared.”
The speech provoked strong responses almost immediately - drawing praise from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu although against expectations Trump did not mention the Middle East peace process, which he has promised to pursue.
“In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech,” said Netanyahu. “President Trump spoke the truth about the great dangers facing our world and issued a powerful call to confront them in order to ensure the future of humanity,” he said in a statement.
At home in the United States however, Trump was pilloried by among others veteran Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein. “The goals of the United Nations are to foster peace and promote global cooperation,” she said. “Today, the president used it as a stage to threaten war.”
“He aims to unify the world through tactics of intimidation, but in reality he only further isolates the United States,” she said.
WORLD AFRAID OF NUCLEAR WAR: UN CHIEF
Global anxieties about a nuclear war are at their highest level in decades, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday as he opened a gathering of world leaders dominated by the crisis with North Korea.
Addressing the high-level debate at the General Assembly, Guterres said millions of people are living in dread as a result of North Korea’s provocative nuclear and missile tests. “The use of nuclear weapons should be unthinkable,” Guterres said.
“But today global anxieties about nuclear weapons are at the highest level since the end of the Cold War.”
The fear of nuclear warfare “is not abstract,” he added. “Millions of people live under a shadow of dread cast by the provocative nuclear and missile tests” carried out by Pyongyang.
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who want change. The packed General Assembly hall greeted Trump’s tough rhetoric and calls for individual nation states - rather than supranational bodies - to form the basis of the global order with periods of silence punctuated by polite applause during his 42 minutes of remarks.
Trump did not back away from his populist “America First” campaign rhetoric, but instead suggested it should be an example to other UN members.
“Our respect for sovereignty is also a call for action. All people deserve a government that cares for their safety, their interests.”
“As long as I hold this office, I will defend America’s interests above all else, but in fulfilling our obligations to our nations, we also realise that it’s in everyone’s interests to seek the future where all nations can be sovereign, prosperous and secure,” he said.
After decades in which America has led the drive toward a global rules-based order, Trump indicated his foreign policy would define the national interest more narrowly.
“For too long the American people were told that mammoth, multinational trade deals, unaccountable international tribunals and powerful global bureaucracies were the best way to promote their success,” Trump said.
“But as those promises flowed, millions of jobs vanished and thousands of factories disappeared.”
The speech provoked strong responses almost immediately - drawing praise from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu although against expectations Trump did not mention the Middle East peace process, which he has promised to pursue.
“In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech,” said Netanyahu. “President Trump spoke the truth about the great dangers facing our world and issued a powerful call to confront them in order to ensure the future of humanity,” he said in a statement.
At home in the United States however, Trump was pilloried by among others veteran Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein. “The goals of the United Nations are to foster peace and promote global cooperation,” she said. “Today, the president used it as a stage to threaten war.”
“He aims to unify the world through tactics of intimidation, but in reality he only further isolates the United States,” she said.