Donald Trump’s bullying UN speech shows he is not the leader the world needs
Kevin Rafferty says the US president’s bluster at the United Nations revealed dangerously misplaced priorities, but can other leaders come together to tackle the real issues of our time?
Kim Jong-un brands Trump a ‘mentally deranged dotard’ in rare direct response to UN speech
Many world leaders are preoccupied with domestic problems, and even if they can come together, tackling most of these issues requires a longer view than to the next election, the sacrificing of narrow national interests, and an ability to think outside conventional boxes – as well as taking on bullying Trump.
Trump can do the right thing for United Nations
Trump preached nationalism on steroids, and warned, like a fiery evangelistic preacher, that the world was going to hell.
His message was self-righteous: “The scourge of our planet today is a small group of rogue regimes that violate every principle on which the United Nations is based. They respect neither their own citizens nor the sovereign rights of their countries. If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph. When decent people and nations become bystanders to history, the forces of destruction only gather power and strength.”
But Trump was highly selective in his enemies. Besides the “Rocket Man” jibe, he called North Korea “this band of criminals”.
Next was Iran, “a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy. It has turned a wealthy country, with a rich history and culture, into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos”.
I have decided future of Iran nuclear deal, declares Trump before talks even begin
Strangely, for a man hell-bent on preventing Pyongyang from acquiring nuclear weapons, which is already a lost cause, Trump wants to tear up the international deal under which Iran agreed to roll back its nuclear programme. What kind of message does that send to Kim and the ayatollahs?
Despite preaching the sacredness of sovereignty (which he mentioned 21 times in 40 minutes), Trump demanded removal of his tyrants of choice, with Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and the Communist regime in Cuba getting leading mentions. He took swipes at Russia for interference in Ukraine, and China for the South China Sea, without mentioning them by name.
Trump blamed Iran for Yemen, but praised Saudi Arabia – the most active player in the Yemen civil war and exporter of its hardline Wahhabi Islam – for putting together an Arab and Muslim coalition to fight evil Islamic terrorists.
Perhaps the most depressing aspect of Trump’s UN speech is that it was only a quick passing storm on American networks. By the same evening, Trump at the UN was sidelined on CNN for the devastation of the earthquake in Mexico, news of the latest hurricane, new disclosures in the hunt for evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, and fresh Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare.
Kevin Rafferty, former World Bank official and Osaka University professor, has edited daily newspapers in 30 cities on five continents