World leaders laugh as Trump addresses United Nations
The United Nations General Assembly burst into laughter after President Trump declared during a speech at the United Nations Sept. 25, 2018 that America’s military is “more powerful than it has ever been before” and postured that “less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” Trump was surprised by the response thinking they were being respectful and not realizing he is the focus of international ridicule
By Ray Hanania
راى حنانيا
Ray Hanania
Besieged U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the United Nations in a rambling speech reminiscent of speeches made by past dictators that brought on a chorus of ridicule and laughter both to the American President and to the United States which is seeking to withdraw into a shell abandoning its world allies and the United Nations.
The United Nations General Assembly burst into laughter after President Trump declared during a speech at the United Nations Sept. 25, 2018 that America’s military is “more powerful than it has ever been before” and postured that “less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” Trump was surprised by the response thinking they were being respectful and not realizing he is the focus of international ridicule
Trump gave his speech on Thursday Sept. 25, 2018 and instead of being showcased by the UN was instead put into a line of other world leaders from Africa, the Middle East, Europe and South America. As Trump spoke, world leaders and UN representatives across the spectrum laughed out loud as Trump denounced the International Criminal Court (ICC), the highest legal body in the World, and smirked and jeered as Trump detailed policies implemented by UN Ambassador Nikki Haley to curtail financial support to the world body.
Although Americans have become the subject of much ridicule during the past year because of Trump’s scandals and sexual revelations, Trump spoke into a vacuum of world shock and awe.
Taking the podium of the United Nations General Assembly, the world Organization that embodies greater global cooperation, United States President Donald Trump told scores of Heads of State and Government on Tuesday that his country rejects the ideology of globalism, both generally and in relation to international justice and the migration crisis.
President Trump laughing stock of World at UN Sept 25 2018. Photo courtesy of the United Nations
Trump began his remarks by asserting that he has achieved for america the dream he promised when he was elected, provoking a laughter so loud that Trump stopped speaking and said he never expected that kind of reaction.
“America is governed by Americans,” he said on the opening day of the Assembly’s annual General Debate. “We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism. Around the world, responsible nations must defend against threats to sovereignty not just from global governance, but also from other, new forms of coercion and domination.”
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At the same time, he reiterated the US commitment to making the UN more effective and accountable. “I have said many times that the United Nations has unlimited potential,” he declared.
“America is governed by Americans,” he said on the opening day of the Assembly’s annual General Debate. “We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism. Around the world, responsible nations must defend against threats to sovereignty not just from global governance, but also from other, new forms of coercion and domination.”
At the same time, he reiterated the US commitment to making the UN more effective and accountable. “I have said many times that the United Nations has unlimited potential,” he declared.
US-UN relations
But Mr. Trump reiterated his past criticism of the world organization, hitting out at the UN-backed International Criminal Court (ICC) and the recently-proposed Global Compact on Migration, while stressing that the US will not pay more than 25 percent of the UN. peacekeeping budget, to encourage other countries to step up and share in the burden.
“And we are working to shift more of our funding from assessed contributions to voluntary so that we can target American resources to the programs with the best record of success,” he said. “Only when each of us does our part and contributes our share can we realize the UN’s highest aspirations.”
He added that despite his warning to the Assembly last year that “the UN Human Rights Council had become a grave embarrassment to this institution, shielding egregious human rights abusers while bashing America and its many friends… no action at all was taken.”
“So the United States took the only responsible course: We withdrew from the Human Rights Council, and we will not return until real reform is enacted.”
International Criminal Court has ‘no legitimacy’
“As far as America is concerned, the ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority,” he declared. “The ICC claims near-universal jurisdiction over the citizens of every country, violating all principles of justice, fairness, and due process. We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy.”
Likewise, he said the US will not participate in the new Global Compact on Migration, scheduled to be adopted in Morocco this December.
“Migration should not be governed by an international body unaccountable to our own citizens,” he stressed.
Turning to trade issues, in which Mr. Trump has recently imposed tariffs of steel and aluminium imports $200 billion of imports from China, Mr. Trump said the US had opened its economy with few conditions, allowing foreign goods from all over the world to flow in freely across our borders, while other countries did not grant fair and reciprocal access.
“The United States will not be taken advantage of any longer,” he added. “Some countries abused their openness to dump their products, subsidize their goods, target our industries, and manipulate their currencies to gain unfair advantage over our country. As a result, our trade deficit ballooned to nearly $800 billion a year. For this reason, we are systematically renegotiating broken and bad trade deals.”
Turning to Iran, Mr. Trump called the Iran nuclear “a windfall” for the country’ s leaders an in the years since the accord had been reached, Iran’s military budget grew nearly 40 percent. “The dictatorship used the funds to build nuclear-capable missiles, increase internal repression, finance terrorism, and fund havoc and slaughter in Syria and Yemen.”
The deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the US and the European Union. It sets out rigorous mechanisms for monitoring restrictions placed on Iran’s nuclear programme, while paving the way for the lifting of UN sanctions against the country.
“We cannot allow the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism to possess the planet’s most dangerous weapons. We cannot allow a regime that chants ‘Death to America,’ and that threatens Israel with annihilation, to possess the means to deliver a nuclear warhead to any city on Earth, Mr. Trump said.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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