Obama Highlights US-led Diplomatic Efforts at UN

“The United Nations and its member states have a strong obligation to work together to end the catastrophic wars and conflicts – not least in and around Syria“, said Mogens Lykketoft, president of the 70th session of the General Assembly.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has praised the worldwide community at the opening of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, high-level debate of the UN General Assembly for agreeing to the new Sustainable Development Goals.

One wonders whether the answer might have been had Monday, when President Barack Obama met Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the United Nations.

For 45 minutes, Obama openly criticized nations and leaders that reject diplomacy and democracy, while touting the strength that the United States has gained as a result of allowing citizens to think, worship, and live freely within its borders. Obama said that the United States was not immune to “greater polarization” and “a politics of us versus them”.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Petro Poroshenko said Russian Federation wants to rebuild its former empire by creating “belts of instability” and financing “terrorists” in Ukraine’s Crimea and eastern Donbas region.

“Although the interview will only be aired in full on Monday, Rouhani tweeted during the interview that “#IranDeal revived hope that negotiations, though not easy, can resolve complicated cases”.

The European Union last week agreed to inject $1 billion to United Nations relief efforts in Syria’s neighboring countries, but Ban said more should be done to ensure that the migrants are treated with dignity. The talks are to take place the same day Putin addresses the General Assembly and advances his plan for a political settlement of the devastating four-year civil war stoked by Washington. President Barack Obama was set to speak after her.

Obama’s and Putin’s speeches preceded their first face-to-face meeting in almost year. From there, Obama transitioned from implicit criticism of Putin to explicit, going point by point on Russia’s misdeeds in Ukraine.

Obama called on the USA congress to lift sanctions against Cuba, just a month after Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to the island country to reopen the US embassy.

The war in Syria and Iraq was also at the center of the speech. Assad is a bad man to be sure, responsible for many thousands of brutal killings and mass displacements of his people, but he has never posed the level of threat to the security of our nation and to the lives of our citizens as ISIS and its other jihadist brethren do.

We have a moral responsibility to do what we can for families forced from their homes. Make sure you use the hashtag #62MillionGirls and then go to 62MillionGirls.com to see what other people like Stephen Colbert, Misty Copeland, Freida Pinto, and more are sharing and learn why this is a moral crisis that we can help address.