US President Obama gave a very forceful speech on terrorism to the United Nations. The main thrust of the speech was to highlight the common need of all states to reaffirm their commitment to a stable world order. His was the rhetoric of a hegemonic leader who wished to emphasize the mutual benefits of a common system:
“We can renew the international system that has enabled so much progress, or we can allow ourselves to be pulled back by an undertow of instability. We can reaffirm our collective responsibility to confront global problems, or be swamped by more and more outbreaks of instability. “
He directly criticized Russia for violating one of the cardinal norms of the world system: the inviolability of national borders.
“Recently, Russia’s actions in Ukraine challenge this post-war order….This is a vision of the world in which might makes right — a world in which one nation’s borders can be redrawn by another, and civilized people are not allowed to recover the remains of their loved ones because of the truth that might be revealed.”
Obama also endorsed the idea of the free movement of goods, services, and ideas, but he used the threat of the Ebola virus to demonstrate why all nations should support freedom of movement–a curious, but effective, way of highlighting the full implications of that commitment:
“As we speak, America is deploying our doctors and scientists — supported by our military — to help contain the outbreak of Ebola and pursue new treatments. But we need a broader effort to stop a disease that could kill hundreds of thousands, inflict horrific suffering, destabilize economies, and move rapidly across borders. It’s easy to see this as a distant problem — until it is not.”
Finally, Obama explicitly endorsed one of the principal tenets of liberalism by endorsing a clear separation of church and state when talking about the problem of terrorism:
“So we reject any suggestion of a clash of civilizations. Belief in permanent religious war is the misguided refuge of extremists who cannot build or create anything, and therefore peddle only fanaticism and hate. And it is no exaggeration to say that humanity’s future depends on us uniting against those who would divide us along the fault lines of tribe or sect, race or religion.”
The speech was a clear representation of the values of the American conception of an appropriate world order.
There is speculation that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Eun, may be suffering a serious health problem. He has not appeared publicly for about three weeks, and in his previous appearances, he appeared to limp and to have gained a considerable amount of weight. Given that he wields considerable power within North Korea, any possibility that he cannot effectively discharge his responsibilities raises the issue of power struggles within the elite to fill that vacuum. Needless to say, potential instability in North Korea is a strategic threat to all its neighbors.
Maj. Mariam al-Mansouri is pilot in the air force of the United Arab Emirates and has participated in the bombing of the Islamic State sites in Syria. She is the first female fighter pilot in the UAE, and, as far as I can tell, the only woman who is participating in the bombing missions.
World Politics News 
Leave a comment