Justin Smith quite correctly alerts
readers that nuclear peace in our time with North Korea is unlikely without
trustworthy verification of any signed agreement. I concur, and you should too.
JRH
5/8/18 [updated 4:23 PM CT – again updated 7:47 PM CT with added source links Justin Smith]
North Korea and Kim Jong Un are far from
"honorable", and President Trump's administration and everybody else
must not lose their minds in a premature adulation and singing Trump's praises,
in anticipation of a Nobel Peace Prize, before they taste the proof in the
pudding. Yes, it is true that President Trump's tough talk and his tight
economic sanctions on North Korea have captured Kim's attention and seemingly
renewed his interest in playing nice in the realm of international affairs and
abandoning his nuclear weapons program; but, further
success is highly unlikely as the historical record shows, despite
the short memories of the American people and their hopes that this president
and the U.S. will not "get
played" once more.
Kim Jong Un is far from an ordinary dictator. He
has murdered his own senior military officers for the slightest of
perceived insults, he executed his uncle and he had his brother assassinated.
And just a few short months ago, he was threatening U.S. cities and territories
with nuclear annihilation.
and, they later signed the 'Panmunjom Agreement' this day,
that stated
in part, "there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and
thus a new era of peace has begun."
Who could have imagined six months ago, that the world would
see the leaders of North and South Korea embrace or hear South Korean President
Moon Jae In recommend
President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize?
President Trump does deserve credit for taking North Korea
to task for its evil acts and malfeasance, such as the horrific torture that
resulted in Otto Warmbier's death --- a slow murder that culminated weeks after
the torture hollowed out the mind of this young man, whose only
"crime" was seeking a souvenir of his visit. He also ordered the U.S
Treasury Department to clamp down on North Korea through economic sanctions,
and he motivated the United Nations Security Council to do the same, in
response to an assortment of aggressive North Korean missile tests.
Trump's team must deal with the facts that North Korea's
production of fissile material is continuing at a furious pace, and according
to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, North Korea is producing
enough material for twelve nuclear weapons a year, also detailed by
Adam Mount and Ankit Panda on April
21st in The Atlantic. Also, the U.S. must note that in 2012, North
Korea simply reclassified its nuclear missile tests as space launches to
circumvent its 2012 agreement. Even now, there are indications that North Korea
is continuing work on its most advanced ICBM, the Hwasong-15.
Although Kim did state that nuclear missile tests would be
suspended for the foreseeable future, Western media missed the core of Kim's
message. Kim's moratorium is, in his mind, the next logical step to a fully
operational nuclear weapons program, not a concession to the United States
before any comprehensive negotiations over his nuclear program. Not once has
Kim uttered the word "denuclearization".
Even President Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense, William
Perry was wary of any North Korean promises, telling
the New York Times: "I'd rather [face the risk] of war than face
the risk of even greater catastrophe two or three years from now.
Just as with past regimes, Kim's word and signature on paper
mean absolutely nothing. He can break any moratorium or any agreement and
treaty, just as Pyongyang did in 2006, when it broke a 1999 moratorium on
missile launches. His pledge to a temporary moratorium on his nuclear program
and halting the proliferation of nuclear technology is not worth the paper it
is printed on without any verification, and Pres. Trump and his negotiators
cannot lose sight of this fact, going forward.
In short, America can look for North Korea to continue
trying to separate South Korea from its alliance with the U.S. and eventually
absorbing South Korea under Pyongyang's hardcore communist rule, while North
Korea will also continue to produce and test more nuclear missiles of multiple
range capabilities and warheads. And, despite vague statements from North
Korean state media and optimism from South Korea's leaders, there is little
hard evidence that North Korea is truly interested in abandoning its nuclear
weapons program for security, economic and political concessions.
The reunification of the two Korea's would hold even more
significant regional and global geopolitical ramifications, that would heavily
bear on U.S. vital national security interests, already on National Security
Advisor John Bolton's radar and contingency plans. The U.S. would most
certainly be asked to withdraw from Korea, which would coincide with
China and their current efforts aimed at expelling the U.S. from the Pacific
Theater, as such movements are also ongoing in both the Philippines and Okinawa.
The withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Korea would be a strategic grand slam for
China, an emerging and expanding totalitarian nation that views America's
presence in the Pacific as an impediment to their long-term agenda to become a
regional, and then global, hegemon.
These are interesting and dangerous times, and the only good
solution to this entire mess is actual regime change in North Korea or the
reunification of a non-nuclear Korea under South Korea's auspices, guidance and
democratic republic form of government. Whatever President Trump and his team
of negotiators do, Trump must hold the line and protect America's vital
security interests first and foremost, wherever those interests are found, and
he must be prepared to walk away from any deal that does not have North Korea
giving up its nuclear weapons program in a matter of months. This is the time
for strong, clear, no-nonsense meaning in America's message to all parties
concerned, as the world holds its breath, watches and waits.
By Justin O. Smith
_____________________
Edited by John R. Houk
Text embraced by brackets and
all source links by J.O. Smith and the Editor.
Elliot Friedland writing at the Clarion Project utilizes the
R-rated 2004
satire puppet-animation movie “Team America: World Police”
to illustrate how the ironic humor of the past might be the scary truth of
today’s current events.
Team America, an
international police force dedicated to maintaining global stability, learns
that a power hungry dictator is brokering weapons of mass destruction to
terrorists. The heroes embark upon a harrowing mission to save the world. To
infiltrate the terrorist network, Team America recruits Gary Johnston, a rising
star on Broadway to go undercover. Although initially reluctant to sacrifice
his promising career, Gary realizes that his acting gift is needed for a higher
cause. With the help of Team America leader Spotswoode and fellow members
Chris, Sarah, Lisa and Joe, Gary slips into an arms dealer's hideout where he
discovers that the terrorists' plot has already begun to unfold. From the
pyramids of Cairo to the Panama Canal and finally to the palace of power-mad
dictator Kim Jong-Il, Team America criss-crosses the globe on a desperate
mission to preserve the very fabric of civilization.
Now that you have the gist of the satire’s plot, read how
Friedland weave the past into the present.
The late North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il (in puppet form).
(Photo: Screenshot from Team America: World Police)
WARNING: This article
discusses an R-Rated satire movie with crude sexual themes, violence, racism
etc. If you are easily offended, please do not read this article.
This week’s news is almost
identical to the plot of the 2004 smash hit movie Team America: World
Police, made by the creators of South Park.
Don’t believe me?
North Korea’s program
of weapons of mass destruction pose
a threat to the lives of millions of people, not to mention the stability of
the fragile international order. There is strong evidence they are cooperating
with Islamist extremists in
Iran to secure nuclear weapons capabilities for both
countries. Left-wing activist movements with a strong media presence urge
restraint and negotiations and blame American aggression for
the crisis. An effete and ineffectual United Nations meddles and hand-wrings,
but ultimately does nothing. Meanwhile erstwhile allies look on askance at what
they see as America’s crass, boorish, cowboy approach, lamenting that force
alone cannot solve geopolitical problems. Many are asking if America’s time is over.
And America’s leader stands
before the world to make a gung-ho speech putting “America First.”
That movie saw a superhero
team of elite American soldiers called Team America infiltrate a terror cell to
discover a North Korean-Islamist plot to destroy the world and bring equality
through reducing everything to radioactive rubble. Like the best satire, it
skirts the line between irony and earnestness in a larger than life take-down
of America’s war on terror.
So what can this 13-year-old
R-rated movie tell us about the contemporary crisis intersecting Islamic
extremism, North Korean belligerence and changing power structures?
Absolutely Everything. Let’s
dive in:
America’s Enemies
Collaborate
“Saying death to America
is easy. We need to express death to America with action.” — Iranian Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani.
In 2004 when the movie was
made, the idea that the North Koreans would sell nuclear weapons to terrorists
in order to fight America was pretty far out. However, as Clarion Project National
Security Analyst Ryan Mauro has repeatedly warned, North Korea and Iran are
now working closely together.
North Korea opened an embassy
in Tehran in August. Shortly after, the head of the North Korean Parliament,
Kim Yong Nam traveled to Iran for a 10-day trip. Iranian nuclear
scientists reportedly attended North Korean nuclear tests,
according to CNBC.
“There’s been fairly
extensive cooperation on missiles,” said Matthew Bunn, a nuclear proliferation
expert and professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of
Government. “And in fact, early generations of Iranian missiles were thought to
be basically modestly adapted North Korean missiles.”
This nightmare scenario is
alarmingly similar to the plot of Team America, in which the leader
of North Korea supplies weapons of mass destruction to “terrorists” from
“Durka-Durkastan” in order to bring down the existing international order.
What exactly about this
prevailing international order do they object to so badly that they wish to
overturn it…?
America Sees Itself as
Number One
“Americans
are asking “Why do they hate us?’ They hate what they see right here in this
chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed.
They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our
freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.” — President George W. Bush, September 20,
2001.
Everyone sees themselves as
the star of their own story. It is no accident that Team America: World
Police was made with puppets. The aesthetic of the film is based
on Thunderbirds, the British 1960s TV-series chronicling the
exploits of “International Rescue.” What Team America lampoons
so viscerally is the peculiarly American brand of self confidence which views
America as not only “the greatest country in the world,” but also the greatest
country that has ever existed.
The founding myth sees a
country forged in revolution, the only country in world history to have been
consciously created, not as an ethnic or religious homeland, but founded on
enlightenment principles of rationality, justice and freedom. There’s a reason
that religious freedom and free speech are the First Amendment, not the 5th or
17th — it’s because they are the same thing and the bedrock of all other rights
(held up by the Second Amendment, which ensures that the state cannot take the
First Amendment away without a fight).
This patriotic attitude is
best parodied/encapsulated in the Team America theme song
“America: F**k Yeah, coming again to save the mother f*****g day yeah.”
America’s commitment is these
values is in direct opposition not only to the goals of dictators like Kim
Jong-Un, but also of Islamists like leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Both of those countries see the ideology and the state as of prime importance.
American style freedom as being anathema to that ideology. They see the freedom
Americans hold dear as being an assault on their way of life and their religion.
Why do they see it this way?
America’s very faith in the rightness of its founding principles can make it
blindly confident in some of its shortcomings…
America’s History of
Racism and Recklessness Causes Resentment
“This
country was born on violence. Violence is as American as cherry
pie.” — Black American Activist H. Rap Brown,
1967.
When former President Ronald Reagan funded
jihadi fighters in 1980s Afghanistan, the long-term impact was
not considered. When George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, the occupation of the
country that followed was mismanaged to the point that by 2014 a terrorist group was
able to take over a third of the country (ISIS).
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi was held in American military prison Camp Bucca for five years and
was able to use the detention facility as a networking opportunity to build
his terror support base
— not to mention that at the same time, America lost track of $1 billion worth
of military equipment given to Iraq and Kuwait, much of which may have ended up
in Islamic State hands.
U.S. drone strikes wiped out
at least eight wedding parties from
2001 to 2011 in Afghanistan alone, according to The Nation. America
has also abandoned the Kurds, who have been perhaps the only effective force on
the ground against ISIS in Syria and is even putting pressure on Kurdish leader
Masoud Barzani to cancel Iraqi Kurdistan’s
independence referendumscheduled for September 25.
To hostile observers,
recklessness can be tied with a seeming lack of caring.
Team America brings this home in typically blunt style. In
the movie, America paints their spy (who is really a crack actor) with
blackface, puts a towel on his head and airdrop him into Cairo with all the
subtlety a loud military-grade helicopter can muster (none). The only things
the terrorists say in the movie are “durka durka,” “Muhammed,” “Jihad”
and DurkAllah.”
This sort of crude
stereotyping is routinely attacked in American media. Actors from Middle
Eastern and South Asian ethnic backgrounds routinely complaining about being
typecast in roles as terrorists,
with little opportunity for them to play more complex roles. A 2015 poll saw
30% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats supported bombing Agrabah,
the fictional country from the Disney movie, Aladdin.
In the film, this callousness
incurs the wrath of the left-wing Film Actors Guild (FAG) who preach a path of
nonviolence but end up accidentally supporting terrorists. Their name parodies
notions of “toxic-masculinity” which slurs homosexuality and femininity as a
form of submissive weakness (note the alt-right preferred slur is “cuck,” which
refers to a man who willingly allows his wife to sleep with other men).
However, negotiating alone
will never work because…
Force, Not Diplomacy,
Underpins the International Order
“Those
who ‘abjure’ violence can only do so because others are committing violence on
their behalf.” — George Orwell
One of the best scenes
in Team America comes when UN Inspector Hans Blix demands
access to North Korea’s facilities. “Or else what,” Kim Jong Il asks.
“Or we will be very angry
with you. And we will write you a letter, telling you how angry we are,” Blix
replies. Pretending to be convinced, Kim asks Blix to move a little to the
left, presses a button and drops him into the shark tank.
The scene is a brutal
reminder that, ultimately, power is the only thing that matters.
In some ways, left-wing
critiques of Western foreign policy are valid. One of the greatest strengths of
America is its robust free press and the constitutionally guaranteed rights of
citizens to criticize the government. It is vital that state excesses are
called out as part of the democratic process, in order to improve the country
and its governance. In many cases, diplomacy and negotiations are a far better
alternative to the use of force.
But this doesn’t mean we
should undermine the underlying values of America itself and throw out the baby
with the bathwater. Sadly, the reality is that it is only by force of arms that
the free press and their rights to criticize the state are safeguarded.
In July this year, to take
just two examples, a group of left-wing activists protested against gay-rights
activists from the Middle East on the grounds that fighting for the rights of
Iranian gays somehow empowers anti-Muslim bigots.
British Labour politician Christine Shawcroft’s proposed that British soldiers
have cups of tea with
ISIS rather than bomb them.
These examples underscore
everything Team America mocked over 10 years ago about the
left.
Some argue that there are
better systems out there than democracy. Maybe there are, but do they exist
today?
The West is the Best
Civilizational Option We Have Right Now
“…it has been said that democracy is the worst form of
Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to
time”— WinstonChurchill
If you could live and work in
any country in the world, which country would it be? Which countries offer the
best opportunities for economic advancement, for personal freedoms, for “life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness?”
Iran is a country that hangs gay people from
cranes. Kim Jong Un reportedly executed his own uncle by stripping him nakedand feeding him
to 120 dogs alive while officials watched. There is no free press, free
elections or ability of people living in such countries to petition their
government for the redress of grievances.
Anyone who thinks that the
world would be safer, more prosperous and more just with these countries having
more influence and America having less is frankly delusional. Iranian
militiamen in Iraq have no compunction about murdering civilians.
Broadly speaking, America does its best to support international human rights
standards.
No one should deny that
America’s past and present have been replete with examples of jingoism, racism,
violence, callousness and more. Yet it is possible to name another country or
another system of government that we have right now that is better?
Although there are those in
Europe who would prefer it not to be so, since 1945. America has been the
leader of the West. Through the force of American arms and the coffers of the
American treasury, Western civilization is protected.
The history of the world has
been one of savage rulers murdering each other and their hapless subjects. It
is only in the last couple of hundred years that humanity has begun to inch out
of that brutal mode of operation.
If you want to keep
struggling — inch by bloody inch — out of the abyss, then when the chips are
down, stand with America.
The Clarion
Project (formerly Clarion Fund) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
dedicated to educating both policy makers and the public about the growing
phenomenon of Islamic extremism. The Clarion Project is committed to working
towards safeguarding human rights for all peoples.
About Clarion Project
Clarion Project is a non-profit organization that educates the
public about the dangers of radical Islam.
Clarion’s award-winning films, seen by more than 85-million people,
expose how radical Islamists use terrorism, murder, subjugation of women,
indoctrination of children, religious persecution, genocide of minorities,
widespread human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation and cultural jihad— to threaten
the West.
The ClarionProject.org web site delivers news, expert analysis,
videos, and unique perspectives about radical Islam, while giving a platform to
moderate Muslims and human rights activists to speak out against extremism.
Clarion Project engages in grassroots activism to achieve its
goals.
Clarion Project is a registered 501(c)(3) organization based in
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Our experts are available to speak in your community. Please contact us with your
speaker request.
Ryan Mauro
Ryan Mauro is Clarion Project’s Shillman Fellow and National
Security Analyst. A professor of homeland security, counter-terrorism and
political science, he consults to government agencies, and policy-makers.
Mauro has made over 1,000 appearances on international radio and TV programs
from both the left of the right, including …READ THE REST
On Monday, President Donald Trump gave one of the best
speeches at the United Nations I have ever heard from an American since
President Reagan. President Trump verbally spanked North Korea, Iran, the UN
over sovereignty issues and members paying their fair share, Radical Islamic
terrorism, the Maduro Socialist dictatorship in Venezuela, spanked Cuba over
its Marxist dictatorship, International Multi-national trade agreements that
place an undue financial burden on American taxpayers and in relation to those
Multi-national deals, the President spanked unaccountable globalist
bureaucracies that impose rules/laws that sovereign nation legislatures have
not agreed to.
I felt like I was watching football team score touchdown
after touchdown. I cheered and shouted throughout the roughly 40-minute speech.
Unsurprisingly, the Leftist Mainstream Media (MSM) acted as
the opposing football team going hysterical with each point scored by Trump.
Especially the President’s classic branding acumen
in giving Kim Jong-un a new nickname: ROCKET MAN. I know of the
ballistic Leftist MSM reaction not by observation but thanks to Fox News
exposing Leftist propaganda of their competitors. I saw a clip on Fox News
of George Stephanopoulos berating UN Ambassador Nikki Haley over the Rocket Man
branding. Here’s the quote I heard from Ambassador Haley defending the NoKo
branding to Stephanopoulos that I found on Business Insider:
"I was talking to a
president of an African country, and he actually cited 'Rocket Man' back
to me. So, I will tell you that look — this is a way of getting people to talk
about him, but every other international community is referring to him as
Rocket Man."
Here’s a little Rocket Man fun that the American Left and
Kim Jong-un will not appreciate – eh, so what.
In remembering the
great victory that led to this body's founding, we must never forget that those
heroes who fought against evil, also fought for the nations that they love.
Patriotism led the Poles to die to save Poland, the French to fight for a free
France, and the Brits to stand strong for Britain. Today, if we do not invest
ourselves, our hearts, our minds, and our nations, if we will not build strong
families, safe communities, and healthy societies for ourselves, no one can do
it for us.
This transcript is
provided by Vox.com; you can also watch
President Trump's speech via YouTube, here. (Screengrab: YouTube/via Global News)
Mr. Secretary General, Mr.
President, world leaders, and distinguished delegates, welcome to New York. It
is a profound honor to stand here in my home city as a representative of the
American people to address the people of the world. As millions of our citizens
continue to suffer the effects of the devastating hurricanes that have struck
our country, I want to begin by expressing my appreciation to every leader in
this room who has offered assistance and aid. The American people are strong
and resilient, and they will emerge from these hardships more determined than
ever before.
Fortunately, the United
States has done very well since Election Day last November 8. The stock market
is at an all-time high, a record. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 16
years, and because of our regulatory and other reforms, we have more people
working in the United States today than ever before. Companies are moving back,
creating job growth, the likes of which our country has not seen in a very long
time, and it has just been announced that we will be spending almost $700
billion on our military and defense. Our military will soon be the strongest it
has ever been. For more than 70 years, in times of war and peace, the leaders
of nations, movements, and religions have stood before this assembly.
Like them, I intend to
address some of the very serious threats before us today, but also the enormous
potential waiting to be unleashed. We live in a time of extraordinary opportunity.
Breakthroughs in science, technology, and medicine are curing illnesses and
solving problems that prior generations thought impossible to solve. But each
day also brings news of growing dangers that threaten everything we cherish and
value. Terrorists and extremists have gathered strength and spread to every
region of the planet. Rogue regimes represented in this body not only support
terror but threaten other nations and their own people with the most
destructive weapons known to humanity.
Authority and authoritarian
powers seek to collapse the values, the systems, and alliances, that prevented
conflict and tilted the world toward freedom since World War II. International
criminal networks traffic drugs, weapons, people, force dislocation and mass migration,
threaten our borders and new forms of aggression exploit technology to menace
our citizens. To put it simply, we meet at a time of both immense promise and
great peril. It is entirely up to us whether we lift the world to new heights
or let it fall into a valley of disrepair. We have it in our power, should we
so choose, to lift millions from poverty, to help our citizens realize their
dreams, and to ensure that new generations of children are raised free from
violence, hatred, and fear.
This institution was founded
in the aftermath of two world wars, to help shape this better future. It was
based on the vision that diverse nations could cooperate to protect their
sovereignty, preserve their security, and promote their prosperity. It was in
the same period exactly 70 years ago that the United States developed the
Marshall Plan to help restore Europe. Those beautiful pillars, they are pillars
of peace, sovereignty, security, and prosperity. The Marshall Plan was built on
the noble idea that the whole world is safer when nations are strong,
independent, and free. As president, Truman said in his message to congress at
that time, our support of European recovery is in full accord with our support
of the United Nations.
The success of the United
Nations depends upon the independent strength of its members. To overcome the
perils of the present, and to achieve the promise of the future, we must begin
with the wisdom of the past. Our success depends on a coalition of strong and
independent nations that embrace their sovereignty, to promote security,
prosperity, and peace, for themselves and for the world. We do not expect
diverse countries to share the same cultures, traditions, or even systems of
government, but we do expect all nations to uphold these two core sovereign
duties, to respect the interests of their own people and the rights of every
other sovereign nation.
This is the beautiful vision
of this institution, and this is the foundation for cooperation and success.
Strong sovereign nations let diverse countries with different values, different
cultures, and different dreams not just coexist, but work side by side on the
basis of mutual respect. Strong sovereign nations let their people take
ownership of the future and control their own destiny. And strong sovereign
nations allow individuals to flourish in the fullness of the life intended by
God. In America, we do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather
to let it shine as an example for everyone to watch.
This week gives our country a
special reason to take pride in that example. We are celebrating the 230th
anniversary of our beloved Constitution, the oldest constitution still in use
in the world today. This timeless document has been the foundation of peace,
prosperity, and freedom for the Americans and for countless millions around the
globe whose own countries have found inspiration in its respect for human
nature, human dignity, and the rule of law. The greatest in the united States
Constitution is its first three beautiful words. They are "We the
people." Generations of Americans have sacrificed to maintain the promise
of those words, the promise of our country and of our great history.
In America, the people
govern, the people rule, and the people are sovereign. I was elected not to
take power, but to give power to the American people where it belongs. In
foreign affairs, we are renewing this founding principle of sovereignty. Our
government's first duty is to its people, to our citizens, to serve their
needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their
values. As president of the United States, I will always put America first.
Just like you, as the leaders of your countries, will always and should always
put your countries first.
All responsible leaders have
an obligation to serve their own citizens, and the nation state remains the
best vehicle for elevating the human condition. But making a better life for
our people also requires us to work together in close harmony and unity, to
create a more safe and peaceful future for all people.
The United States will
forever be a great friend to the world and especially to its allies. But we can
no longer be taken advantage of or enter into a one-sided deal where the United
States gets nothing in return. 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 realize that it's in everyone's interests to seek the future
where all nations can be sovereign, prosperous, and secure.
America does more than speak
for the values expressed in the United Nations charter. Our citizens have paid
the ultimate price to defend our freedom and the freedom of many nations
represented in this great hall. America's devotion is measured on the
battlefields where our young men and women have fought and sacrificed alongside
of our allies. From the beaches of Europe to the deserts of the Middle East to
the jungles of Asia, it is an eternal credit to the American character that
even after we and our allies emerge victorious from the bloodiest war in
history, we did not seek territorial expansion or attempt to oppose and impose
our way of life on others. Instead, we helped build institutions such as this
one to defend the sovereignty, security, and prosperity for all. For the
diverse nations of the world, this is our hope.
We want harmony and
friendship, not conflict and strife. We are guided by outcomes, not ideologies.
We have a policy of principled realism, rooted in shared goals, interests, and
values. That realism forces us to confront the question facing every leader and
nation in this room, it is a question we cannot escape or avoid. We will slide
down the path of complacency, numb to the challenges, threats, and even wars
that we face, or do we have enough strength and pride to confront those dangers
today so that our citizens can enjoy peace and prosperity tomorrow.
If we desire to lift up our
citizens, if we aspire to the approval of history, then we must fulfill our
sovereign duties to the people we faithfully represent. We must protect our
nations, their interests and their futures. We must reject threats to
sovereignty from the Ukraine to the South China Sea. We must uphold respect for
law, respect for borders, and respect for culture, and the peaceful engagement
these allow.
And just as the founders of
this body intended, we must work together and confront together those who
threaten us with chaos, turmoil, and terror. The scourge of our planet today
are small 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.
No one has shown more
contempt for other nations and for the well-being of their own people than the
depraved regime in North Korea. It is responsible for the starvation deaths of
millions of North Koreans. And for the imprisonment, torture, killing, and
oppression of countless more. We were all witness to the regime's deadly abuse
when an innocent American college student, Otto Warmbier, was returned to
America, only to die a few days later.
We saw it in the
assassination of the dictator's brother, using banned nerve agents in an
international airport. We know it kidnapped a sweet 13-year-old Japanese girl
from a beach in her own country, to enslave her as a language tutor for North
Korea's spies. If this is not twisted enough, now North Korea's reckless
pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatens the entire world
with unthinkable loss of human life. It is an outrage that some nations would
not only trade with such a regime, but would arm, supply, and financially
support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict.
No nation on Earth has an
interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and
missiles. The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is
forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally
destroy North Korea. Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his
regime. The United States is ready, willing, and able, but hopefully this will
not be necessary. That's what the United Nations is all about. That's what the
United Nations is for. Let's see how they do.
It is time for North Korea to
realize that the denuclearization is its only acceptable future. The United
Nations Security Council recently held two unanimous 15-0 votes adopting
hard-hitting resolutions against North Korea, and I want to thank China and
Russia for joining the vote to impose sanctions, along with all of the other
members of the Security Council. Thank you to all involved. But we must do much
more.
It is time for all nations to
work together to isolate the Kim regime until it ceases its hostile behavior.
We face this decision not only in North Korea; it is far past time for the
nations of the world to confront another reckless regime, one that speaks
openly of mass murder, vowing death to America, destruction to Israel, and ruin
for many leaders and nations in this room.
The Iranian government masks
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. The
longest-suffering victims of Iran's leaders are, in fact, its own people.
Rather than use its resources to improve Iranian live, its oil profits go to
fund Hezbollah and other terrorists that kill innocent Muslims and attack their
peaceful Arab and Israeli neighbors.
This wealth, which rightly
belongs to Iran's people, also goes to shore up Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship,
fuel Yemen's civil war, and undermine peace throughout the entire Middle East.
We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while
building dangerous missiles, and we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides
cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program. The Iran deal was one
of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered
into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don't
think you've heard the last of it. 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. It is time for the regime to free all Americans and citizens
of other nations that they have unjustly detained. Above all, Iran's government
must stop supporting terrorists, begin serving its own people, and respect the
sovereign rights of its neighbors. The entire world understands that the good
people of Iran want change, and, other than the vast military power of the
United States, that Iran's people are what their leaders fear the most. This is
what causes the regime to restrict internet access, tear down satellite dishes,
shoot unarmed student protesters, and imprison political reformers.
Oppressive regimes cannot
endure forever, and the day will come when the people will face a choice. Will
they continue down the path of poverty, bloodshed, and terror, or will the
Iranian people return to the nation's proud roots as a center of civilization,
culture, and wealth, where their people can be happy and prosperous once again?
The Iranian regime's support for terror is in stark contrast to the recent
commitments of many of its neighbors to fight terrorism and halt its finance,
and in Saudi Arabia early last year, I was greatly honored to address the
leaders of more than 50 Arab and Muslim nations. We agreed that all responsible
nations must work together to confront terrorists and the Islamic extremism
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. We must deny the terrorists' safe haven, transit, funding,
and any form of support for their vile and sinister ideology. We must drive
them out of our nation. It is time to expose and hold responsible those
countries ... who support and finance terror groups like al-Qaeda, Hezbollah,
the Taliban, and others that slaughter innocent people.
The United States and our
allies are working together throughout the Middle East to crush the loser
terrorists and stop the reemergence of safe havens they use to launch attacks
on all of our people. Last month I announced a new strategy for victory in the
fight against this evil in Afghanistan. From now on, our security interests will
dictate the length and scope of military operation, not arbitrary benchmarks
and timetables set up by politicians. I have also totally changed the rules of
engagement in our fight against the Taliban and other terrorist groups.
In Syria and Iraq, we have
made big gains toward lasting defeat of ISIS. In fact, our country has achieved
more against ISIS in the last eight months than it has in many, many years
combined. We seek the deescalation of the Syrian conflict, and a political
solution that honors the will of the Syrian people. The actions of the criminal
regime of Bashar al-Assad, including the use of chemical weapons against his
own citizens, even innocent children, shock the conscience of every decent
person. No society could be safe if banned chemical weapons are allowed to
spread. That is why the United States carried out a missile strike on the
airbase that launched the attack.
We appreciate the efforts of
the United Nations' agencies that are providing vital humanitarian assistance
in areas liberated from ISIS, and we especially thank Jordan, Turkey, and
Lebanon for their role in hosting refugees from the Syrian conflict. The United
States is a compassionate nation and has spent billions and billions of dollars
in helping to support this effort. We seek an approach to refugee resettlement
that is designed to help these horribly treated people and which enables their
eventual return to their home countries to be part of the rebuilding process.
For the cost of resettling one refugee in the United States, we can assist more
than 10 in their home region.
Out of the goodness of our hearts, we offer financial assistance to hosting
countries in the region and we support recent agreements of the G20 nations
that will seek to host refugees as close to their home countries as possible.
This is the safe, responsible, and humanitarian approach. For decades the
United States has dealt with migration challenges here in the Western
Hemisphere.
We have learned that over the
long term, uncontrolled migration is deeply unfair to both the sending and the
receiving countries. For the sending countries, it reduces domestic pressure to
pursue needed political and economic reform and drains them of the human
capital necessary to motivate and implement those reforms. For the receiving
countries, the substantial costs of uncontrolled migration are born
overwhelmingly by low-income citizens whose concerns are often ignored by both
media and government.
I want to salute the work of
the United Nations in seeking to address the problems that cause people to flee
from their home. The United Nations and African Union led peacekeeping missions
to have invaluable contributions in stabilizing conflict in Africa. The United
States continues to lead the world in humanitarian assistance, including famine
prevention and relief, in South Sudan, Somalia, and northern Nigeria and Yemen.
We have invested in better
health and opportunity all over the world through programs like PEPFAR, which
funds AIDS relief, the President's Malaria Initiative, the Global Health
Security Agenda, the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, and the Women
Entrepreneur's Finance Initiative, part of our commitment to empowering women
all across the globe.
We also thank—we also thank
the secretary general for recognizing that the United Nations must reform if it
is to be an effective partner in confronting threats to sovereignty, security,
and prosperity. Too often the focus of this organization has not been on
results, but on bureaucracy and process. In some cases, states that seek to
subvert this institution's noble end have hijacked the very systems that are
supposed to advance them. For example, it is a massive source of embarrassment
to the United Nations that some governments with egregious human rights records
sit on the UN Human Rights Council.
The United States is one out
of 193 countries in the United Nations, and yet we pay 22 percent of the entire
budget and more. In fact, we pay far more than anybody realizes. The United
States bears an unfair cost burden, but to be fair, if it could actually
accomplish all of its stated goals, especially the goal of peace, this
investment would easily be well worth it. Major portions of the world are in
conflict, and some, in fact, are going to Hell, but the powerful people in this
room, under the guidance and auspices of the United Nations, can solve many of
these vicious and complex problems. The American people hope that one day soon
the United Nations can be a much more accountable and effective advocate for
human dignity and freedom around the world.
In the meantime, we believe
that no nation should have to bear a disproportionate share of the burden,
militarily or financially. Nations of the world must take a greater role in
promoting secure and prosperous societies in their own region. That is why in
the Western Hemisphere the United States has stood against the corrupt,
destabilizing regime in Cuba and embraced the enduring dream of the Cuban
people to live in freedom. (Screengrab: YouTube/via Global News)
My administration recently
announced that we will not lift sanctions on the Cuban government until it
makes fundamental reforms. We have also imposed tough calibrated sanctions on
the socialist Maduro regime in Venezuela, which has brought a once thriving
nation to the brink of total collapse. The socialist dictatorship of Nicolás
Maduro has inflicted terrible pain and suffering on the good people of that
country.
This corrupt regime destroyed
a prosperous nation—prosperous nation, by imposing a failed ideology that has
produced poverty and misery everywhere it has been tried. To make matters
worse, Maduro has defied his own people, stealing power from their elected
representatives, to preserve his disastrous rule. The Venezuelan people are
starving, and their country is collapsing. Their democratic institutions are
being destroyed. The situation is completely unacceptable, and we cannot stand
by and watch.
As a responsible neighbor and
friend, we and all others have a goal—that goal is to help them regain their
freedom, recover their country, and restore their democracy. I would like to
thank leaders in this room for condemning the regime and providing vital support
to the Venezuelan people. The United States has taken important steps to hold
the regime accountable. We are prepared to take further action if the
government of Venezuela persists on its path to impose authoritarian rule on
the Venezuelan people.
We are fortunate to have
incredibly strong and healthy trade relationships with many of the Latin
American countries gathered here today. Our economic bond forms a critical
foundation for advancing peace and prosperity for all of our people and all of
our neighbors. I ask every country represented here today to be prepared to do
more to address this very real crisis. We call for the full restoration of
democracy and political freedoms in Venezuela. The problem in Venezuela is not
that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been
faithfully implemented.
From the Soviet Union to Cuba
to Venezuela, wherever true socialism or communism has been adopted, it has
delivered anguish and devastation and failure. Those who preach the tenets of
these discredited ideologies only contribute to the continued suffering of the
people who live under these cruel systems. America stands with every person
living under a brutal regime. Our respect for sovereignty is also a call for
action. All people deserve a government that cares for their safety, their
interests, and their well-being, including their prosperity. In America, we
seek stronger ties of business and trade with all nations of goodwill, but this
trade must be fair and it must be reciprocal.
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. But as those promises flowed, millions of jobs vanished
and thousands of factories disappeared. Others gamed the system and broke the
rules, and our great middle class, once the bedrock of American prosperity, was
forgotten and left behind, but they are forgotten no more and they will never
be forgotten again.
While America will pursue
cooperation and commerce with other nations, we are renewing our commitment to
the first duty of every government, the duty of our citizens. This bond is the
source of America's strength and that of every responsible nation represented
here today. If this organization is to have any hope of successfully
confronting the challenges before us, it will depend, as President Truman said
some 70 years ago, on the independent strength of its members. If we are to
embrace the opportunities of the future and overcome the present dangers
together, there can be no substantive for strong, sovereign, and independent
nations, nations that are rooted in the histories and invested in their
destiny, nations that seek allies to befriend, not enemies to conquer, and most
important of all, nations that are home to men and women who are willing to
sacrifice for their countries, their fellow citizens, and for all that is best
in the human spirit.
In remembering the great
victory that led to this body's founding, we must never forget that those
heroes who fought against evil, also fought for the nations that they love.
Patriotism led the Poles to die to save Poland, the French to fight for a free
France, and the Brits to stand strong for Britain. Today, if we do not invest
ourselves, our hearts, our minds, and our nations, if we will not build strong
families, safe communities, and healthy societies for ourselves, no one can do
it for us.
This is the ancient wish of
every people and the deepest yearning that lives inside every sacred soul. So
let this be our mission, and let this be our message to the world. We will
fight together, sacrifice together, and stand together for peace, for freedom,
for justice, for family, for humanity, and for the almighty God who made us all.
Thank you, God bless you, God bless the nations of the world, and God bless the
United States of America. Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT TRUMP'S HISTORIC FIRST SPEECH TO THE UNITED NATIONS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY (FULL TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO)
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