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In his address to the U.N. General Assembly last week,Barack Obama attempted to rally support for airstrikes against Assad’s terrorist opposition, highlighted issues ranging from Iran to Russia, Ukraine to Syria, and global warming to Ebola.
His speech smacked of a New World Order bent, without resorting to the term outright, he used words and phrases like unity, collective, an interconnected world; enforce international norms and so on. To paraphrase; “….in issue after issue, we cannot rely on a rule book written for a different century. If we lift our eyes beyond our borders- if we think globally and if we act co-operatively ………” So the rules have changed- sovereignty, self- determination and self-interest has given way to a global village with centralised autocratic rule by an unelected, unaccountable international body much like the United Nations? Is this the shape of things to come?
He waxed lyrical about the U.N., speaking grandly of its beauty and power and ironically committed American might in the service of the world’s least effective and most morally bankrupt international institution. Although when American interests are at stake this institution’s sanction is bypassed in favour of either the American congress or Obama making use of an executive order.
He espoused a lot of verbiage about might not making right- in a swipe at Russia- as opposed to right making might- in doffing his cap to America. Basically he reinforced the cold war emphasis of American moral superiority and ‘just cause’ in relation to that of the evil empire –Russia.
But was this seeming hyperbole just theatre for the benefit of the public gallery or concealment of a more sinister nature, and what of its implications.
The real clincher however was his statement ……”that bigger nations should not be able to bully smaller ones; that people should be able to choose their own future.” The exceptions to that rule were no doubt Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria and Ukraine to name a few of the bigger more recent examples.
He continued with one trite slogan after another then proceeded to the pressing issue of the day, Islamic terrorism.
He stated that America rejected “any suggestion of a clash of civilizations.” He accused America’s opponents of holding to this view. In a nutshell this was a theory promoted in the early nineties by Samuel Huntington which maintained that the era of conflict based on ideological differences had ended with the cold war and a new age of conflict based on cultural and religious identity would be ushered in. This concept has struck a chord with many, as Western secularism sees the world in these stark confining terms more and more.
Speaking in typical Marxist fashion by using vague language open to interpretation, Obama used the mealy-mouthed term religious extremism- and identified the other two Abrahamic faiths as having had extremists in their midst- in referring to terrorist acts committed by Muslim radicals or Jihadists. One size fits all in other words. Why tackle the issue at its core when one can skirt around it and cover all the bases? The saying about killing two birds- or three- with one stone comes to mind.
Predictably not a word about how the US uses Islamic extremists groups to achieve their geopolitical goals fanning the flames and risks of radicalism.
We are led to believe by the mainstream media that ISIS- a band of militants- has the ability to capture Oil refineries in Syria- oversee the refining process -and sell the end product without any assistance from anywhere. Come on.
In a throwaway line Obama referred to “…..the violence engulfing the Middle East region has made too many Israelis ready to abandon the hard work of peace. And that’s something worthy of reflection within Israel.”
Expect American and Western pressure to be applied with respect to effecting a settlement in respect of the Palestinian issue.
Obama’s speech has seemed ‘bewildering’ to many- including the mainstream- in respect of what he said as well as what he never said.
NBC liked Obama’s plan to work with Syria to opening a Pandora’s Box.
Fox news blamed Obama’s policies in the region for the Islamic state saying” ……we allowed a festering of chaos when we toppled the secular dictators”.
Obama summed up his address with these final words concerning his country. “America is not the same as it was 100 years ago, or 50 years ago, or even a decade ago.”
This was the only true statement delivered by Barak Obama in a speech littered with hypocrisy, rhetoric, banality, double speak and outright lies.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/09/24/obamas-address-to-the-united-nations-general-assembly/
