Biden to sell ‘vision’ of global engagement in final speech to United Nations
On Tuesday, President Biden will give his final address to the United Nations General Assembly. The speech will memorialize Biden’s legacy, inspire support to Vice President Harris and reassure allies that they can count on the U.S.
Biden’s speech, which comes just six weeks ahead of the U.S. presidential election, will highlight support for his vision for global engagement, compared with former President Trump’s transactional, isolationist, and confrontational approach toward allies, and reverence for autocrats.
In a phone call with journalists Monday night to preview the President’s speech, a senior official of the administration said: “We live in an environment with many problems and divisions. But we have something to say about what we’ve been able to do to unite the world.”
“I believe this will be a crucial moment to say, “Where do we go?” and, “what are the principles by which we’re solving these problems?”
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Biden will give a farewell speech on what is perhaps the largest global stage, on foreign policy. He has shown his immense skill, but faces enormous challenges. Nearly a year’s worth of war in the Middle East is on the verge of dangerous escalation. Russia’s war on Ukraine shows no signs of slowing down. And the world pays little attention to the devastating civil war that is taking place in Sudan.
“We will be discussing the need to improve our systems of humanitarian assistance in order to stop brutal wars like those in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan. We’ll also discuss the implications of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligent,” said the official.
“This is President Biden’s last General Assembly. It’s an opportunity for him to discuss how this approach produced real results for the American people, and for the rest of the world.”
The President’s Speech will aim to inspire world leaders, as well as U.S. Voters, to carry on his vision for global engagement, protection of democracies and cooperation to tackle challenges such conflict, climate changes, new technologies and public health.
Biden, as well as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, have identified China’s security threat to the U.S. to be the most serious and long-term. The president will also discuss his strategy for engaging with Beijing in order to combat the opioid epidemic, which is destroying American communities, and maintain open communication lines to prevent conflict when tensions between the militaries of each country are at their highest.
The official stated that “an important part of President Obama’s legacy is thinking about how to responsibly manage our competitiveness with China. This includes many aspects, such as economics and security. These will be discussed in the speech.”
Biden will be expected to highlight his role in rallying the global democracies in support of Ukraine’s defensive war against Russia, as the ultimate defense for the United Nations Charter. The calls for respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity are meant to show smaller nations, on the frontlines, of Russian or Chinese aggressiveness, that the U.S. has a better friend than Moscow.
The U.S. has alienated many people with its Middle East record. Majority of UN member states condemned Israel’s response to Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, called for the end of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, and voted to admit the Palestinian Authority. All of these issues were rejected by the Biden administration or the Biden administration used its veto to protect Israel.
Biden will still try to defend his policies by bringing up the fact that he was able to achieve a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) for a week or more at the end November. This allowed him to free hostages in Gaza and increase the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Administration defends that a Gaza cease-fire is the best solution to reduce tensions across the region. This is especially true as the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified in Lebanon, following hundreds of airstrikes, rocket exchanges, and an alleged Israeli operation that involved blowing up walkie talkies and pagers linked to Hezbollah members, which resulted in dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries.
“He will speak about the Middle East and this difficult year we’ve all had. It’s a great opportunity to discuss what we have done and what needs to be done, in light of the heartbreaking situation where hostages are still not returned. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is another example. As you may know, the situation between Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza is a very delicate one.