“Sovereign Nations” Is Main Theme Of Trump’s UN Speech

September 19, 2017

Today the President of the United States Donald Trump spoke (rush transcript) to the United Nations General Assembly.

The speech's main theme was sovereignty. The word occurs 18(!) times. It emphasized Westphalian principles.

[W]e 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.

All leaders of countries should always put their countries first, he said, and "the nation state remains the best vehicle for elevating the human condition."

The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 15 May 1648 – bigger

Sovereignty was the core message of his speech. It rhymed well with his somewhat isolationist emphasis of "America first" during his campaign.

The second part of the speech the first by threatened the sovereignty of several countries the U.S. ruling class traditionally dislikes.

This year's "axis of evil" included North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Syria and Cuba:

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."

Many people will criticize that as an outrageous and irresponsible use of words. It is.

But there is nothing new to it. In fact the U.S., acting on behalf of the UN, totally destroyed Korea in the 1950s. The last U.S. president made the same threat Trump made today:

President Barack Obama delivered a stern warning to North Korea on Tuesday, reminding its “erratic” and “irresponsible” leader that America’s nuclear arsenal could “destroy” his country.

The South Korean military sounds equally belligerent:

A military source told the Yonhap news agency every part of Pyongyang "will be completely destroyed by ballistic missiles and high-explosives shells". … The city, the source said, "will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map".

Trump labeled the Syrian government "the criminal regime of Bashar al Assad." The "problem in Venezuela", he said, is "that socialism has been faithfully implemented." He called Iran "an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violent, bloodshed and chaos." He forgot to mention pistachios.

The aim of such language and threats is usually to goad the other party into some overt act that can than be used as justification for "retaliation". But none of the countries Trump mentioned is prone to such behavior. They will react calmly – if at all.

There was essentially nothing in Trump's threats than the claptrap the last two U.S. presidents also delivered. Trump may be crazy, but the speech today is not a sign of that.

The stressing of sovereignty and the nation state in part one was the point where Trump indeed differed from his interventionist predecessors.

But its still difficult to judge if that it is something he genuinely believes in.

Posted by b on September 19, 2017 at 17:05 UTC | Permalink

Comments

The transcript is here – you are linking to Obama’s speech b.

Posted by: somebody | Sep 19 2017 17:26 utc | 1

There is no emphasis on sovereignty b. Trump says that Russia’s and China’ threat to the souvereignty of countries is bad but the souvereignty of small countries the US does not like is somehow threatened by these countries themselves. Which I interpret as a threat – “you endanger yourself if you don’t do as told”.

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 threatens us with chaos, turmoil, and terror. The score of our planet today is small regimes that violate every principle that 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.

Posted by: somebody | Sep 19 2017 17:32 utc | 2

@1 somebody – thanks – link corrected.
@2 somebody – yes, unaimed hostile prose from the speechwriter. Such is in the speech of every U.S. president. But it is not the general theme of the Trump speech when one reads it as one piece. The weight is put in the other direction (though the media will likely point to the threats instead of reading the more extraordinary parts where Trump pushes national sovereignty.)

Posted by: b | Sep 19 2017 17:51 utc | 3

“sovereign nation” = a country that obeys the US over its own interests
“rogue nation” = a country that has actual sovereignty
If there is more to this than the usual US double-speak, I don’t see it.

Posted by: Luther Blissett | Sep 19 2017 17:53 utc | 4

thanks b… ”the criminal regime of donald trump” is much more on target….

Posted by: james | Sep 19 2017 17:57 utc | 5

“The stressing of sovereignty and the nation state in part one was the point where Trump indeed differed from his interventionist predecessors. But its still difficult to judge if that it is something he genuinely believes in”
It appears that his generals are instructing him what to “believe in”. At least, he certainly doesn’t seem to “believe in” most of his campaign promises, not unlike his recent predecessors. The whole “democracy and freedom” thing in the US is just a charade, as far as I am concerned.

Posted by: Perimetr | Sep 19 2017 18:02 utc | 6

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