.S. President Barack Obama presented world leaders at the United
Nations with an image of America as a reluctant superpower, ready to
confront Iran’s nukes and kill its enemies with targeted drone strikes,
but unprepared to embark on open-ended military missions in Syria and
other troubled countries. That, he hinted, should give the world cause
for anxiety.
"The United States has a hard-earned humility when it comes to our
ability to determine events inside other countries," he said in his
address before the 193-member General Assembly. "The notion of American
empire may be useful propaganda, but it isn’t borne out by America’s
current policy or public opinion."
Obama said that "the recent debate within the United States over
Syria clearly showed the danger for the world is not an America that is
eager to immerse itself in the affairs of other countries or take on
every problem in the region as its own. The danger for the world is that
the United States, after a decade of war — rightly concerned about
issues back home, aware of the hostility that our engagement in the
region has engendered throughout the Muslim world — may disengage,
creating a vacuum of leadership that no other nation is ready to fill."
Obama said that for the time being, American foreign-policy
priorities in the Middle East will focus primarily on two key
priorities: "Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and the Arab-Israeli
conflict. While these issues are not the cause of all the region’s
problems, they have been a major source of instability for far too long,
and resolving them can help serve as a foundation for a broader peace."
In addressing the conflict in Syria, Obama said U.S. aims were largely humanitarian.
"There’s no ‘great game’ to be won, nor does America have any
interest in Syria beyond the well-being of its people, the stability of
its neighbors, the elimination of chemical weapons, and ensuring it does
not become a safe haven for terrorists," he said.
Obama affirmed his commitment to the U.S.-Russian plan to place the
Assad regime’s chemical weapons under international control,
acknowledging that the Syrian president had taken a positive initial
step by declaring his stockpiles.
"My preference has always been a diplomatic resolution to this
issue," he said, stressing the importance of a Security Council
resolution that will hold Assad to his commitments. "There must be
consequences if they fail to do so," he said. "If we cannot agree even
on this, then it will show that the U.N. is incapable of enforcing the
most basic of international laws."
The president presented the U.S.-Russian plan as a catalyst for a
broader international effort to bring the conflict to an end, but
emphasized that America should not determine who will eventually lead in
Syria. In keeping with his characteristically small-bore approach, he
announced an additional $340 million in U.S. humanitarian assistance but
shied away from any mention of toppling Bashar al-Assad.
The United States and Russia remain sharply divided over how to
implement their chemical weapons agreement; the U.N. Security Council
resolution endorsing the pact has been delayed several times. The United
States insists that Syria face the threat of unspecified "consequences"
if it fails to comply with its obligation to disarm, while Russia
prefers a more consensual approach that includes no explicit or implicit
threat of force.
Speaking before Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the
U.N. Security Council to hold the Syrian government to "fully and
quickly honor[ing]" the obligations it has undertaken to destroy its
chemical weapons, and he pleaded with the Security Council to move
forward with an "enforceable" resolution ensuring that Syria complies.
But Ban added that removing unconventional arms can’t be the
international community’s only goal in Syria. "We can hardly be
satisfied with destroying chemical weapons while the wider war is still
destroying Syria. The vast majority of the killing and atrocities have
been carried out with conventional weapons," he said.
Ban urged Syria’s combatants and their foreign backers to "stop
fueling the bloodshed in Syria" and halt all arms shipments to the
fighters. "Military victory is an illusion," he said. "The only answer
is a political settlement." Ban also raised the possibility of sending
U.N. human rights monitors to Syria, where they "could play a useful
role in reporting and deterring further violations."
Obama, meanwhile, laid out a rather modest account of American "core
interests" in the Middle East and North Africa: countering military
aggression against U.S. partners in the region, protecting global energy
reserves, and confronting the dual threats of terrorism and nuclear
proliferation.
"The United States of America is prepared to use all elements of our
power, including military force, to secure these core interests in the
region," he said. "But I also believe that we can rarely achieve these
objectives through unilateral American action — particularly with
military action. Iraq shows us that democracy cannot be imposed by
force. Rather, these objectives are best achieved when we partner with
the international community and with the countries and people of the
region."
Accordingly, he defended the U.S. decision to work with Egypt’s new
military regime, which came to power through a July 3 military coup and
launched a bloody crackdown on its political opposition. "Our approach
to Egypt reflects a larger point: The United States will at times work
with governments that do not meet the highest international
expectations, but who work with us on our core interests," Obama said.
Obama added that he is willing to work even with America’s
traditional rivals, singling out Iran, to achieve his goals. Speaking
several hours before Iranian President Hasan Rouhani was due to address
the U.N. General Assembly, Obama offered assurances that "we are not
seeking regime change, and we respect the right of the Iranian people to
access peaceful nuclear energy. Instead, we insist that the Iranian
government meet its responsibilities under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and U.N. Security Council resolutions."
"We should be able to achieve a resolution that respects the rights
of the Iranian people, while giving the world confidence that the
Iranian program is peaceful. To succeed, conciliatory words will have to
be matched by actions that are transparent and verifiable."
Earlier in the day, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff took to the U.N. podium to
blast the massive electronic spying program
that Obama has overseen in office. The surveillance, she claimed,
constitutes a breach of international law and an affront to America’s
allies. Obama sought to assure leaders like her that he is listening.
"We have begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so as to
properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and
allies with the privacy concerns that all people share," Obama said. But
he went on to defend the controversial eavesdropping effort, saying it
was a just approach to combating terrorism by a superpower that is
"shifting away from a perpetual war-footing."
