President Biden and the leaders of Iran and Ukraine are among the speakers on the second day of speeches at the United Nations General Assembly, where dozens of world leaders and ministers gather to discuss the war in Ukraine, food and energy crises and climate change.
In line with his efforts to restore US relations with longtime allies, Mr Biden is expected to speak on topics such as international cooperation and human rights, warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violates international law and threatens the order. He will speak hours after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia announced an expansion of the war effort that would call up about 300,000 reservists.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has not left his country since Russia invaded on February 24, will address the meeting in a pre-recorded speech on Wednesday afternoon. He is expected to call on member states to support Ukraine with weapons, cash and humanitarian aid and is likely to advocate for his cause of defending freedom, sovereignty and democracy — a struggle bigger than Ukraine alone, according to Anatolii Zlenko, a diplomat. at Ukraine’s mission to the United Nations.
As his country is rocked by anti-government protests, Iran’s conservative president Ebrahim Raisi made his first appearance at the United Nations. In his comments, he complained that the United States was pursuing its interests “at the expense of other countries” and said Tehran could not rely on Washington to deliver on its promises after it “trampled down” a previous deal to overturn Iran’s nuclear program. to limit.
With his speech earlier today, Mr Putin has shifted the debate on the war in Ukraine from a distance.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will host two private conferences for heads of state and senior government officials, one on climate change and the other on three challenges facing the world as a result of the war in Ukraine: food shortages, rising energy prices and rising inflation.
September 21, 2022, 10:26 am ETSept. 21, 2022, 10:26 a.m. ET
Mongolia’s President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa used his speech to advocate demilitarization and said the billions spent on weapons could have had a profound effect on poverty and climate change, major problems in Central Asia. The world needs to “think and reflect on what progress could have been made,” he said.
September 21, 2022, 10:08 a.m. ETSept. 21, 2022, 10:08 a.m. ET
White House officials say President Biden will announce $2.9 billion in new US government aid to combat global food insecurity when he addresses the General Assembly later this morning.
September 21, 2022, 10:09 am ETSept. 21, 2022, 10:09 a.m. ET
The aid includes $2 billion in global humanitarian aid through USAID and $220 million for school food programs in Africa and East Asia. Mr. Biden will also seek Congressional approval for $140 million to help increase crop production and incomes for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.
September 21, 2022, 10:03 a.m. ETSept. 21, 2022, 10:03 a.m. ET
An emboldened but challenged President Biden will address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday morning, claiming new momentum on climate change and the war in Ukraine, but facing tough questions about whether the United Nations is capable of recruiting a member of the United Nations. Security Council that has launched an invasion of one of its neighbors.
Mr. Biden has emphasized the importance of American leadership in speeches on the world stage since taking office, advocating the superiority of democracies over authoritarian governments and reassuring allies that the United States is following the “America First” policy of its predecessor, former President Donald J. Trump. He will continue that case on Wednesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday.
The president’s speech will “describe his views on American foreign policy and principled leadership in the world,” Sullivan said.
In the speech, Mr. Biden will continue to chide Russia, which is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council along with the United States, over its invasion of Ukraine this year. But Mr Biden has no hope of Council action to punish Moscow because Russia has an effective veto over the Council’s actions.
Mr Sullivan said Mr Biden would nod to that conundrum and call for reforms to combat it.
“He will underline the importance of strengthening the United Nations,” said Mr. Sullivan, “and reaffirm the core principles of the charter at a time when a permanent member of the Security Council has touched the core of the charter by of territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
This month, Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, committed the United States to a series of proposed changes to the way the Security Council operates, including expanding its membership to include geographical diversity and forcing permanent members to explain their veto to the full General Assembly.
Mr Biden could draft even more detailed reform plans for the Council on Wednesday, Mr Sullivan said.
The president is also expected to make what Mr. Sullivan called “major new announcements,” costing well over $100 million, to address global food insecurity. That includes calling for the lifting of food export bans and food hoarding in hopes of lowering world prices.
Mr. Biden will use his speech to promote more than $370 billion in spending and tax incentives included in a bill he signed last month intended to accelerate America’s efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions, with the aim of encourage more ambitious global action to combat climate change.
He is also expected to call on Iran to return to a multinational agreement aimed at halting the development of a nuclear weapon.
In the evening, the president and his wife, Jill Biden, will hold a reception for other world leaders gathered at the General Assembly. Mr Sullivan said Iran would not be invited.
September 21, 2022, 10:01 am ETSept. 21, 2022, 10:01 a.m. ET
Mr Raisi says the United States’ maximum pressure policy on Iran has “suffered an embarrassing defeat” and that the penalties imposed on the people of Iran are a form of weapons of mass destruction. He added that Iran is seeking assurances from the Americans because it cannot rely on Washington not to trample a new nuclear deal, as it has in the past.
September 21, 2022, 9:52 am ETSept. 21, 2022, 9:52 a.m. ET
Mr Raisi, who has largely exceeded his 15-minute allotment, criticizes Israel, saying the region has never seen “a savage occupying force like the Zionist regime. The killing of children and women is on the report of the Zionist regime.”
September 21, 2022, 9:44 a.m. ETSept. 21, 2022, 9:44 a.m. ET
Holding up the photo of former commander of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Qassim Suleimani, who was assassinated by the US in Iraq, Mr Raisi says it shows the oppression being imposed on the Middle East. “The proper pursuit of justice in the face of a crime that the US president admitted he signed will not be abandoned. We seek through a fair tribunal to bring justice to those who tortured our beloved General Suleimani.”
September 21, 2022, 9:41 am ETSept. 21, 2022, 9:41 a.m. ET
Mr Raisi says the United States has always equated militarism with security. “America has defended its interests at the expense of other countries.”
September 21, 2022, 9:40 AM ETSept. 21, 2022, 9:40 a.m. ET
Mr. Raisi, alluding to the nuclear deal, said Iran wants to obtain what is “fair and just” for itself and this has caused chaos for the world’s oppressors.
September 21, 2022, 9:35 a.m. ETSept. 21, 2022, 9:35 a.m. ET
Mr Raisi says a relationship based on pressure will not be tolerated and Iran will stand up to defend the rights of its people.
September 21, 2022, 9:29 AM ETSept. 21, 2022, 9:29 a.m. ET
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi says he is proud to represent a country that has fought the opposition. “We are for the globalization of justice. The nation of Iran believes that justice brings unity and cohesion, and warfare destroys everything.”
September 21, 2022, 9:11 am ETSept. 21, 2022, 9:11 a.m. ET
The second day of speeches at the UN General Assembly has kicked off with a speech by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, who is urging the UN to review its structure – a call yesterday by several leaders from Africa and Latin America. done. After Mr Buhari, Iran’s hard-line president Ebrahim Raisi will speak.
September 21, 2022, 8:58 AM ETSept. 21, 2022, 8:58 a.m. ET
Hours before the United Nations General Assembly was set to meet in New York on a day filled with speeches and meetings about the war in Ukraine, Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin turned the conversation early on Wednesday: He announced a new campaign that will involve about 300,000 reservists for the military, while also directly challenging the West over its support of Ukraine with a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons.
In a rare video address to the nation, Mr Putin, who will not appear at the United Nations, did not stop declaring full, national conscription, but instead called for a “partial mobilization” of those with military experience. . Although Moscow’s troops recently suffered humiliating losses on the battlefield, he said Russia’s goals in Ukraine had not changed and that the move was “necessary and urgent” because the West had “crossed all borders” by providing advanced weapons to Ukraine. to deliver.
The speech was an apparent attempt to assert his authority over an increasingly chaotic war that has undermined his leadership both at home and on the global stage. It also escalated Russia’s tense confrontation with Western countries that have supported Ukraine with weapons, money and intelligence that have contributed to Ukraine’s recent successes in reclaiming swathes of territory in the northeast.
Mr Putin accused the United States and Europe of “nuclear blackmail” against his country and warned that Russia itself had “many weapons”.
“For those who allow themselves such statements about Russia, I would like to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and that some parts are more modern than those of the NATO countries,” he said.
Mr Putin also reaffirmed his support for the referendums hastily announced on Tuesday, which paved the way for him to declare that occupied Ukrainian territory has become part of Russia. That annexation could potentially happen as early as next week.
By announcing the soldiers’ call, Mr Putin also responded to those in Russia who support the war but have criticized the Kremlin for not dedicating the resources and personnel necessary to conduct an all-out battle. Mr Putin had previously avoided conscription in an effort to keep the rigors of war as far as possible from ordinary Russians, but recent battlefield setbacks and the clamoring of pro-war nationalists for a more robust effort apparently changed the calculation. .
September 21, 2022, 8:45 a.m. ETSept. 21, 2022, 8:45 a.m. ET
The first day of speeches at the United Nations General Assembly, on Tuesday, was a day of warnings about the dangers of war, the pain of shortages and the disaster of climate change.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in particular, dominated the day, with world leaders discussing the conflict’s violence, supply chain chaos, rising energy prices and the war’s other ripple effects.
“We cannot go on like this,” António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said in an opening speech before the meeting. “We have a duty to act. And yet we are stuck in colossal global dysfunction.”
Two of the leaders speaking on Tuesday — Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Emmanuel Macron of France — used the United Nations as a podium to pose themselves as potential peacemakers in the war in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the French president was the most prominent speaker of the Western alliance opposing Russia, and he was vehement in his denunciation of the invasion — though he insisted he could play a role in bringing about peace.
“What we have seen since February 24 is a return to the era of imperialism and colonies,” he told the assembly, referring to the day the Russian invasion began. “France rejects this. France will stubbornly seek peace.”
But it remained far from clear how one of the world leaders gathered in New York could influence Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin, who chose not to attend the meeting, or what the United Nations would decide to do this week. , how great the widespread but not universal anger at Mr Putin was.
September 21, 2022, 8:02 am ETSept. 21, 2022, 8:02 a.m. ET
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi will make his world stage debut on Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly as his country is rocked by anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody.
Before leaving Iran for New York on Monday, Mr. Raisi, a hard-hearted cleric, told local news media, “I will be the voice of the Iranian people at the United Nations.”
But on Tuesday, protesters in cities across Iran, led by women, called for an end to the Islamic Republic, with many women taking off their mandatory headscarves, waving them in the air, tearing them up and setting them on fire. according to eyewitnesses, news reports and videos on social media. At least five people have been killed, according to a human rights organization.
The protests were in response to the death on Friday of Mahsa Amini, 22. Her family says she was beaten and suffered a head injury while she was detained by vice squad, who had arrested her on charges of violating Iran’s hijab law. , which requires women to cover their hair and wear loose-fitting robes. The authorities deny that claim and Mr. Raisi has ordered an investigation.
“The situation in Iran will shame and embarrass Mr. Raisi when he first appears on the world stage,” said Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoeini, a former Iranian reformist faction lawmaker who is now a human rights activist in Maryland. .
Ahead of the UN meeting, where Mr Raisi will deliver a speech, US officials and European diplomats had said they intended to use the platform and the meetings to pressure Iran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. to blow.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron, who met Mr Raisi on Tuesday, told the BBC’s Persian news service that the two had talked at length about the nuclear deal, but Mr Macron had made it “very clear that we strongly support human rights and especially the women’s rights’, and that ‘Iran’s credibility is now at stake in addressing this issue’.
Mr Raisi’s ascent to the presidency in 2021 was controversial at home and abroad. The election was widely regarded as designed by disqualifying his serious rivals to ensure his victory for the conservatives to consolidate power.
Mr Raisi is charged by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch with crimes against humanity for his role in the execution of 5,000 political prisoners in the 1980s. Mr Raisi was part of a commission that screened prisoners and issued execution orders without due process. He has defended the murders as justified and has not denied his role on the commission.
Several Iranian opposition groups in exile — ranging from pro-democracy activists to monarchists to Mujahedeen Khalq, or M.E.K., an insurgent group formerly labeled a terrorist organization by the United States and Europe — have planned protests outside the United Nations in New York City. on Wednesday. Ebrahim Hamedi, the Iranian singer known as Ebi who lives in Los Angeles, joins the protesters.
