UN live feed at the general assembly captures Trump and Haley entering. Trump is chairing a meeting on counter-narcotics at 8:30 am.
Some background in my newsletter. More soon. tinyletter.com/KlasfeldReport…
Some background in my newsletter. More soon. tinyletter.com/KlasfeldReport…
Trump and Haley both sitting next to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the Trusteeship Council Chamber, with the meeting starting soon.
The live-feed is here. Haley's currently speaking about the opioid crisis. webtv.un.org/live/
Secretary-General Guterres' remarks sharply contrast the uncharacteristically canned and prepared speeches from Trump and Haley, who spent much time praising U.S. leadership.
Guterres struck a personal chord with his sister's work treating addicts and his native Portugal.
Guterres struck a personal chord with his sister's work treating addicts and his native Portugal.
For those who don't know, Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001 - a fact that Guterres alluded to without mentioning specifically.
"Drug addicts are victims who need treatment rather than punishment," he said.
washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…
"Drug addicts are victims who need treatment rather than punishment," he said.
washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…
Like Trump and Haley, Guterres rattled off statistics - "some 450,000 die every year of overdoses," he said at one point - and spoke of Portugal's anti-drug clampdown. He recalled investing in "a new generation speedboats" competing with cartels' tech along the watery border.
This is pretty much the nub of it. The meeting consisted of three brief and prepared speeches. The juxtaposition of the canned Trump/Haley remarks and Guterres' more personal speech reflected the stark contrast between the U.S. and Portugal on drug policy.
An excerpt from Guterres' speech:
The unnamed "policy" that "worked" and turned Portugal around, the secretary-general diplomatically avoided specifying next the U.S. leaders, was across-the-board decriminalization.
The unnamed "policy" that "worked" and turned Portugal around, the secretary-general diplomatically avoided specifying next the U.S. leaders, was across-the-board decriminalization.
About to start soon: The Nelson Mandela Peace Summit.
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South Africa unveiled a statue in Mandela's honor earlier this morning.
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South Africa unveiled a statue in Mandela's honor earlier this morning.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the new president of the General Assembly, is speaking now for the peace summit. She has served Ecuador's previous and current presidential administrations: those of Rafael Correa and Lenin Moreno, who had a sharp falling out.
Garcés: "The very principle of multilateralism is being called into question."
Garcés doesn't explicitly note that the theme of Trump's speech tomorrow is expected to be national sovereignty. She cites need to combat climate change, again mum on US withdrawal from Paris accord.
Garcés doesn't explicitly note that the theme of Trump's speech tomorrow is expected to be national sovereignty. She cites need to combat climate change, again mum on US withdrawal from Paris accord.
"The only forum that we have to achieve this global compact is the United Nations organization," she added.
This is the resolution adopted last year to mark this centenary of Mandela's birth this year.
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Now, chairman of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki also notes attacks on multilateralism in our age of "withdrawal and rejection of 'the other.'"
un.org/ga/search/view…
Now, chairman of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki also notes attacks on multilateralism in our age of "withdrawal and rejection of 'the other.'"
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa is now up, speaking about how the UN was born from the collective trauma of World War II:
"Since the formation of the UN, the world has faced many crises that tested the limits of multilateralism and international diplomacy," he said.
"Since the formation of the UN, the world has faced many crises that tested the limits of multilateralism and international diplomacy," he said.
