Whenever President Joe Biden gets up before the leaders of other nations, you know it won’t be inspiring. The better word is embarrassing. His UN speech before the General Assembly in New York City did not break the mold. Biden’s Sept. 19 address was laden with high-sounding generalities, baffling contradictions, ludicrous assertions, and wishful thinking.
Nonetheless, it was classic Biden. As in the past, the address acknowledged US leadership in the world but placed culpability for failing to meet lofty goals on the disunity of the UN’s membership. The president’s opening words were: “We gather once more at an inflection point in history.” An “inflection point” is defined as a “moment when a significant change occurs or may occur: Turning Point.” What was missing from Biden’s comments was what we were turning from or to. These times are rife with inflection points, as the United States and the rest of the world seem to zig-zag their way through history.
No UN Speech Is Complete Without a Nod to Globalism
However, to set the stage for the notion that partnership is crucial to future global well-being, Biden threw down the progressive globalist gauntlet. “The United States seeks a more secure, more prosperous, more equitable world for all people. Because we know our future is bound to yours. Let me repeat that again. We know our future is bound to yours,” the president asserted. This is a fundamental flaw of Biden’s worldview, denying the exceptional nature of the United States as the historical model for creating opportunities for personal and economic freedom.
The US chief executive turned to America’s place in the geographic region. “Here in the Western hemisphere, we united 21 nations in support of the Los Angeles Declaration on migration and protection. Launching a region-wide approach to a region-wide challenge. To better uphold laws and protect the rights of migrants,” he said. What he didn’t acknowledge is that the United States is experiencing a crisis on its southern flank that is crippling America’s ability to remain a sovereign nation. So, whatever law he thinks he’s upholding and whoever’s rights he’s protecting, they are not those of the beleaguered US citizens in the southern border states.
Then Biden addressed America’s most significant global threat:
“When it comes to China, I want to be clear and consistent. We seek to responsibly manage the competition between our countries, so it does not tip into conflict. I’ve said we are for de-risking not de-coupling. We will push back on aggression and intimidation and defend the ‘rules of the road’ from freedom of navigation to overflight, to level economic playing field. We also stand ready to work together with China on issues where progress hinges on our common efforts.”
So does Biden’s desire to “manage the competition” include Communist Chinese Party (CCP) agents executing espionage at every opportunity against the United States? Or the CCP’s cyberattacks and theft of US intellectual property? Recently, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen told the Chinese that the United States is not attempting to gain economic advantage over China. That is not reasonable. Of course we are. That’s what competition is all about – winning.
Biden’s Climate Crisis Warning
Joe Biden (Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)
Then, and you knew it was coming, Biden raised what many believe to be a fake climate crisis. “Tragic, tragic flooding in Libya … that’s killed thousands and thousands of people … [T]hese snapshots tell an urgent story of what awaits us if we fail to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and to begin to climate-proof the world.” So Biden blamed the disaster in Libya on fossil-fuel dependence instead of poorly constructed dams. As for climate-proofing the world, it seems he intends to rid the planet of weather generally, an interesting if utopian concept.
Then Biden touched on a real threat: “We’re working with our partners to address Iran’s destabilizing activities that threaten regional and global security and remain steadfast in our commitment that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon.” Meanwhile, his administration just promised Iran, the “Menace of the Middle East,” a $6 billion ransom payment plus five Iranian criminals in exchange for five wrongfully imprisoned Americans. Does anyone see an imbalanced equation here?
The commander-in-chief’s UN speech is an occasion for communicating the unambiguous, straightforward narrative of how the United States will protect its sovereign equities and promote the security of its friends and allies. Biden, however, should have been forewarned that aspirations, while permitted, should be tempered with a strong sense of reality.
