David Lammy Unleashes On Vladimir Putin in Remarkable UN Speech - Then Takes aim at Russian Ambassador
While wars, despotism, climate change, famine, greed and desperation ravage much of the planet and its inhabitants, the United Nations remains a forum for diplomatic doublespeak. For pretend fealty to international principles. For honeyed words about the poor and dispossessed. For earnest calls for peace, for justice, for our shared humanity and kinship amongst men.
Joe Biden's long speech to the UN General Assembly on 24 September, probably his last major address to an international gathering, was a classic of the genre. Trying to bring "a message of hope for the future" he cited examples of where warring parties have managed to reconcile - such as Vietnam and the US, or Israel and Egypt - to make the point that it was still possible to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
He spoke about the need to avoid a full-scale regional conflict involving Lebanon, to sustain support for Ukraine, and press for an end to the civil war in Sudan. He also called for continuing action to combat climate change, and expressed US support for reform and expansion of the Security Council.
But, Biden's lofty aspirations seemed completely divorced from reality, given what is actually happening on the ground in the Middle East, Sudan, and Ukraine - the latter handicapped by his own administration's refusal to lift restrictions on usage of long range weapons - as well as the almost total gridlock in the UN Security Council on how to address these and other crises around the world, let alone reach agreement on how to reform itself.
He barely mentioned Iran's meddling across the Middle East, or North Korea's nuclear adventurism, let alone the dangerous nexus of cooperation they have formed with Russia, to sustain its aggression against Ukraine.
It was not wrong of Biden to try to appeal to the better natures of his fellow leaders. But it did come across as naïve, overly boastful, and disconnected from current events.
The rosy unreality of his speech was exemplified by his claim that he had successfully ended the war in Afghanistan, overlooking the chaos of the US withdrawal, the abandonment of US allies, the devastating consequences for Afghan women back under Taliban rule since then, and the message of weakness this telegraphed to dictators around the world.
Related reading: 'Vladimir Putin is Trapped Between Only bad Choices - he Can't Stop the War, and he Can't Win'
Uncharitably, I suspect that some of the applause for Biden, when he explained his decision not to run for the Presidency a second time, saying "some things are more important than staying in power", may have been more ironic than genuine in sentiment.
The world is in a far messier state now than when Biden came into office. For all that many democratic governments around the world may have deplored Trump, and now dread a second Trump Presidency, this does not translate into automatic enthusiasm for Biden's handling of world events either.
Where the US leads, the UK often timidly follows. For example, for months, on Gaza, the UK has hidden behind an abstention on successive UN resolutions, to avoid having to take a clear stance on the conduct of the war, or whether to establish a Palestinian state. The UK has also, up till now, refrained from criticising Biden's hesitation on Ukraine, at least in public.
So, it was both unexpected and refreshing to hear the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, give a completely unvarnished speech about Russia, devoid of all the usual diplomatic niceties, during a session of the United Nations Security Council convened to discuss Ukraine.
Related reading: 'The Doors are Wide Open for Ukraine to Deliver a Devastating Blow to Russia - if Only the West Would Let Them'
For once, there was no beating around the bush. In admirably concise and direct terms, Lammy accused Russia of tearing up the UN Charter, and Putin of presiding over a "mafia state", which he aimed to expand into a mafia empire, "built on corruptio
Joe Biden's long speech to the UN General Assembly on 24 September, probably his last major address to an international gathering, was a classic of the genre. Trying to bring "a message of hope for the future" he cited examples of where warring parties have managed to reconcile - such as Vietnam and the US, or Israel and Egypt - to make the point that it was still possible to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
He spoke about the need to avoid a full-scale regional conflict involving Lebanon, to sustain support for Ukraine, and press for an end to the civil war in Sudan. He also called for continuing action to combat climate change, and expressed US support for reform and expansion of the Security Council.
But, Biden's lofty aspirations seemed completely divorced from reality, given what is actually happening on the ground in the Middle East, Sudan, and Ukraine - the latter handicapped by his own administration's refusal to lift restrictions on usage of long range weapons - as well as the almost total gridlock in the UN Security Council on how to address these and other crises around the world, let alone reach agreement on how to reform itself.
He barely mentioned Iran's meddling across the Middle East, or North Korea's nuclear adventurism, let alone the dangerous nexus of cooperation they have formed with Russia, to sustain its aggression against Ukraine.
It was not wrong of Biden to try to appeal to the better natures of his fellow leaders. But it did come across as naïve, overly boastful, and disconnected from current events.
The rosy unreality of his speech was exemplified by his claim that he had successfully ended the war in Afghanistan, overlooking the chaos of the US withdrawal, the abandonment of US allies, the devastating consequences for Afghan women back under Taliban rule since then, and the message of weakness this telegraphed to dictators around the world.
Related reading: 'Vladimir Putin is Trapped Between Only bad Choices - he Can't Stop the War, and he Can't Win'
Uncharitably, I suspect that some of the applause for Biden, when he explained his decision not to run for the Presidency a second time, saying "some things are more important than staying in power", may have been more ironic than genuine in sentiment.
The world is in a far messier state now than when Biden came into office. For all that many democratic governments around the world may have deplored Trump, and now dread a second Trump Presidency, this does not translate into automatic enthusiasm for Biden's handling of world events either.
Where the US leads, the UK often timidly follows. For example, for months, on Gaza, the UK has hidden behind an abstention on successive UN resolutions, to avoid having to take a clear stance on the conduct of the war, or whether to establish a Palestinian state. The UK has also, up till now, refrained from criticising Biden's hesitation on Ukraine, at least in public.
So, it was both unexpected and refreshing to hear the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, give a completely unvarnished speech about Russia, devoid of all the usual diplomatic niceties, during a session of the United Nations Security Council convened to discuss Ukraine.
Related reading: 'The Doors are Wide Open for Ukraine to Deliver a Devastating Blow to Russia - if Only the West Would Let Them'
For once, there was no beating around the bush. In admirably concise and direct terms, Lammy accused Russia of tearing up the UN Charter, and Putin of presiding over a "mafia state", which he aimed to expand into a mafia empire, "built on corruptio
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