Obama to world: Don't expect America to fix it all

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

Source: AP

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago
NEW YORK – In a blunt challenge to his nation's critics, President Barack Obama says world leaders who once accused the United States of acting alone must now join with him to solve global crises rather than "wait for America" to lead.

It is Obama's first address to the U.N. General Assembly, and he is seeking to set a new tone in U.S. relations — one that separates his administration from the unilateralism of his predecessor, George W. Bush, which alienated many nations.

"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," Obama said in White House excerpts of the address that carried a remarkably blunt tone.

In essence, Obama's message is that he expects plenty in return for reaching out.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

[dipsydoodle]

1. Given that the rest of the world

is used to the USA creating problems it would infact be unrealistic for anyone to expect the USA to fix things too.

:sarcasm:

[Soylent Brice]

5. ouch.

reality hurts.

lol

[Ghost Dog]

29. (And that's AP's version of "In essence").

Hi. Join the club, why don't ya. :hi:

[WriteDown]

6. Yep, like WWI and WWII.

Would have been better if the US had just minded its own business.

[shadowknows69]

10. So we helped defeat one empire and started our own

I applaud us defeating fascism, but it makes it kind of a hollow victory if we become just a "kinder, gentler" empire. And how much kinder and gentler have we been really?

[WriteDown]

11. I agree....

The Nazi's most likely would have brought peace and unity to Europe and the current problems with China would not have existed.

[shadowknows69]

12. Yeah, ok I really don't think I said that. Nice try though.

[2Design]

14. No you did not say what writedown said - they are wrong - n/t

[WriteDown]

16. I was just pointing out...

the ways the world may have been better if we kept our noses out.

[shadowknows69]

17. Not if we kept our noses out necessarily, but know when to reel the schnoze back in.

[WriteDown]

18. Its a lot easier...

if you just never put your beak out in the first place.

[shadowknows69]

20. Well if beak inserting is necessary it's nice to do it as a global coalition

and not some half assed rogue nation like our current campaigns resemble.

[WriteDown]

22. It is never necessary...

develop your own resources, take care of your own people. It worked before Woodrow Wilson just fine.

[Uncle Joe]

69. This is in response your posts #6 & 22. Before Wilson we weren't just minding our own business

and or taking care of our own. We interfered with a nation on the other side of the planet's right to self-determination, a nation that in no way threatened us and this had nothing to do with taking care of our own.

"The Philippine–American War was an armed military conflict between the United States and the Philippines, which arose from the First Philippine Republic struggle against United States annexation of the islands. The war was a continuation of the Philippine struggle for independence, following the Philippine Revolution, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, and the Spanish-American War.

After the Treaty of Paris, the United States armed forces, led by *William McKinley, along with the Philippine Constabulary and the Philippine Scouts, were sent to occupy the islands. The struggle officially ended on July 4, 1902,<7><8> however, remnants of the Katipunan and other resistance groups, such as the Pulajanes and the Moro, continued hostilities until 1913.<8><9>

The war led to the creation of the Anti-Imperialist League by Mark Twain, who heavily opposed the war, as well as to writing of The White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling which is a poem about colonialism. In its aftermath, the war would change the cultural landscape of the islands with the introduction of the English language, the disestablishment of the Catholic Church, and the impact of an estimated 200,000-1,500,000 casualties."

<snip>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine-American_War

*For whatever it's worth and for those people that don't know, McKinley was a Republican.

[ProudDad]

74. Not to mention the theft of

3,794,066 sq miles from the People's who lived sustainably upon it...

[Recursion]

13. Not the Nazi's, but Germany's WWI aims are basically modern Europe

Germany started WWI with the goal of creating what is essentially the EU today.

[WriteDown]

15. Bingo...

Something else we screwed up.

[leftynyc]

27. Are you seriously suggesting

we shouldn't have helped Europe defeat the nazis? 11 million dead at their hands wasn't enough?

[WriteDown]

28. Not our problem....

Why are we the World Police? It.s that kind of attitude which has us in the mess we're in today.

[carla]

44. Isolationism works

fine until your adversary has built long-range bombers and attack submarines that can hit your shores.
1944 was a major year in Nazi R&D and would have given birth to the above. The planet is too small to mind only ones own affairs. America may still have some worthwhile energies to share, but frankly, I don't want you guys anywhere near where I am. Sorry, flame on!

[WriteDown]

52. Like a hornets nest...

Don't give them a reason to attack you.

[leftynyc]

55. So exactly what

did Poland, Czech, France and Italy do to provoke Hitler? Do you care that you sound like a moron?

[WriteDown]

57. If they do attack...

Have a strong enough defense to defend your people. Like the real police, you should not depend on the World Police.

[ProudDad]

75. You forget the part where the USAmerikan Capitalists

help Hitler to build his war machine -- for profit.

Same thing that drives the USAmerikan Empire today...the permanent war economy...for profit...

Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan/Darfur -- all for profits...

WWII, like any other stupid war, was essentially unnecessary...

[Odin2005]

47. Dante once said that the worst spot in hell is reserved for those who refuse to stop evil

It's not about being the "world police", it's about doing what is right.

[WriteDown]

51. That is the argument used to propagate the US

empire.

[Odin2005]

60. If doing the right thing makes me an "imperialist" than so fucking be it!

[shadowknows69]

19. Given that maybe in WWI we should have, but Hitler had to be stopped obviously.

I don't confess to know enough about WWI as far as the political motivations of the players.

[WriteDown]

23. Hitler should have been stopped by Europe...

It was a regional problem and one we should have stayed out of.

[shadowknows69]

24. Well that was a complicated by a little thing called Pearl Harbor

And them declaring war on us with Japan.

[WriteDown]

25. That was a result of the US embargo....

Yet another embargo that was a mistake.

[Odin2005]

48. Your historical ignorance is astounding.

Hitler had conquered much of Europe by 1941. Russia only held out because we sent military aid.

EPIC FAIL

[WriteDown]

53. Then Europe should have fallen...

We are not the world police.

[Odin2005]

59. Your opinion is evil , disgusting, and shows a lack of concern for other human beings.

[WriteDown]

62. Your lust for intervention seems inappropriate. nt

[LeftishBrit]

64. Some of us are rather glad to be alive

If Hitler had taken over Europe - my parents would probably have been murdered, and I would never have been born.

And millions of others...

I bet America wouldn't have been prepared to take millions of refugees from Europe.

[WriteDown]

65. And yet Stalin was untouched....

as well as Rwanda. Who decides when the World Police will act?

[leftynyc]

56. So we should

get out of NATO? Have no alliances beyond our shores?

[WriteDown]

58. Trade alliances are fine. nt

[ProudDad]

77. Absolutely

NATO is nothing more than another excuse to make the rich capitalist war profiteers richer...

[Odin2005]

46. You mean bloody repression and genocide.

:puke:

The stupid, IT BURNS!!!

[WriteDown]

54. Once the genocide was over...

there would be peace though. Maybe a different kind of peace than you mean though.

[Odin2005]

61. So, you think genocide is OK?

Yep, you're scum.

[WriteDown]

63. No...

But we didn't go to war with Stalin either.

[JonQ]

70. Presumably the nazis would have ended the holocaust of their own accord

. . . eventually. There were only a finite number of jews and other undesirables, they would have run out at some point.

[Old Hob]

26. well, we haven't constructed death camps for instance.

seems like history wasn't a very popular school subject around here. lol

[Odin2005]

45. This idiotic post proves why kids need to be taught history.

The Isolationists were mostly right-wingers with Fascist sympathies (Charles Lindbergh Sr., for example).

[JonQ]

67. So the US should have launched a preemptive strike against germany

before they had done anything to us?

On the grounds that what, they were developing weapons of mass destruction and killing their own people?

[ProudDad]

78. As were those who bankrolled and supplied Hitler... (n/t)

[JonQ]

66. Well to be fair, both those wars were entirely our fault

we provoke germany in to fighting both world wars.

Before we started getting involved in international affairs they had things pretty well taken care of, few if any wars, no exploitation or coloniasm, racism, poverty, disease were all being eradicated.

Then 1914 roles around and we have to mess everything up.

[EFerrari]

36. No kidding! Nobody tell Obama.

:)

[Cha]

43. Tell President Obama what? What an a brilliant, heartfelt

Mission Statement he gave to the World?

[bigworld]

2. Address to be carried live here

http://www.un.org/webcast/

[2Design]

7. thanks

[BumRushDaShow]

3. K&R

Also streaming on MSNBC.com, CNN.com, etc. P.O.T.U.S. on XM radio is running it as well.

[AlphaCentauri]

4. Let's start with the Cuban embargo

Let the world fix that problem

[2Design]

8. this speech is hypocritical - won't tolerate killing innocents - our bombs and drones are doing that

all the things he says he is against as far as killing and war - usa is doing in iraq and afgan - until we close our military bases around the world and stop invading countries and forcing overthrows of democratically elected leaders, open up trade with cuba - we can not tell others how they should be or promise things we don't do ourselves. We have a huge crime, and xtain taliban in this country who kill - willy nilly - we need to fix our own problems before we go elsewhere

[shadowknows69]

9. Oh, I think that ship has sailed.

If there's any country in the world left that thinks we can fix their problems they're as fucked as us.

[Old Hob]

21. somehow I don't think they did in the first place. nt

[OneBlueSky]

30. fix it all??? . . . hell, we're more responsible for most of the world's troubles . . .

than just about any country . . . from befouling and overfishing our oceans to creating toxic materials that can't be disposed of to engaging in one foreign war after another, the U.S. in the 21st century is doing far more harm than good to the planet . . . until Obama came into office, we didn't even recognize that global warming was a problem . . . oh, the corporate/government leaders knew it all right, but they refused to do anything that might negatively impact their precious profits -- like conducting their businesses in ways that don't harm the air, land and water . . .

American corporations are the root cause of most of the globe's major problems, and until we can reign them in and strictly regulate their activities, none of those problems is going to be solved . . . and since Obama seems to be a friend to the corporate giants, I doubt that he's the one who will be making the kind of difference that's needed to halt the destruction of our planet and restore it to its former self-regulating self . . .

[Ghost Dog]

31. I continue to reflect on the Napoleonic Wars...

And, a while before them, those against Al Andalus, and such...

(On a "Global" scale, that is. Just in more recent (actually, "modern") Eurasian history, you understand).

[sofa king]

32. Why not? We fucked it all up, didn't we?

[troubledamerican]

79. YES

[LeftishBrit]

33. I don't think anyone does expect it...

We're just relieved to see someone as president who has actually got a brain and doesn't destroy everything that he touches. It makes the world a safer place, if still far from a *safe* place.

[fascisthunter]

34. technically, he is right, but the US has a lot of responsibility

for creating most of the destruction around the World. That's what happens when you government acts like a spoiled sociopathic bully.

[iandhr]

35. damn straight

we should not have to bail out the world or selfs. The Marshall Plan was different then we were the only ones that could fix it but not anymore

[Algorem]

37. he don't know how to do a international speech.your sposed to quit your job and go to China

[paparush]

38. Limbaugh - "Obama throws up hands in defeat" Beck - "Obama surrenders America's power"

I can just hear the Legion of Liars spinning this into oblivion - "I want my country back AND I want to rule the world!!!!"

[twitomy]

39. We ought to get out everywhere..

Middle East, Western Europe, South Korea, Bosnia, England. Let them defend themselves. We cant afford it anymore.

[paparush]

42. I completely agree. We have enough to do to get our own house back in order.

[Odin2005]

49. Oh look, another stupid isolationist.

[twitomy]

72. Yet in the same breath you and others would probably call the

US "impearlists" for being involved in the world..

[twitomy]

80. Since when is a country considered isolationist

becasue it doesnt engage the world with the end of a gun barrel?

[Vidar]

40. Nah, we only break things. We don't fix 'em.

[Odin2005]

50. The Marshall Plan didn't fix anything?

When Dems, (like Truman) are in charge things actually do get fixed.

[Vidar]

71. I agree entirely, unfortunately times have changed.

[JonQ]

68. We did help put an end to a perfectly good holocaust

and then ruined all of europes fabulous bombed out cities.

[marshall]

41. The gravy train's over

We've all got to take care of our own problems (and by extension not cause problems for everyone else).

[ProudDad]

73. Wow, that's clever

seeing as how the USAmerikan Empire is the number one exporter of arms and war...

What is there to fix???

[Lorien]

76. "Hey planet, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!"