UN MEMBERS BRACE FOR TRUMP’S HOMECOMING
▶ Iran and North Korea likely to dominate agenda at New York gathering
US President Donald Trump’s stance at the 73rd UN General Assembly session in New York is likely to prove anything but accommodating to international partners.
With midterm elections looming and the continuing economic, cyber and political skirmishes with Russia, China and Iran, Mr Trump is expected to use the UN meeting as a platform to amplify his views, as he has done before.
The US Ambassador to the UN compared the session’s hustle and bustle, which began on Thursday, to “speed dating”.
“But what we will try to do is have all hands on deck,” Nikki Haley said. “There’s a lot of issues to cover.”
Ms Haley said Mr Trump would arrive in his home town tomorrow, where he will use the UN session to launch a global call to action on the world drug problem. He will also attend a reception for heads of states tomorrow.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump will deliver his second speech to the General Assembly.
Ms Haley said he would be “talking about foreign policy successes the US has had over the past year and where we’re going to go from here”.
Stressing sovereignty and building relations with countries that share US values will be some of the speech highlights.
Also on Tuesday, Mr Trump will attend a luncheon hosted by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and a reception by Ms Haley, as the current President of the UN Security Council.
On Wednesday, the US president will chair a Security Council briefing on nuclear non-proliferation, focusing on Iran.
But Ms Haley and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have said it will also discuss North Korea, chemical weapons in Syria and co-operation against weapons proliferation.
While at the UN, Mr Trump has scheduled meetings with six heads of government.
They are South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and British leader Theresa May.
Absent from the list of Middle East heads of state are King Abdullah II of Jordan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim
Asked if Mr Trump would meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Ms Haley said: “Certainly if Rouhani requested a meeting it would be for the president to decide.”
Mr Trump is expected to leave on Thursday. Experts told The National they doubted that much in the way of policy breakthroughs would be made at the General Assembly. The platform, they said, was more theatrical than policy-driven.
Richard Gowan, at the UN University Centre for Policy Research, expects Mr Trump “to be as abrasive at the UN as he was last year, or even more so”.
“He has been increasingly disruptive in multilateral forums this year, blowing up the G7 and Nato summits,” Mr Gowan told The National. “With the midterms coming up, he can stir up his base by throwing a few punches at the UN.”
He said Iran and North Korea would probably dominate the agenda. It remains unclear how Mr Trump will behave in regards to North Korea, but many expect softer language as Mr Pompeo readies for another trip to Pyongyang.
Last year, Mr Trump called Kim Jong-un “rocket man” and publicly threatened him with destruction, but this year he may highlight his personal bond with Mr Kim, Mr Gowan said. How will other leaders react to Mr Trump? Mr Gowan predicted self-control.
“Nobody wants to wade into a public bust-up with the US president, even if they disagree with him,” he said.
In regards to the Middle East particularly, Johnathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said: “The priorities appear to be Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
Mr Schanzer said the US government’s stance with Iran would be “sanctions and political isolation” but not so with Israel and the Palestinians.
There is talk that the US peace plan by Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner would be unveiled at the assembly.
But Ms Haley’s address to the Security Council on Thursday prioritised Iran over the Palestinian-Israeli issue.
“The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is serious and worthy of this council’s attention,” she said. “But if there is one country that is the source of conflict and instability in the Middle East, one country that merits a quarterly debate in the Security Council, that country is not Israel – it’s Iran.”
With the midterms coming up, Trump can stir up his base by throwing a few punches at the UN RICHARD GOWAN Senior fellow, UN University