What a Contrast! Trump and Guterres

Last week, two prominent world leaders gave speeches at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York City, in Turtle Bay no less,* but what a contrast there was between those two important addresses—and what an embarrassment to many of us U.S. citizens who are deeply interested in world affairs. 

The Speech by the U.N. General Secretary

António Guterres is the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, having occupied that office since January 2017. Born in Portugal just four years after the U.N. was established in 1945, he is a physicist-turned-politician who became the head of Portugal’s Socialist Party in 1992. His “socialism” is more social democracy than traditional socialism.

Mr. Guterres is also a devout, practicing Roman Catholic, and his political position is in harmony with the social teaching of the Catholic Church. He served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and then later became the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2005~2015).

In his powerful September 22 speech, Mr. Guterres declared that in the international world order, “cracks have become canyons,” so the countries of the world must work together to overcome the divisiveness that threatens peace and stability. He called for “networked multipolarity,” i.e., interdependence rather than there being a “great fracture” into rival blocs.

The Speech by the U.S. President

By contrast, the speech of Mr. Trump was exceedingly bad. With the Iran delegation present, he raised the possibility of annihilating the Islamic Republic—and upon hearing that, all the Iranian delegates (except for a low-ranking one), walked out in protest.

He also justified the military removal of Venezuela’s president in January of this year. That was clearly in violation of the United Nations Charter, which bars the use of force against another state’s territorial integrity or political independence.

And to make matters worse, in his speech Mr. Trump declared that “to the victors belong the spoils”—but that is not a USAmerican value. It is the logic of every empire that has taken what belonged to someone else. The Administration, though, says Venezuela's government signed the deal, that Venezuelans benefit, and that a criminal was removed.

But a contract signed in the shadow of an invasion, with a government installed by the invader, is not a deal between equals. And nobody, so far, will say where the oil money has actually gone. Power that seizes wealth and then won't account for it is not practicing diplomacy. It is, rather, an act of conquest.

My previous blog post was about the evil of empire(s), and what Mr. Trump did and said clearly seems to be an example of imperialism. A foreign country was invaded, and part of its wealth (vast oil reserves) was seized. Moreover, there is no clear evidence at this point of where the profits from the sale of that oil are going. Maybe some to the POTUS’s account?**

World Leaders Past and Present

Eight out of the nine Secretaries-General have served during my adult lifetime. I have known most about Dag Hammarskjöld from Sweden (1953~61). In addition, I remember how U Thant from Burma/Myanmar (1961~71), Kofi Annan from Ghana (1997~2006), and Ban Ki-moon from South Korea (2007~16) were also conscientious world leaders and statesmen.

Unfortunately, some of the U.S. Presidents who have served during these same years, from 1953 until the present, have been far less admirable. The current POTUS is clearly the worst of those, although there were serious deficiencies in the presidencies of Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, and (to a lesser degree) Ronald Reagan.

Looking forward to the 2028 election, I think there are people who could be elected President and serve well as a world leader like the U.S. General Secretary. As I have said before, my “top four” for that position are Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker, and Mark Kelly. The latter is probably the one who is most likely to be inaugurated in January 2029.

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  * I had not known until last week that the U.N. Headquarters is in the Turtle Bay “neighborhood,” the “official” designation of that part of NYC known as Midtown East.

** Further, a couple of days ago, the Trump administration opened a route for Venezuelan gold to reach U.S. markets. Who will ultimately benefit from such a deal—the Venezuelan people, U.S. interests, or politically connected individuals? Trump’s talk of ‘spoils’ makes that question especially urgent.