UNITED NATIONS: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday made a fervent call for extending help to Pakistan where floods have caused huge devastation in his speech to the UN General Assembly.
“Pakistan is still under water, needs help to mitigate effects of climate change.
” the president told the 193-member Assembly in its high-level debate, when he dealt with the adverse impacts of climate change.
The iconic hall of the General Assembly was packed-to-capacity with world leaders, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, when Biden spoke.
On the other hand, US President Joe Biden accused Russia on Wednesday of making “reckless” and “irresponsible” threats to use nuclear weapons and said Moscow had violated the core tenets of United Nations membership by invading Ukraine.
Biden slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting an unprovoked war that some 40 U.N. members were helping Ukraine fight through funding and weapons.
Earlier on Wednesday, Putin ordered a Russian mobilization to fight in Ukraine and made a thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons, in what NATO called a “reckless” act of desperation in the face of a looming Russian defeat. Biden echoed that sentiment.
“Again, just today, President Putin has made overt nuclear threats against Europe, in a reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the nonproliferation regime,” Biden said. “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” he said.
Biden said no one had threatened Russia, despite its claims to the contrary, and that only Russia had sought conflict, and he used the UN setting to underscore his view that Moscow had violated the body’s values.
“A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, attempted to erase a sovereign state from the map. Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations Charter,” Biden said. “This war is about extinguishing Ukraine s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine s right to exist as a people. Wherever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should … make your blood run cold.”
Russia s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden s remarks. While Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in New York for the U.N. gathering, a deputy Russian U.N. ambassador was in the chamber for Biden s speech. The United States and Western allies are competing with Russia for diplomatic influence. The United States has acknowledged that some countries are concerned the Ukraine war had drawn global attention away from other crises.
Washington has also long been vying for sway with Beijing. “Let me be direct about the competition between the United States and China. As we manage shifting geopolitical trends, the United States will conduct itself as a reasonable leader,” Biden said. “We do not seek conflict. We do not seek a Cold War. We do not ask any nation to choose between the United States or any other partner,” he said.
