UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump used his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to defend the US-Israeli campaign against Iran while laying out his foreign policy priorities. Here are the major issues he addressed in a 37-minute speech:
* IRAN. He warned he could annihilate Iran without a peace deal and predicted one would be reached after US midterm elections on November 3 when the makeup of Congress will be decided.
* UKRAINE. About Russia’s war in Ukraine, he said, “We’re working very closely with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, and we will get that one done,” adding, “It’s going to happen, I think, more quickly than people understand.”
* ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. He said the US government would use the term “super intelligence” instead of artificial intelligence and repeated his view that AI safety warnings are a hoax. “We’re leading now over China by a lot and everyone else,” he said. “I’m not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution.” He said US law enforcement agencies would rein in the sector if needed.
* INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT. He urged member nations of the International Criminal Court to withdraw – he used the word “resign” – and condemned what he called an “out of control institution” and “an evil group of people.” He said the US would not allow military service members to be subject to what he called show trials by an anti-American tribunal.
* DRUG WARS. He said he was “reasserting American power” to make the region safer by taking out cartels, which the US has designated terrorist organizations. “Like ISIS, they should be killed, exiled or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release,” Trump said, “which is what we’re doing.”
* VENEZUELA. He characterized his administration’s actions in Venezuela as a great victory and a potential warning to others. “Our actions in Venezuela are proof that the United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, and if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States,” he said.
* CUBA. He called Cuba a failed state and, touting greater US involvement in the region, adding: “Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom will be coming to Cuba.” Members of the Cuban UN delegation walked out.
* MEXICO. He called Mexico an epicenter of regional drug cartel violence.
* THE UN ITSELF. He touted what he described as sweeping UN reforms under his administration, including budget cuts and staff reductions, while attacking international organizations and efforts to create global taxes. “The United Nations has great, great potential. I’ve said that for many years. But it must stop imposing the far-left agenda of globalist bureaucrats who nobody ever elected,” he said.
(Reporting by Reuters correspondents; Editing by Howard Goller and Don Durfee)
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