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US President Barack Obama told the United Nations that the world must "reject the cancer of violent extremism" and confront Russia's aggression in Ukraine, laying out a more forceful US approach to foreign policy.
In a speech on Wednesday to the 69th General Assembly, Obama said that while the world has made great strides since the UN's founding out of the rubble of global war, the brutal ideology of terrorist groups such as Islamic State and the offspring of Al Qaida endangers that progress and must be eliminated.
"There can be no reasoning, no negotiation, with this brand of evil," Obama said. "The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force." For Obama, the address represented an about-face from his appearance here a year ago - shortly after backing away from striking Syria over its chemical weapons use - when he took credit for ending "a decade of war" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His return to the world body coincides with renewed US military involvement in Iraq and an air campaign in Syria that the administration has warned will be lengthy.
Obama challenged UN members to stand against Russia's use of military power to take Crimea from Ukraine and support for separatists trying to break off the country's eastern areas.
Postwar order
Those actions, which Russia has denied, are in conflict with the postwar global order, he said.
"This is a vision of the world in which might makes right," Obama said. "America stands for something different. We believe that right makes might - that bigger nations should not be able to bully smaller ones." Obama said the US and its allies will continue supporting Ukraine and offering Russia a way out of the conflict that has been opened by a cease-fire.
"If Russia takes that path - a path that for stretches of the post-Cold War period resulted in prosperity for the Russian people - then we will lift our sanctions and welcome Russia's role in addressing common challenges," he said.
He also delivered a muted warning to China. Though he didn't mention the world's second-largest economy by name, the president said the US in the Pacific would "insist that all nations abide by the rules of the road, and resolve their territorial disputes peacefully, consistent with international law," a reference to China's maritime assertiveness over disputed island chains.
US airstrikes
Any global leaders who arrived at the UN expecting to debate the merits of avoiding a wider conflict against Islamic State instead found themselves trumped by an American president who had already decided to strike.
"I have made it clear that America will not base our entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism," Obama said. "Rather, we have waged a focused campaign against Al Qaida and its associated forces - taking out their leaders, and denying them the safe havens they rely upon." Obama, who boasted last year that the US was "shifting away from a perpetual war footing," said there must be collective action to confront religious fanatics.
He has portrayed the airstrikes targeting Islamic State extremists and an al-Qaida offshoot known as the Khorasan group as a demonstration of the vital role the U.S. plays in the world. It is one the nation won't shy away from, he said.
Not Distracted
"The United States of America will not be distracted or deterred from what must be done," he said. "We are heirs to a proud legacy of freedom, and we are prepared to do what is necessary to secure that legacy for generations to come." The U.S. is training moderate Muslim fighters to battle Islamic State and is also trying to sever the militant group's financial lifeline, Obama said. And it is waging a war of ideas against extremist propaganda on the Internet.
Conflict within Islam, between Sunnis and Shiites, has paved the way for radical visions to take hold, the president said. The civil war in Syria in particular has "created a fertile recruiting ground for terrorists who inevitably export this violence," he said.
The president hailed moderate Muslims in Africa and the Middle East who have pushed back against fundamentalists. And he said terrorist ideologies "will wilt and die" if they are consistently confronted by moderate Muslims.
Mideast Peace
The president rejected the notion that the Arab-Israeli conflict is the main source of instability in the Middle East. Though widening violence in the region is discouraging many Israelis from seeking peace, the president said the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is "not sustainable." Obama said he'll "never give up" the search for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. He is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Oct. 1.
Obama also appealed for nations to step up the fight against Ebola, the virus in West Africa that's killed more than 2,800. The outbreak may surge to as many as 1.4 million cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone by January, according to projections by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. is deploying about 3,000 U.S. military personnel to the region to assist with shipping and distributing medical equipment, sanitation kits and body bags, among other supplies. American personnel also will help build as many as 20 100-bed treatment centers and train about 500 health-care providers in the region.
Ebola Response
The Defense Department is asking Congress to reprogram more than $1 billion that could go to stem the disease, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Later today Obama will act as chairman for a session of the 15-member UN National Security Council to deal with foreign fighters who use their passports from the U.S. and European nations, travel into and out of conflict zones in the Middle East and return home, posing danger to the homeland.
The administration estimates the number of foreigners fighting with Islamic State at 15,000, perhaps more. They estimate more than 2,000 Europeans are participating and that about 100 Americans have joined the forces of Islamic State militants, tried to join, or returned to the U.S.
The U.S. is proposing a resolution to the UN that would require nations to prevent recruiting, organizing, transporting, equipping and financing of foreign terrorist fighters.
Nations would also be obligated to ensure that their laws allow the prosecution and punishment of people traveling for terrorist purposes and to take steps preventing potential terrorists from entering or exiting a country.
