Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well, Joe Biden is arriving. There he is. We can see him walking up to the podium there
00:04to give his speech. A big moment then for Joe Biden.
00:14Here he is at the United Nations General Assembly.
00:19Today is the fourth time I've had the great honour of speaking to this assembly as President
00:26of the United States. It'll be my last. I've seen a remarkable sweep of history.
00:34I was first elected to office in the United States of America as a U.S. Senator
00:39in 1972. Now, I know I look like I'm only 40. I know that.
00:47I was 29 years old. Back then, we were living through an inflection point,
00:54a moment of tension and uncertainty. The world was divided by the Cold War. The Middle East
01:02was headed toward war. America was at war in Vietnam, and at that point, the longest war
01:10in America's history. Our country was divided and angry, and there were questions about our
01:17staying power and our future. But even then, I entered public life not out of despair but out
01:26of optimism. The United States and the world got through that moment. It wasn't easy or simple
01:35without significant setbacks. But we go on to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons through
01:41arms control, and then go on to bring the Cold War itself to an end. Israel and Egypt went to war,
01:50but then forged a historic peace. We ended the war in Vietnam. The last year in Hanoi,
01:57I met with the Vietnamese leadership. We elevated our partnership to the highest level.
02:04It's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for reconciliation.
02:10That today, the United States and Vietnam are partners and friends, and it's proof that even
02:16from the horrors of war, there's a way forward. Things can get better. We should never forget that.
02:26I've seen that throughout my career. In the 1980s, I spoke out against apartheid in South Africa,
02:33and then I watched the racist regime fall. In the 1990s, I worked to hold Milosevic accountable for
02:40war crimes. He was held accountable. At home, I wrote and passed the Violence Against Women Act
02:46to end the scourge of violence against women and girls, not only in America but across the world,
02:52as many of you have as well. But we have so much more to do, especially against rape and
02:58sexual violence as weapons of war and terror. We were attacked on 9-11 by al-Qaida and Osama
03:06bin Laden. We brought him justice. Then, I came to the presidency in another moment of crisis
03:14and uncertainty. I believed America had to look forward. New challenges, new threats,
03:22new opportunities were in front of us. We needed to put ourselves in a position to see the threats
03:29to deal with the challenges and to seize the opportunities as well. We need to end the era
03:35of war that began on 9-11. As Vice President to President Obama, he asked me to work to wind down
03:44the military operations in Iraq, and we did, painful as it was. When I came to office as
03:50President, Afghanistan had replaced Vietnam as America's longest war. I was determined to end it,
03:58and I did. It was a hard decision, but the right decision. Four American Presidents had
04:05faced that decision, but I was determined not to leave it to the fifth. It was a decision
04:11accompanied by tragedy. Thirteen brave Americans lost their lives, along with hundreds of Afghans
04:17in a suicide bomb. I think of those lost lives. I think of them every day. I think of all the 2,461
04:25U.S. military deaths over a long 20 years of that war. 20,744 American servicemen wounded
04:33in action. I think of their service, their sacrifice, and their heroism. I know other
04:39countries lost their own men and women fighting alongside us. We honor their sacrifices as well.
04:46To face the future, I was also determined to rebuild my country's alliances and partnerships
04:51to a level not previously seen. We did. We did just that, from traditional treaty alliances
04:59to new partnerships like the Quad with the United States, Japan, Australia, and India.
05:06I know many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair,
05:13but I do not. I won't. As leaders, we don't have the luxury. I recognize the challenges from
05:20Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan and beyond. War, hunger, terrorism, brutality,
05:29record displacement of people, the climate crisis, democracy at risk,
05:35strangeness in our societies, the promise of artificial intelligence and its significant risk.
05:42The list goes on. But maybe because of all I've seen and all we have done together over the
05:49decades, I have hope. I know there is a way forward. In 1919, the Irish poet William Butler
05:59Yeats described a world, and I quote, where things fall apart, the center cannot hold,
06:08mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, end of quote. Some may say those words describe the
06:14world not just in 1919, but in 2024. Well, I see a critical distinction. In our time,
06:24the center has held. Leaders and people from every region and across the political spectrum
06:29have stood together, turned the page. We turned the page in the worst pandemic in a century.
06:37We made sure COVID no longer controls our lives. We defended the UN Charter
06:44and ensured the survival of Ukraine as a free nation.
06:47My country made the largest investment in climate, clean energy ever anywhere in history.
06:54There will always be forces that pull our countries apart and the world apart. Aggression,
07:00extremism, chaos, and cynicism. A desire to retreat from the world and go it alone.
07:07Our task, our test, is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger
07:14than those that are pulling us apart. That the principles of partnership that we came here each
07:21year to uphold can withstand the challenges that the center holds. Once again, my fellow leaders,
07:31I truly believe we're at another inflection point in world history,
07:34world history, where the choices we make today will determine our future for decades to come.
07:42Will we stand behind the principles that unite us? Will we stand firm against aggression?
07:48Will we end the conflicts that are raging today? Will we take on global challenges like climate
07:54change, hunger, and disease? Will we plan now for the opportunities and risk of revolutionary
08:02new technologies? I want to talk today about each of these decisions and the actions, in my view,
08:08we must take. To start, each of us in this body has made a commitment to the principles of the
08:15UN Charter to stand up against aggression. When Russia invaded Ukraine, we could have stood by
08:22and merely protested. But Vice President Harris and I understood that that was an assault on
08:28everything this institution was supposed to stand for. And so my direction, America,
08:34stepped into the breach, providing massive security and economic and humanitarian assistance.
08:40Our NATO allies and partners in 50-plus nations stood up as well. But most importantly,
08:48the Ukrainian people stood up. I ask the people in this chamber to stand up for them.
08:55The good news is Putin's war has failed at his core aim. He set out to destroy Ukraine,
09:04but Ukraine is still free. He set out to weaken NATO, but NATO is bigger, stronger,
09:10more united than ever before with two new members, Finland and Sweden. But we cannot let up.
09:17We cannot let up. The world now has another choice to make. Will we sustain our support
09:26to help Ukraine win this war and preserve its freedom, or walk away and let aggression
09:32be renewed and a nation be destroyed? I know my answer. We cannot grow weary.
09:40We cannot look away. And we will not let up on our support for Ukraine,
09:46not until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace in the UN Charter.
09:59We also need to uphold our principles as we seek to responsibly manage the competition with China
10:07so it does not veer into conflict. We stand ready to cooperate on urgent challenges for the good of
10:13our people and the people everywhere. We recently resumed cooperation with China to stop the flow
10:19of deadly synthetic narcotics. I appreciate the collaboration. It matters for the people of my
10:25country and many others around the world. On matters of conviction, the United States is
10:32unabashed in pushing back against unfair economic competition, against military coercion of other
10:38nations in the South China Sea, in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits,
10:45in protecting our most advanced technologies so they cannot be used against us or any of
10:50our partners. At the same time, we're going to continue to strengthen our network of alliances
10:55and partnerships across the Indo-Pacific. These partnerships are not against any nation.
11:02They're building blocks for a free, open, secure, and peaceful Indo-Pacific.
11:08We're also working to bring greater measure of peace and stability to the Middle East.
11:12The world must not flinch from the horrors of October 7th. Any country, any country,
11:19would have the right and responsibility to ensure that such an attack can never happen again.
11:25Thousands of armed Hamas terrorists invaded a sovereign state, slaughtering and massacring
11:31more than 1,200 people, including 46 Americans, in their homes and at a music festival.
11:38Despicable acts of sexual violence. 250 innocents taken hostage. I've met with the families of those
11:46hostages. I've grieved with them. They're going through hell. Innocent civilians in Gaza are also
11:54going through hell. Thousands and thousands killed, including aid workers. Too many families dislocated,
12:02crowding into tents, facing a dire humanitarian situation.
12:06They did not ask for this war that Hamas started. I put forward with Qatar and Egypt a ceasefire
12:15and hostage deal. It's been endorsed by the U.N. Security Council. Now is the time for the parties
12:21to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home, and secure security for Israel and Gaza free
12:28of Hamas grip. Ease the suffering in Gaza and end this war. On October 7th,
12:43since October 7th, we've also been determined to prevent a wider war that engulfs the entire region.
12:51Hezbollah, unprovoked, joined the October 7th attack, launching
12:58rockets into Israel. Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border
13:04remained displaced. Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even as the situation has
13:10escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path
13:17to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes
13:21and the border safely. And that's what we're working – that's what we're working tirelessly
13:25to achieve. As we look ahead, we must also address the rise of violence against innocent
13:32Palestinians on the West Bank and set the conditions for a better future, including a
13:38two-state solution where the world, where Israel enjoys security and peace and full recognition
13:44and normalized relations with all its neighbors, where Palestinians
13:47live in security, dignity, and self-determination in a state of their own.
14:02Progress toward peace will put us in a stronger position to deal with the ongoing threat posed
14:07by Iran. Together, we must deny oxygen to its terrorist proxies, which have called for more
14:14October 7th, and ensure that Iran will never, ever obtain a nuclear weapon. Gaza is not the
14:22only conflict that deserves our outrage. In Sudan, a bloody civil war unleashed one of the world's
14:28worst humanitarian crises. Eight million, eight million on the brink of famine. Hundreds of
14:36thousands already there. Atrocities are for and elsewhere. The United States has led the world
14:43in providing humanitarian aid to Sudan. And with our partners, we've led diplomatic talks to try to
14:49silence the guns and avert a wider famine. The world needs to stop arming the generals,
14:58to speak with one voice and tell them, stop tearing your country apart,
15:03stop blocking aid to the Sudanese people, end this war now.
15:14But people need more than the absence of war. They need a chance, a chance to live in dignity.
15:22They need to be protected from the ravages of climate change, hunger, and disease.
15:27Our administration has arrived, has invested over $150 billion to make progress and other
15:35sustainable development goals. It includes $20 billion for food security, over $50 billion for
15:41global health. We've mobilized billions more in private sector investment. We've taken the most
15:48ambitious climate action in history. We've moved to rejoin the Paris Agreement on day one.
15:55And today, my country is finally on track to cut emissions in half by 2030. On track to honor my
16:05pledge to quadruple climate financing to developing nations with $11 billion thus far this year.
16:13We've rejoined the World Health Organization, donating 700 million doses of COVID vaccine
16:19to 117 countries. We must now move quickly to face MPOX outbreak in Africa. We're prepared to
16:27commit $500 million to help African countries prevent and respond to MPOX and to donate 1
16:33million doses of MPOX vaccine now. We call on our partners to match our pledge and make this a
16:45billion-dollar commitment to the people of Africa. Beyond the core necessities of food and
16:51health, the United States, the G7, and our partners have embarked on an ambitious initiative
16:58to mobilize and deliver significant finance to the developing world.
17:02We're working to help countries build out their infrastructure, to clean energy transition,
17:08to the digital transformation, to lay new economic foundations for a prosperous future.
17:14It's called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.
17:18We've already started to see the fruits of this emerge in Southern Africa and Southeast Asia
17:24and in the Americas. We have to keep it going. I want to get things done together. In order to do
17:31that, we must build a stronger, more effective, and more inclusive United Nations. The UN needs
17:38to adapt and bring new voices and new perspectives. That's why we support
17:43reforming and expanding the membership of the UN Security Council.
17:54Our UN ambassador just laid out our detailed vision to reflect today's world,
17:59not yesterday's. It's time to move forward. The Security Council, like the UN itself,
18:05needs to go back to the job of making peace, of brokering deals to end wars and suffering,
18:15and to stop the spread of the most dangerous weapons, of stabilizing troubled regions in East
18:20Africa, from East Africa to Haiti, to a Kenya-led mission that's working alongside the Haitian
18:26people to turn the tide. We also have a responsibility to prepare our citizens for
18:33the future. We'll see more technological change, I argue, in the next two to 10 years than we have
18:40in the last 50 years. Artificial intelligence is going to change our ways of life, our ways of work,
18:48and our ways of war. It could usher in scientific progress at a pace never seen before,
18:55and much of it could make our lives better. But AI also brings profound risks
19:03from deep fakes to disinformation, to novel pathogens, to bioweapons. We've worked at home
19:10and abroad to define the new norms and standards. This year, we achieved the first-ever General
19:17Assembly resolution on AI to start developing global rules, global rules of the road.
19:25We also announced a declaration on the responsible use of AI, joined by 60 countries
19:32in this chamber. But let's be honest, this is just the tip of the iceberg, what we need to do
19:39to manage this new technology. Nothing is certain about how AI will evolve or how it will be
19:46deployed. No one knows all the answers. My fellow leaders, it's with humility I offer two questions.
19:54First, how do we as an international community govern AI? As countries and companies race to
20:02uncertain frontiers, we need an equally urgent effort to ensure AI's safety, security, and
20:08trustworthiness. As AI grows more powerful, it also must grow more responsive to our
20:16collective needs and values. Benefits of all must be shared equitably. It should be harnessed to a
20:24narrow, not deepened digital divide. Second, will we ensure that AI supports rather than undermines
20:32the core principles that human life has value and all humans deserve dignity. We must make certain
20:40that the awesome capabilities of AI will be used to uplift and empower everyday people,
20:47not to give dictators more powerful shackles on the human spirit. In the years ahead,
20:54there may well be no greater test of our leadership than how we deal with AI.
21:02Let me close with this. Even as we navigate so much change, one thing must not change.
21:09We must never forget who we're here to represent. We the people. These are the first words of our
21:16constitution, the very idea of America. They inspired the opening words of the UN Charter.
21:24I made the preservation of democracy the central cause of my presidency. This summer, I faced a
21:31decision whether to seek a second term as president. It was a difficult decision.
21:37Being president has been the honor of my life. There's so much more I want to get done.
21:44As much as I love the job, I love my country more. I decided after 50 years of public service,
21:52it's time for a new generation of leadership to take my nation forward.
21:57My fellow leaders, let us never forget some things are more important than staying in power.
22:03It's your people. It's your people that matter the most. Never forget, we are here to serve the
22:24people, not the other way around. Because the future will be won by those who unleash the
22:31full potential of their people, to breathe free, to think freely, to innovate, to educate,
22:37to live and love openly without fear. That's the soul of democracy. It does not belong to
22:43any one country. I've seen it all around the world. And the brave men and women who ended
22:50apartheid, brought down the Berlin Wall, fight today for freedom and justice and dignity.
22:56We saw that universal yearning for rights and freedom in Venezuela, where millions cast their
23:02vote for change that hadn't been recognized, but it can't be denied. The world knows the truth.
23:10We saw in Uganda, LGBT activists demanding safety and recognition of their common humanity.
23:17We've seen citizens across the world peacefully choosing their future, from Ghana to India to
23:23South Korea, nations representing one quarter of humanity who will hold elections this year alone.
23:31It's remarkable the power of we the people that makes me more optimistic about the future
23:37than I've ever been. Since I was first elected to the United States Senate in 1972,
23:43every age faces its challenges. I saw it as a young man. I see it today.
23:50But we are stronger than we think. We're stronger together than alone.
23:57And what the people call impossible is just an illusion.
24:03Nelson Mandela taught us, and I quote, it always seems impossible until it's done.
24:09It always seems impossible until it's done.
24:13My fellow leaders, there's nothing that's beyond our capacity if we work together.
24:20Let's work together. God bless you all, and may God protect all those who seek peace. Thank you.
24:37President Joe Biden there making his final address at the UN General Assembly. He told the audience,
24:45I recognize the challenges from Ukraine to Gaza and Sudan, but I have hope.
24:53Well, listening to his speech with me, Ketavan Ghorjasdani, our foreign editor, and Ketavan will
24:58talk about some of the specifics in a moment. But first of all, what did you think of his
25:02overall message today? Well, the US president had a very optimistic tone that sort of
25:10clashed a little bit with the elements that the world is facing right now, especially
25:16some of the things that we're going to talk about later, like the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza,
25:21the situation in Lebanon. But he ended that speech saying that he was more optimistic than he's ever
25:29been. And it was sort of a look back at the decades long career that he's had in politics.
25:35And he sort of went through his career while going through the history of the world, the recent
25:42history of the world, basically to make the point that he has seen other inflection points, as he
25:48calls them, of the world facing very difficult challenges. He talked about the Cold War. He
25:55talked about the Vietnam War. He talked about 9-11. To make the point that at all of these points,
26:02at some point, the world came together and managed to overcome those challenges, a way of
26:09telling the leaders of the world that are gathered there and the world at large that things, as he
26:16said, can get better. So it was his way of casting that optimistic tone and his way also of pinpointing
26:24something that he's been saying for four years now, which is that the solution to the challenges
26:29of the world are not to go at it alone, are not to retreat on your own country, but uniting all the
26:36countries in the world, even those that they don't necessarily agree with, because some challenges
26:41are too big to be tackled alone. All right. Well, let's talk about some of the specifics then. I
26:46mean, he only made a brief mention of what we're talking about in Lebanon today, but he did
26:52reiterate his push then for a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza and free the hostages.
26:59Absolutely. He had more to say on the situation in Gaza, talking about how he knew that the
27:07hostage families and the hostages themselves were going through hell, but that civilians in Gaza
27:11were also going through hell and that they didn't ask for this war. So really trying to, unlike
27:19what is happening a little bit from the Israeli government, trying to separate really those
27:23civilians who are suffering in Gaza and Hamas, which he says started this whole situation and
27:30this whole war, he also insisted on the possibility of still getting a ceasefire. There again, the
27:37optimism of Joe Biden, even though for months now the ceasefire has eluded the United States, he
27:45still says that he believes that a ceasefire can happen and he believes that it is the only way
27:51out of the situation. When it comes to the situation in Lebanon and this escalation between
27:57Israel and Hezbollah, he of course insisted on the fact that Hezbollah had been the one that
28:04had not been provoked and had started all of this following October 7th, but he did insist that a
28:11full-scale war was not in anyone's interest in the region, not Lebanon, not Hezbollah, not Israel,
28:18and that diplomacy was the only viable solution. Again there, the theme of optimism,
28:25optimism despite everything that we've been seeing, talking about on air here, about what is
28:30happening across the border between Israel and Lebanon, he still insisted that the solution there
28:38was diplomacy, was to avoid that escalation, and was to find an agreement without those weapons. But
28:47of course this topic is one where he doesn't have as much support from world leaders than, for
28:55example, on the issue of Ukraine. U.S. handling of the situation in the Middle East has been
29:03criticized even by some allies, so his were broad strokes, if you will, about what he wants to see,
29:09the end of the war, a ceasefire, and the end of the escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
29:15And you say, you know, he has a little more support from world leaders in the American
29:19stance on Ukraine, there was some applause when he was talking about Ukraine, and he said,
29:24look, Putin has failed in his war aims. Yes, this was really the focus that he wanted on that
29:31speech, because the idea was to say, four years ago I came into the White House and my goal was
29:37to bring countries together, to rebuild those alliances, to bring back the U.S. on the world
29:42stage as this leading role, leading country on the world stage. And Ukraine is the perfect
29:49example of that, according to the Biden administration. He said that the Russians
29:57had failed in their goals, and he stated several of them. He said, one, they wanted to take over
30:04Ukraine. Ukraine is still free. Two, he said Russia wanted to break down NATO. He said that
30:12failed too. NATO is bigger and stronger than it was before the start of the war in Ukraine.
30:18But he also said that that was not the end, that this struggle, this cooperation,
30:24this work together by this alliance to help Ukraine needed to continue, that these countries
30:32could not let go of their support for Ukraine, because this was an ongoing battle to continue
30:39standing for the principles of the U.N. charter to stand against the Russian aggression on Ukraine.
30:47So this was really a way for him to show that his pledges about rebuilding the alliances
30:56had produced some results, but it was not something that was done and that these results
31:01needed to continue to be working on. And of course, underlying all of this is the fact that
31:06not only is Joe Biden not going to be in office in the next few months, but he might be replaced
31:15by someone who doesn't have at all the same vision of those alliances, of America's role in the world
31:22and of working together, cooperating together to tackle the world challenges. That is, of course,
31:28Donald Trump, who has a very strong chance of replacing Joe Biden in the White House.
31:33Ketavan Ghorjasani, thank you very much indeed for your analysis. You were listening live there
31:38to President Joe Biden making his final speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.