Barack Obama: A Multilateralist Ready to Fight Back

Two days after the surprise airstrikes launched against the Islamic State in northern Syria, President Obama gave a noteworthy speech at the 69th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. His words were full of contrast, fluctuating between the necessity to fight against the cancer that is the Islamic State and the need to create a better world through cooperation and multilateralism.

“We come together at a crossroads between war and peace; between disorder and integration; between fear and hope,” said President Obama. The head of the White House relentlessly hammered home the worth of the United Nations, the institution that has allowed us to reduce “the prospect of war between major powers.” He didn’t stop to give a thought to George W. Bush, whose government had largely marginalized the U.N., except when it came to peace operations, which were really doing Bush a favor. It is somewhat rare to come across an American president who holds the United Nations in such high esteem. “The very existence of this institution is a unique achievement,” Obama said.

Cooperation with Russia

Obama condemned Russia’s aggressive acts in Ukraine, recalling them in order to illustrate the way in which the Kremlin called world order into question. The American president has also criticized the nations within the U.N. collectively, denouncing their inability to keep the international system afloat. Created after 1945, Obama condemns “the failure of our international system to keep pace with an interconnected world.” But Obama thinks that cooperating with Russia is the best way to face up to future challenges. This is why, in 2010, the two countries succeeded in joining forces to reduce strategic weapons as part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. They also managed to destroy, right in the middle of the Syrian war, the chemical arsenal held by the Bashar al-Assad regime, thanks to an effective Russian and American understanding. “And that’s the kind of cooperation we are prepared to pursue again — if Russia changes course,” Obama said, making clear that if such a thing were to happen, all sanctions against Russia would be removed.

Coalition Against the Islamic State

The multilateralism advocated during his speech had a lot to do with the way in which the Democratic president aims to deal with the great worldwide challenges of the 21st century. In his opinion, no country is capable of solving these complex issues alone. “When nations find common ground, not simply based on power, but on principle, then we can make enormous progress.” The coalition formed by the United States, including five Arab countries, aims to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, and closely relates to the president’s own conviction that, were America to resort to brute military and cultural force, it would never be a solution to a crisis that principally affects the Muslim community. At this stage in the game, around 40 countries have offered their support to the previously mentioned coalition. We will not resolve the Iraqi and Syrian crisis, he added, without a political solution in which the local representatives themselves are involved. We would have liked to hear the president suggest the need to involve Iran in the search for a solution to the crisis in the Middle East, other than their sole involvement at a nuclear level. However, hoping to avoid confrontation between Islam and the Western world, Obama did not hesitate in rejecting Samuel Huntington’s theory on a potential culture clash.

Criticized for state intervention during Bush’s presidency and now for Obama’s wait-and-see attitude, America is still the first country to have come to the aid of Yazidis and Christians, threatened to death by the jihadi. They may have a debt to pay after having caused religious chaos in the war with Iraq — a war which was a lie. But today the United States hopes to assume its responsibilities. In terms of healthcare, Obama’s government has not held back, sending around 3,000 soldiers to Africa, including doctors and scientists to help those countries affected by the epidemic. America may be doing more to help than any other country, but this much is still true: In order to defeat Ebola, everyone must participate.