1. Prologue
2. Modi’s UNGA 2014 Speech
   1. India and its philosophy
   2. Democracy everywhere
   3. To Pakistan
   4. Terrorism
   5. Three spaces
   6. Need for UN reforms
   7. Poverty
   8. Climate change
3. Obama’s UNGA speech
   1. World has achieved following:
   2. World faces these challenges:
   3. World needs these reforms:
   4. Environment
   5. On terrorism
   6. How to end extremism?

Prologue

[Modi diplomacy] => USA visit=> Subpart= these UN General Assembly (UNGA) speeches. Plenty of essay fodder for peace, IR and globalization related topics.

Modi’s UNGA 2014 Speech

India and its philosophy

• India= one-sixth of humanity.
• Undergoing rapid socio-economic transformation rarely seen in history.
• Every nation’s world view is shaped by philosophical tradition. Ours is “Vasudheva Kutumbkam” i.e. India’s ancient wisdom sees the world as one family.
• Hence we strive for co-existence, cooperation, openness, diversity and multilateralism.

Democracy everywhere

• Today, there is a surge to democracy across the world
• Afghanistan proved to Talibans that democracy will prevail.
• Nepal Maoists have left violence and working towards democratic Constitution.
• Bhutan’s young democracy is flourishing as well.
• Democracy finding a voice in West Asia and North Africa; Tunisia’s success makes us believe that it is possible
• We can see a trend towards Peace and stability everywhere- Africa, Latin America, Asia and beyond.

To Pakistan

• Kashmir is a bilateral issue, (Sharif) raising it at UN platform, won’t solve it.
• Instead of asking for Kashmir plebiscites and referendums, we need to solve J&K flood problems. India even offered help to PoK (but Paki Government is too arrogant to accept it.)
• India prepared to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan in a peaceful atmosphere, without the shadow of terrorism.
• But Pakistan must also take its responsibility seriously to create an appropriate (peaceful) environment for it.

Terrorism

• World is witnessing tensions and turmoil rarely seen in recent history.
• There are no major wars, but tensions and conflicts abound. (Recall Pope said similar- “piecemeal third world war”)
• Europe faces risk of new division.
• West Asia = extremism at its zenith.
• Africa= rising terrorism + Ebola health crisis.
• Asia= Maritime security and resource exploitation (indirect reference to claims over South China sea)

• Terrorism is taking new shape and new name.
• No country, big or small, in the north or the south, east or west, is free from its threat.
• But we are still hobbled by our politics, we are making distinction between good and bad terrorists?
• Yes, India wants to combat terrorism in West Asia- because it’ll affect countries near and far.
• But this should involve the support of all countries in the region. (= need to include Iran + Russia, may be even Syria.)
• Even today, some states (=Pakistan) provide sanctuaries to terrorists, and use terrorism as their state policy.
• But we should put aside our differences and adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

Three spaces

• On the one side, we say that our destinies are inter-linked, but we still think in terms of zero sum game- If the other nation benefits, I stand to lose.
• In today’s inter-depended world, the countries are more united as world, but still we are divided in various groupings.
• While seas, space and cyber space are new avenues of prosperity. They too becoming theatre of conflicts (China testing anti-satellite missile, NSA-spying, Chinese hackers, Russian hackers and so on)
• Therefore, need for United Nations, is stronger than before.
• Not a single country (=America) can decide the fate of the world. We should work together to ensure that all countries observe international rules and norms.
• Must work for global disarmament and non-proliferation.

Need for UN reforms

• Institutions that reflect the imperatives of 20th century won’t be effective in the 21st century. (UN, IMF, world bank et al)
• Therefore, Nations grouping themselves into G9, G20. Why can’t we become G1 or G-All (using UN platform)?
• United Nations, and Security Council must become more democratic and participative. (said similar in Tokyo declaration)
• Else, they will become irrelevant and we won’t be able to solve future crisis (such as WW3 or ISIS v.2.0 or Subprime 2.0)
• Developing countries provide most of the soldiers (blue helmets) to UN Peacekeeping mission. They must be involved in decision making of UN peace keeping plans.

Poverty

• International trade agreement should accommodate concerns of everyone. (with respect to Bali Summit, TFA and Food security)
• Our policy should be mutually supportive, not mutually damaging.

For Post-2015 Development Agenda- poverty removal must get highest priority.

Climate change

• Common but differentiated responsibilities. (Meaning first world should provide truckload of funds to third world and transfer secret james bond technology to combat climate change.)
• India is prepared to share its technology and capabilities. We even announced a free satellite for the SAARC countries.
• Energy not consumed is the cleanest energy. We need to change our lifestyles accordingly.
• Even without reckless (resource) consumption we can still achieve same level of development.
• Sustainable development doesn’t mean that economies will suffer; these economies will take on a different character.
• Indians respect for nature as part of spiritualism, all natural bounties are sacred.
• Listed benefits of Yoga and asked for designating International Yoga Day.

Obama’s UNGA speech

World has achieved following:

• Free access to Information at any part of the world
• Extreme poverty has reduced
• More countries under democracy.
• World economy continues to grow.
• UN and other Institutions provide platform for the nations to resolve their dispute peacefully.

World faces these challenges:

• Ebola in west Africa
• Russian aggression in Europe – reminds how Imperial nations trampled small ones in pursuit of territorial ambition in the past.

• Terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
• Iinternational system has failed to keep pace with an interconnected world.
• Public healthcare system  in third world gets insufficient funding.
• rise of intolerance and sectarianism

World needs these reforms:

• It is our collective responsibility to confront global problems
• We must reject fatalism or cynicism in human affairs.
• We must come together to reject the cancer of violent extremism.
• All the nations must observe and enforce international norms
• Nations should uphold the path of diplomacy and peace and the ideals of UN
• @Russia: bigger nations should not be able to bully smaller ones.
• People should be able to choose their own future (e.g. Hongkong protests)
• We should solve our problems together, in a spirit of mutual interests and mutual respect
• Must mobilize all countries to fight against Ebola, and increase global health security for long term.
• Nations should find common ground based on principles and not “power equations”. Only then we can make enormous progress.
• USA pursuing diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear projects.
• Territorial disputes should be resolved according to international law.

Environment

• Need to reduce carbon emissions and increase clean energy investments.
• We’ll help developing nations in this. But every major power must join.
• in other words, China and India should also bear the burden. Don’t expect first world alone to send truckload of money and secret james bond technology.

On terrorism

• Terrorism is not a new weapon, it was used by all manner of groups who failed to come to power through public support.
• Extremist ideology has shifted from Afghanistan to Middle East and North Africa.
• Because 25% of their youth have no job; food and water; corruption is rampant; and sectarian conflicts high.
• One of them is ISIS: They’ve perverted Islam, one of the world’s great religions. They have a nightmarish vision to divide world into adherents and infidels, employing most brutal methods and genocides.

How will USA fight ISIS?

• America will not base its entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism.
• But we’ll deny safe havens to al Qaeda and its associated forces.

• ISIS beheading – No grievance justifies these actions. There can be no reasoning – no negotiation – with this brand of evil.
• The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force.

• >40 nations have joined coalition to fight ISIL. we’ll will train and equip forces to fight ISIL and cut of their finance and manpower from abroad.

How to end extremism?

• All great religions have to accommodate faith with a modern, multicultural world.
• Don’t tolerate “Clerics” who call upon people to harm innocents because of their different religion.
• No children should be educated to hate other people. We must stop this corruption of young minds by violent ideology.
• We must provide alternative vision to young minds so that they do not become terrorist or suicide bombers.
• When young people do not have choice but to choose from dictators and extremism, no counter-terrorism strategy  can be worked out
• When young people have the tools to succeed –good schools and education then society will flourish. Arab government should focus on this.
• Entrepreneurship, civil society, education and youth – are the best antidote to violence.
• Peace is not merely the absence of war, but the presence of a better life.
• Need women participation in schools, economy and parliament.
• Allow civil society to flourish- allow people to freely express their views and organized themselves peacefully.
• In Iraq young men started library, in Tunisia secular government is formed, Senegal has a Strong civil society, Malaysia has become advanced economy, genuine democracy in Indonesia.
• Thus, ultimately, No external power (=America) but only the People themselves can bring about a transformation of hearts and minds.