Trump Gives The U.N. His Vision Of A World Governed By Self-Interest
Time|October 2,2017

THE SHOCK VALUE OF PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s first speech to the U.N., on Sept. 19, derived, predictably, from its flights of rhetoric—most notably his threat to “totally destroy” North Korea.

Simon Shuster
Trump Gives The U.N. His Vision Of A World Governed By Self-Interest

But the idea on which the speech was based was far more conventional: sovereignty. Trump referred to it 20 times in 42 minutes, and six of those references were as part of a trio that he called the “pillars of peace”: sovereignty, security and prosperity.

It is a list of priorities that often comes up during the annual General Assembly, though in recent years usually from lapsed democracies, rogue states or authoritarian regimes. For 400 years, the international order has been based on the idea that sovereignty allows for a balance of power between nation states. But after two world wars, America sponsored the United Nations as a forum for more diplomatic confrontation, as well as tackling transnational threats that individual countries alone cannot manage, like humanitarian crises, terrorism or international aggression. Usually it has been the U.S. that has pushed international norms on states like Russia, China, Iran or North Korea, while the leaders of these countries have cited sovereignty in their defense.

This story is from the October 2,2017 edition of Time.

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