YouSaid · the spoken record

George Bush

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS GEORGE BUSH

lines on the record: 70
first: 1990-09-24
most recent: 1992-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Our peace is so interconnected, our security so intertwined, our prosperity so interdependent, that to turn inward and retreat from the world is to invite disaster and defeat. At the threshold of a new century we can truly say a more peaceful, more secure, more prosperous future beckons to us. For the sake of our children and our grandchildren, for the sake of those who perished during the cold war and for the sake of every man, woman and child who kept freedom's flame alive even during the darkest noon, let us pledge ourselves to make that future real, and let us pledge ourselves to fulfil the promise of a truly United Nations. Thank you and may God bless you all.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“But we live in remarkable times: times when empires collapse, ideologies dissolve and walls crumble; times when change can come so fast that we sometimes forget how far and how fast we have progressed in achieving our hopes for a global community of democratic nations. And in the face of today's changes, with the loss of so much that was familiar and predictable, there is now a great temptation for people everywhere to turn inward and to build walls around themselves walls against trade, walls against people, walls against ideas and investment, walls against anything at all that appears new and different. As the Berlin Wall fell, these walls too must fall. They must fall because we cannot separate our fate from that of others.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“The fund will provide grants and credits to support United States businesses in providing expertise, goods and services desperately needed in countries undertaking economic restructuring. I will also support significantly increasing the programmes of the Export-Import Bank to ensure that United States products and technology promote investment in world-wide economic growth. The United States will work with its global partners, especially the G-7 nations, to enhance global growth at this key point in world history, as we end one era and begin another. None of us can afford insular policies. Each of us must contribute, through greater coordinated action, to building ¬£ stronger world economy. I realize that what I have outlined today is an ambitious agenda.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Working with our Congress I will propose a top-to-bottom overhaul of our institutions that plan and administer foreign assistance, drastically reducing the bureaucracy that has built up around Government-based programmes, streamlining our delivery systems and strengthening support for private-sector development and economic reform. The Agency for International Development (AID), another institution born during the cold war, needs to be fundamentally and radically overhauled. Promoting economic security, opportunity and competitiveness will become a primary mission of the State Department. Our assistance efforts should not be charity. On the contrary, they should promote mutual prosperity. Therefore, using existing foreign-affairs resources, I will propose creating a $1 billion growth fund.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“We know this: the more a nation relies on the private sector and free markets, the higher its rate of growth; the more open to trade it is, the higher its rate of growth; and the better a country's investment climate, the higher its rate of growth. To move from what I would call aid-dependency to economic partnership, we propose to alter fundamentally the focus of United States assistance programmes to building strong, independent economies that can become contributors to a healthy, growing global economy. That means that our new emphasis should be on building economic partnerships among our private sectors that will promote prosperity at home, and abroad also.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“After the Second World War, foreign assistance often served as a weapon in the cold war. Obviously, we will still use critical foreign-assistance funds to meet legitimate security needs. And, as our humanitarian operations in Somalia and northern Iraq, Bosnia and the former Soviet Union will testify, we will continue our robust humanitarian assistance efforts to help those suffering from man-made and natural disasters. But foreign aid as we have known it needs to be transformed. The notion of the handout to less developed countries needs to give way to cooperation and mutually productive economic relationships.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“To ensure that the benefits of this growth are sustained and shared by all, fair and open competition should be the fuel for the global economic engine. That is why the United States wants to complete the Uruguay Round of the negotiations within the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as soon as possible, and to create a network of free-trade agreements, beginning with the North American Free Trade Agreement. At the same time, we need to recognize that we have a shared responsibility to foster and support the free-market reforms necessary to build growing economies and vibrant democracies in the developing world and in the new democratic States. This should be done by promoting the private sector to build these new economies, not by fostering dependency with traditional Government-to-Government foreign aid.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“That is why I stated yesterday, during a moment of international uncertainty, that the United States would be strongly engaged with its global partners in building a global economic, financial and trading structure for this new era. At the same time, I urged that our global responsibilities lead us to examine ways to strengthen the Group of Seven (G-7) coordination process, and I affirmed America's support for a European integration that opens markets and enhances Europe's capability to be our partner in the great challenges that we face in this new era. While the exact form of integration is, of course, for Europeans to determine, we will stand by them. Economic growth is not a zero-sum process. All of us will benefit from the expanded trade and investment that comes from a vibrant, growing world economy.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Under the direction of the Secretary of State, ACDA should be used not only in completing the traditional arms-control agenda but, just as importantly, in providing technical assistance on our new security agenda. Even as we work to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, we must be realistic and guard ourselves against proliferation that is already taking place. Therefore, we are working towards a cooperative system for defence against limited ballistic missile attacks. We fully intend to have other nations participate in this global protection system. While expanded peace-keeping capabilities and improved non-proliferation efforts will be critical for building an enduring peace, shared economic growth is the long-term foundation for a brighter future well into the next century.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Here I would like to note the productive efforts of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to dismantle the Iraqi weapons-of-mass-destruction programme, and the continuing good work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). But as the United Nations organizations adapt to stop proliferation, so too must every Member State change its structures to advance our non-proliferation goals. In that spirit I want today to announce my intention to work with the United States Congress to redirect the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) to refocus its talents on providing technical support for non-proliferation, weapons monitoring and destruction, and global defence conversion.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Reaffirming assurances made at the time the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was negotiated, I propose that the Security Council reassure the non-nuclear States that it will seek immediate action to provide assistance, in accordance with the Charter, to any any non-nuclear-weapon State party to the non-proliferation Treaty that is a victim of an act of aggression or an object of threat of aggression involving nuclear weapons. I also call for the indefinite renewal of the nuclear non-proliferation Treaty when it is reviewed in 1995. I believe we must explore ways we can strengthen linkages between the suppliers "clubs", the nuclear-suppliers group, the Australia Group, the missile-technology control regime and United Nations specialized agencies.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Over 20 countries have, or are developing, nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and the means to deliver them. At a time when the United States and its former adversaries are engaged in deep, historic cuts in our nuclear arsenals, our children and grandchildren will never forgive us if we allow new and unstable nuclear stand-offs to develop around the world. We believe the Security Council should become a key forum for non-proliferation enforcement. The Security Council should make clear its intention to stem proliferation and sanction proliferators.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“The United States is willing to provide our military expertise to the United Nations to help the United Nations strengthen its planning and operations for peace-keeping, and we will also broaden American support for monitoring, verification, reconnaissance and other requirements of United Nations peace-keeping or humanitarian assistance operations. And, finally, the United States will review how we fund peace-keeping and explore new ways to ensure adequate American financial support for United Nations peace-keeping and United Nations humanitarian activities. I do believe that we must think differently about how we ensure and pay for our security in this new era. While the cold war may have ended, the super-Power nuclear arms competition, regional competition, weapons of mass destruction continue.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“But we must develop our ability to coordinate peace-keeping efforts so that we can mobilize quickly when a threat to peace arises or when people in need look to the world for help. I have further directed the establishment of a permanent peace-keeping curriculum in United States military schools. Training, plainly, is a key element. The United States is prepared to make available our bases and facilities for multinational training and field exercises. One such base, nearby, with facilities is Fort Dix. America used these bases to win the cold war and today, with that war over, they can help build a lasting peace.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Because of peace-keeping's growing importance as a mission for the United States military, we will emphasize training of combat, engineering and logistical units for the full range of peace-keeping and humanitarian activities and we will work with the United Nations to best employ our considerable lift, logistics, communications and intelligence capabilities to support peace-keeping operations. And we will offer our capabilities for joint simulations and exercises to strengthen our ability to undertake joint peace-keeping operations. There is room for all countries, large and small, and I hope all will play a part. Member States, as always, must retain the final decision on the use of their troops, of course.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Fourthly, we will need to develop planning, crisis management and intelligence capabilities for peace-keeping and humanitarian operations. Fifthly, we must ensure adequate equitable financing for United Nations and associated peace-keeping efforts. As I said, we must change our national institutions if we are to change our international relations. So let me assure you that the United States is ready to do its part to strengthen world peace by strengthening international peace-keeping. For decades, the American military has served as a stabilizing presence around the globe. And I want to draw on our extensive experience in winning wars, in keeping the peace, to support United Nations peace-keeping. I have directed the United States Secretary of Defense to place a new emphasis on peace-keeping.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Secondly, if multinational units are to work together, they must train together. Many nations for example, Fiji, Norway, Canada and Finland have a long history of peace-keeping and we can all tap into that experience as we train for expanded operations. Effective multinational action will also require coordinated command and control and inter-operability of both equipment and communications. Multinational planning, training, field exercises will be needed. Those efforts should link up with regional organizations. Thirdly, we also need to provide adequate logistical support for peace-keeping and humanitarian operations. Member States should designate stockpiles of resources necessary to meet humanitarian emergencies, including famines, floods and civil disturbances. This will save valuable time in a crisis.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“I welcome the Secretary-General's call for a new agenda to strengthen the ability of the United Nations to prevent, contain and resolve conflicts across the globe. Today I call upon all Members to join me in taking bold steps to advance that agenda. I will therefore be discussing with my colleagues the merits of a special meeting of the Security Council to discuss the Secretary-General's proposals and to develop concrete responses in five key areas. First, robust peace-keeping requires men and equipment that only Member States can provide. Nations should develop and train military units for possible peace-keeping operations and humanitarian relief and these forces must be available on short notice at the request of the Security Council and with the approval, of course, of the Governments providing it.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“But, unfortunately, we need only look to the bloody battles raging in places such as the former Yugoslavia to see the dangers of ethnic violence. This is the greatest threat to the democratic peace we hope to build with Eastern Europe, with Russia and Eurasia, even more than economic deprivation. We fully support the efforts of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), the Western European Union (WEU), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and other competent regional organizations to develop peace-keeping capabilities. We are convinced, however, that enhanced United Nations capabilities are a necessary complement to these regional efforts, not just in Europe and Eurasia, but across the globe.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“But, as much as the United Nations has done, it can do much more. Peace-keepers are stretched to the limit while the demands for their services increase by the day. The need for monitoring and preventive peace-keeping putting people on the ground before the fighting starts - may become especially critical in volatile regions. This is especially the case because of the rapid and turbulent change that continues to shake Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Across the lands that once were imprisoned behind an iron curtain, peoples are reasserting their historical identities that were frozen in communism's catacomb. Where this is taking place in a democratic manner with tolerance and civility and respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, this new democratic nationalism is all to the good.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“With you today I would like to discuss these three challenges: peace-keeping, proliferation and prosperity. And I should like to use this opportunity to begin to sketch how I believe the international community can work together to meet these three challenges and how the United States is changing its institutions and policies to catalyze this effort. Let me begin with peace-keeping. The United Nations has a long and distinguished history of peace-keeping and humanitarian relief. From Cyprus and Lebanon, to Cambodia and Croatia, the blue beret has become a symbol of hope amid all that hostility. And the United Nations has long played a central role in preventing conflicts from turning into wars, and strengthening peace-keeping capabilities can help buttress these diplomatic efforts.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Second, we face the strategic challenge of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, truly the fastest growing security challenge to international peace and order. Third, we face the common economic challenge of promoting prosperity for all, of strengthening an open, growth-oriented, free-market international economic order while safeguarding the environment. Meeting these challenges will require us to strengthen our collective engagement; it will require us to transform our collective institutions; and, above all, it will require that each of us look seriously at our own Government and how we conduct our international affairs. We too must change our institutions and our practices if we are to make a new world of the promises of today, if we are to secure a twenty-first century peace.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Imperial communism may have been vanquished, but that does not end the challenges of our age, challenges that must be overcome if we are finally to end the divisions between East and West, North and South, that fuel strife and strain and conflict and war. As we support the historic growth of democracy around the world, I believe the community of nations and the United Nations face three critical, interrelated challenges as we enter the twenty-first century. First, we face the political challenge of keeping today's peace and preventing tomorrow's wars. As we see daily in Bosnia, Somalia and Cambodia, everywhere conflict claims innocent lives; the need for enhanced peace-keeping capabilities has never been greater; the conflicts we must deal with have never been more intractable, the costs of conflict higher.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“With the cold war's end, I believe we have a unique opportunity to go beyond artificial divisions of a first, second and third world to forge instead a genuine, global community of free and sovereign nations, a community built on respect for principle, on peaceful settlement of disputes, on fundamental human rights and on the twin pillars of freedom: democracy and free markets. Already, the United Nations, especially the Security Council, has done much to fulfil its original mission and to build this global community. United Nations leadership has been critical in resolving conflicts and brokering peace the entire world over, but securing democracy and securing the peace in the century ahead will be no simple task.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“The fear of nuclear Armageddon between the super-Powers has vanished, and we are proud to have done our part to ensure that our schoolchildren do not have to practise hiding under their desks for fear of nuclear attack, as the generation before them did. I am proud also to salute the courageous leaders with nuclear responsibilities Presidents Yeltsin, Kravchuk, Nazarbayev, Shushkevich who joined me in ending the super-Power stand-off that risked nuclear nightmare. This is the first General Assembly session to seat you as truly independent and free nations, and to you and the leaders of the other independent States, I say welcome home: we are now truly united nations.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“I too lived through those disputes; I sat where you sit, proudly so; I served in this Assembly and I saw, in my time, the consequences of the cold war's hot words on the higher missions of the United Nations. Now, 47 years later, we stand at the end of another war, the cold war, and our hopes and dreams have awakened again. Driven by its own internal contradictions and banished by the peoples' undying thirst for freedom, imperial communism has collapsed in its birthplace, and today Russia has awakened democratic, independent and free; the Baltic States are free; and so too are Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the other independent States joining the nations of Central and Eastern Europe in freedom.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“But the hopes and dreams of 1945 remained unfulfilled: communist imperialism divided the world in two, our hopes for peace and our dreams of freedom were frozen in the grip of cold war, and, instead of finding a common ground, we found ourselves at Ground Zero. Instead of living on Churchill's The President returned to the Chair. "broad, sunlit uplands", millions found that there was, as Arthur Koestler so chillingly wrote, "Darkness at Noon". Instead of uniting the nations, this body became a forum for distrust and division among nations and, in a cruel irony, the United Nations, created to free the world of conflict, itself became conflict's captive.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Forty-seven years ago I was a young man of 21, and, like thousands of others of my generation, I had gone off to war to help keep freedom alive. Forty-seven years ago this month the war was finally over, and I was looking forward to peace and the chance to begin my life in earnest: 1945 marked a moment of promise, not just for me, but for all of mankind. A great struggle against dictatorship had been fought and won. Across the globe, we all looked forward to a future free of war, a world where we might raise our children in peace and freedom, and this institution, the United Nations, born amidst the ashes of war, embodied those hopes and dreams like no other.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“They inaugurated a new world order, an order worth preserving for the ages." Good luck to each and every one of you.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“We will not retreat and pull back into isolationism. We will offer friendship and leadership. In short, we seek a pax universalis, built upon shared responsibilities and aspirations. To all assembled: We have an opportunity to spare our sons and daughters the sins and errors of the past. We can build a future more satisfying than any our world has ever known. The future lies undefined before us, full of promise, littered with peril. We can choose the kind of world we want: one blistered by the fires of war and subjected to the winds of coercion and chance, or one made more peaceful by reflection and choice. Take this challenge seriously. Inspire future generations to praise and venerate you, to say, "On the ruins of conflict, these brave men and women built an era of peace and understanding.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“It can, and should, encourage the values upon which the Organization was founded. Together, we should insist that nations seeking our acceptance meet standards of human decency. Where institutions of freedom have lain dormant, the United Nations can offer them new life. These institutions play a crucial role in our quest for a new world order, an order in which no nation must surrender one iota of its own sovereignty, an order characterized by the rule of law rather than the resort to force, the cooperative development of disputes rather than anarchy and bloodshed, and an unstinting belief in human rights. Finally, you may wonder about America's role the new world I have described. Let me assure you, the United States has no intention of striving for a pax americana. However, we will remain engaged.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“And when it does - when it does - the Iraqi people can look forward to better lives, free at home, free to engage in a world beyond their borders. The resumption of history also permits the United Nations to resume the important business of promoting the values that I have discussed today. This body can serve as a vehicle through which willing parties can settle old disputes. In the months to come, I look forward to working with Secretary-General Peres de Cuellar and his successor as we pursue peace in such diverse and divided lands as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cyprus, El Salvador, and Western Sahara. The United Nations can encourage free market development through its international lending and aid institutions. However, it should not dictate the particular forms of government that nations should adopt.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“This also shows that we cannot compromise for a moment in seeing that Iraq destroys all of its weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. And we will not compromise. This is not to say - let me be clear on this point - that we should punish the Iraqi people. Let me repeat: our argument has never been with the people of Iraq. It was, and is, with a brutal dictator whose arrogance dishonours the Iraqi people. Security Council resolution 706 (1991) created a responsible mechanism for sending humanitarian relief to innocent Iraqi citizens. He must put that mechanism to work. Ma must not abandon our principled stand against Saddam's aggression. This cooperative effort has liberated Kuwait. Now it can lead to a just government in Iraq.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“That is especially true today of Iraq. Six months after the adoption of Security Council resolutions 687 (1991) and 688 (1991), Saddam continues to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction and to subject the Iraqi people to brutal repression. Saddam's contempt for United Nations resolutions was first demonstrated back in August 1990, and it continues even as I am speaking. His Government refuses to permit unconditional helicopter inspections, and right now is refusing to allow United Nations inspectors to leave inspected premises with documents relating to an Iraqi nuclear weapons programme. It is the view of the United States that we must keep the United Nations sanctions in place as long as he remains in power.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“We must remember that self-interest will tug nations in different directions, and that struggles over perceived interests will flare sometimes into violence. We can never say with confidence where the next conflict may arise. And we cannot promise eternal peace - not while demagogue peddle false promises to people hungry with hope; not while terrorists use our citizens as pawns and drug dealers destroy our peoples. He, as a result, must band together to overwhelm affronts to basic human dignity. It is no longer acceptable to shrug and say that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Let us put the law above the crude and cowardly practice of hostage-holding. In a world defined by change, we must be as firm in principle as we are flexible in our response to changing international conditions.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“For example, the people of Cuba suffer oppression at the hands of a dictator who has not got the word, the lone hold-out in an otherwise democratic hemisphere, a man who has not adapted to a world that has no use for totalitarian tyranny. Elsewhere, despots ignore the heartening fact that the rest of the world is embarked upon a new age of liberty. The renewal of history also imposes an obligation to remain vigilant about new threats and old. He must expand our efforts to control nuclear proliferation. We must work to prevent the spread of chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. It is for this reason that I put forward my Middle East arms initiative, a comprehensive approach to stop and, where possible, reverse the accumulation of arms in that part of the world moat prone to violence.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Government has failed if citizens cannot speak their mind, if they cannot form political parties freely and elect governments without coercion, it they cannot practice their religion freely, if they cannot raise their families in peace, if they cannot enjoy a just return from their labour, if they cannot live fruitful lives and at the end of their days look upon their achievements and their society's, progress with pride. Politicians who talk about democracy and freedom but provide neither eventually will feel the sting of public disapproval and the power of peoples yearning to live free. Some nations still deny their basic rights to the people, and too many voices cry out for freedom.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Zionism is not a policy; it is the idea that led to the creation of a home for the Jewish people, to the State of Israel, and to equate Zionism with the intolerable sin of racism is to twist history and forget the terrible plight of Jews in the Second World War - and indeed throughout history. To equate Zionism with racism is to reject Israel itself, a Member in good standing of the United Nations. This body cannot claim to seek peace and at the same time challenge Israel's right to exist. By repealing this resolution unconditionally the United Nations will enhance its credibility and serve the cause of peace. As we work to meet the challenge posed by the resumption of history, we also must defend the Charter's emphasis on inalienable human rights.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“No one hare can promise that today's borders will remain fixed for all time, but we must strive to ensure the peaceful, negotiated settlement of border disputes. We must also promote the cause of international harmony by addressing old feuds. We should take seriously the Charter's pledge to practise tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours. United Nations General Assembly resolution 3379 (XXX), the so-called "Zionism is racism" resolution, mocks this pledge and the principles upon which the United Nations was founded, and I call now for its repeal.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“He will not revive these ideals if we fail to acknowledge the challenge that the renewal of history presents. In Europe and Asia, nationalist passions have flared anew, challenging borders, straining the fabric of international society. At the same time, around the world many age-old conflicts still fester. We see signs of this tumult right here. The United Nations has mounted more peace-keeping missions in the last 36 months than during its first 43 years, and although we now seem mercifully liberated from the fear of nuclear holocaust, these smaller, virulent conflicts should trouble us all. We must face this challenge squarely - first, by pursuing the peaceful resolution of disputes now in progress; secondly, and more importantly, by trying to prevent others from erupting.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“It stood up to an outlaw who invaded Kuwait, who threatened many States within the region, who sought to set a menacing precedent for the post-cold-war world. The coalition effort established a model for the collective settlement of disputes. Members sat the goal - the liberation of Kuwait - and devised a courageous, unified means of achieving that goal. Mow, for the first time, we have a real chance to fulfil the United Nations Charter's ambition of working "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war ... to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small ... to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom". Those are the words of the Charter.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“The challenge facing the Soviet peoples now, that of building political systems based upon individual liberty, minority rights, democracy and free markets, mirrors every nation's responsibility for encouraging peaceful, democratic reform, but it also testifies to the extraordinary power of the democratic ideal. As democracy flourishes, so does the opportunity (or a third historical breakthrough, international cooperation. A year ago, the Soviet Union joined the United States and a host of other nations in defending a tiny country against aggression and opposing Saddam Hussein. For the very first time on a matter of major importance super-Power competition was replaced with international cooperation. The United Nations, in one of its finest moments, constructed a measured, principled, deliberate and courageous response to Saddam Hussein.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Therefore, I call upon all members of GATT to redouble their efforts to reach a successful conclusion for the Uruguay Round. I pledge that the United States will do its part. I cannot stress this enough: Economic progress will play a vital role In the new world. It supplies the soil in which democracy grows best. People everywhere seek government of and by the people, and they want to enjoy their inalienable rights to freedom and property and person. Challenges to democracy have failed. Just last month, coup plotters in the Soviet Union tried to derail the forces of liberty and reform, but Soviet citizens refused to follow. Most of the nations in this Hall stood with the forces of reform led by Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, and against the coup plotters.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Many nations represented here are parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The Uruguay Round, the latest in the post-war series of trade negotiations, offers hope to developing nations, many of which have been cruelly divided, cruelly deceived, by the false promises of totalitarianism. Here in this Hall, we hear about North-South problems. But free and open trade, including unfettered access to markets and credit, offers developing countries means of self-sufficiency and economic dignity. If the Uruguay Round should fail, a new wave of protectionism could destroy our hopes for a better future. History shows all too clearly that protectionism can destroy wealth within countries and poison relations between them.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“In many parts of the world technology has overwhelmed tyranny, proving that the age of Information can become the age of liberation, if we limit State power wisely and free our people to make the best use of new ideas, inventions and insights. By the same token, the world has learned that free markets provide levels of prosperity, growth and happiness that centrally planned economies can never offer. Even the most charitable estimates indicate that in recent years the free world's economies have grown at twice the rate of the former communist world. Growth does more than fill shelves; it permits every person to gain, not at the expense of others but to the benefit of others. Prosperity encourages people to live as neighbours, not as predators. Economic growth can aid international relations in exactly the same way.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Communism froze that progress until its failures became too much for even its defenders to bear, and now citizens throughout the world have chosen enterprise over envy, personal responsibility over the enticements of the State, prosperity over the poverty of central planning. The United Nations Charter encourages this adventure by pledging to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, and I can think of no better way to fulfil this Mission than to promote the free flow of goods and Ideas, frankly, ideas and goods will travel around the globe with or without our help. The information revolution has destroyed the weapons of enforced isolation and ignorance.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Instead, I will discuss the challenges of building peace and prosperity in a world leavened by the cold war's end and the resumption of history. Communism held history captive for years. It suspended ancient disputes; and it suppressed ethnic rivalries, nationalist aspirations and old prejudices. As it has dissolved, suspended hatreds have sprung to life. People who for years have been denied their pasts, have begun searching for their own identities, often through peaceful and constructive means, occasionally through factionalism and bloodshed. This revival of history ushers in a new era teeming with opportunities and perils. Let us begin by discussing the opportunities. First, history's renewal enables people to pursue their natural instincts for enterprise.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Let me also welcome new Members in this Hall, two delegations representing Korea, particularly our democratic friends, the Republic of Korea, the Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and new missions from the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. Twenty years ago, when I was the Permanent Representative here for the United States, there were 132 United Nations Members. Just one week ago, 159 nations enjoyed membership in the United Nations, and today the number stands at 166. The presence of these new Members alone provides reason for us to celebrate. My statement today will not sound like any you have heard from a President of the United States. I am not going to dwell on the super-Power competition that defined international politics for half a century.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“I am honoured to speak with you as you open the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly. I should first like to congratulate the outgoing President, Guido de Marco of Malta, and salute our incoming President, Samir Al-Shihabi of Saudi Arabia. I also want to salute especially Secretary-General Javier Peres de Cuellar, who will step down in just over three months. But let me say, Secretary-General Peres de Cuellar has served with great distinction during a period of unprecedented change and turmoil, and for almost 10 years we have enjoyed the leadership of this man of peace, a man that I, along with many Members, feel proud to call friend, and so today let us congratulate our friend and praise his spectacular service to the United Nations and to the people of the world, the Secretary-General.”
1991-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 46 (1991)
“Let it be said of the final decade of the twentieth century that this was a time when humankind came into its own, when we emerged from the grit and the smoke of the industrial age to bring about a revolution of the spirit and of the mind, and began a journey into a new day, a new age, and a new partnership of nations. The United Nations is now fulfilling its promise as the world's parliament of peace. I congratulate you, I support you, and I wish you Godspeed in the challenges ahead.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)