Trump UN address shows nationalist approach: Italian experts

ROME, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) – Donald Trump’s first speech at the United Nations (UN) showed a nationalist approach in his vision of the world, according to some Italian analysts on Wednesday.

“The international community likely expected a broader strategic vision from the first address of the new U.S. president,” Andrea Margelletti, head of Rome-based Center for International Studies (CeSI), told Xinhua.

According to Margelletti, the speech sounded more as if President Trump was addressing the domestic audience, rather than hundreds of delegates at the UN General Assembly. “The ‘America first’ doctrine remains the trademark of his presidency. Yet, it also restricts his approach to the world,” Margelletti said.

In a key passage of his speech, Trump said that the first duty of any government was to put its own people and citizens first, “to serve their needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their values.”

Margelletti said: “This attitude seems to refer to an isolationist stance that belongs to the past tradition of the United States.”

In his speech, Trump talked tough on the DPRK, warning that the United States “will have no choice than to totally destroy” the country unless Pyongyang refrains from its nuclear tests and missile launches. Trump called Iran’s nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 during the Obama administration “an embarrassment” to the United States and indicated that he may not ratify the deal at its forthcoming mid-October deadline.

La Repubblica newspaper analyst Federico Rampini said he was surprised by Trump’s heavy focus on patriotism “is like a sort of ‘Trump doctrine’… he formulated it and proposed himself as the leader of such an approach at the global level.”

Maurizio Molinari, editor in chief of the Turin-based La Stampa newspaper, focused on Trump’s appeal on “the righteous many” to confront “the wicked few” on global stage.

Yet, according to Margelletti, the most remarkable thing in Trump’s speech was what he did not say.

“As such, if there was disappointment, it was not because of his tone but for what he did not say in his first chance to address a world audience,” he added.

Source: XinhuaNet