UNITED NATIONS, United States
\nBritish Prime Minister Liz Truss on Wednesday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of making \u201csaber-rattling threats\u201d to cover his failed invasion of Ukraine, as she told the United Nations that its founding principles were fracturing because of aggression by authoritarian states.
\nIn her debut speech to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday night, Truss called the war in Ukraine a battle for \u201cour values and the security of the whole world,\u201d and extolled the late Queen Elizabeth II as a symbol of everything the UN stands for.
\nResponding to a statement from Putin that he was mobilizing reservists and would use everything at his disposal to protect Russia \u2014 an apparent reference to his nuclear arsenal \u2014 Truss accused the Russian leader of \u201cdesperately trying to justify his catastrophic failures.\u201d
\n\u201cHe is doubling down by sending even more reservists to a terrible fate,\u201d she said. \u201cHe is desperately trying to claim the mantle of democracy for a regime without human rights or freedoms. And he is making yet more bogus claims and saber-rattling threats.\u201d
\n\u201cThis will not work. The international alliance is strong \u2014 Ukraine is strong,\u201d said Truss, who addressed the UN on the same day Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to the global gathering by video.
\nIn a speech outlining her view of foreign policy in a world turned upside down by Russia\u2019s invasion, Truss spoke of the queen, whose funeral on Monday was attended by many of the world leaders now gathered at the United Nations.
\nShe said the queen \u201csymbolized the postwar values on which this organization was founded.\u201d She said the monarch, who died this month after 70 years on the throne, \u201ctranscended difference and healed division.\u201d
\nTruss referred to a speech to the UN by the queen in 1957, in which Elizabeth said \u201cthe peoples of the world expect the United Nations to persevere in its efforts\u201d to end conflict and crisis.
\nTruss said the monarch had \u201cwarned that it was vital not only to have strong ideals but also to have the political will to deliver on them. Now we must show that will.\u201d
\nIn her first international speech since becoming prime minister two weeks ago, Truss hailed the founding principles of the United Nations, while calling for new international alliances to circumvent the influence of authoritarian regimes.
\nShe said \u201cgeopolitics is entering a new era\u201d in which \u201cauthoritarian states are undermining stability and security around the world.\u201d That was a direct shot at Russia \u2014 and also at China, whose growing clout among developing nations is a major concern for the United States and its allies.
\nTruss said the world\u2019s democratic powers must woo developing nations with \u201cstrategic ties based on mutual benefit and trust\u201d rather than \u201cexerting influence through debt, aggression, and taking control of critical infrastructure and minerals.\u201d
\nShe also called for a toughening of the West\u2019s response to Russia\u2019s invasion. She urged sanctions on Russia and said \u201cthe G-7 and our like-minded partners should act as an economic NATO,\u201d supporting countries targeted by \u201cthe economic aggression of authoritarian regimes.\u201d
\nShe urged nations to find alternatives to Russian oil and gas and protect supply chains for everything from food to minerals. \u201cThe free world needs this economic strength and resilience to push back against authoritarian aggression and win this new era of strategic competition,\u201d she said.
\nTruss said post-Brexit Britain was \u201cbuilding new partnerships around the world,\u201d citing its role in NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force military group of northern European nations, whose importance has increased since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.
\nShe also pointed to deepening ties with \u201cfellow democracies like India, Indonesia and South Africa\u201d and trade ambitions with Indo-Pacific and Gulf states, a sign that Britain, now outside the European Union, sees the rest of the world \u2014 and especially Asia \u2014 as a political and economic priority.
\nThe speech amounts to a bold statement of the new prime minister\u2019s world view. But Truss is likely to draw criticism for linking the global fight for freedom and democracy to her own plans to change Britain\u2019s economy.
\nSaying that \u201cour commitment to hope and progress must begin at home,\u201d Truss said demonstrating the strength of democracy \u201cbegins with growth and building a British economy that rewards enterprise and attracts investment.\u201d To Truss, a Conservative free marketeer, that means cutting individual and corporate taxes and slashing regulations for business.
\nOpponents say tax cuts reward the rich more than the poor and will do little to ease a cost-of-living crisis, fueled largely by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, that has pushed UK inflation to 10 percent, a level not seen in four decades.
\nDespite the economic shockwaves, Truss said Britain\u2019s commitment to defending Ukraine \u201cis total.\u201d
\n\u201cThis,\u201d she said, \u201cis a decisive moment in our history, in the history of this organization, and in the history of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, United States British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Wednesday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of making \u201csaber-rattling threats\u201d to cover his failed invasion of Ukraine, as she told the United Nations that its founding principles were fracturing because of aggression by authoritarian states. In her debut speech to the UN General Assembly on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-285043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n