A world of challenges

The 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly got under way this week, with President Barack Obama addressing the body for the first time with a speech structured around “four pillars ... fundamental to the future that we want for our children: nonproliferation and disarmament; the promotion of peace and security; the preservation of our planet; and a global economy that advances opportunity for all people.”

In an address that paid explicit homage to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his vision for the U.N., the echo of Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” could only have been intentional. And it was perhaps fitting to channel FDR at a time when the world’s problems are so many and so acute. You know you are facing complex challenges when, in the midst of a worldwide recession, the global economy seems like the easiest item on the agenda.

Each of Obama’s four general pillars had within it a specific core of U.S. policy goals, all of which have eluded solutions for many years and several presidential administrations. Nonproliferation and disarmament has, as its heart, the conundrum of what to do about North Korea and Iran. The promotion of peace and security was exemplified by Obama as a drive to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And the preservation of our planet was, on the day after a U.N. summit on climate change, all about that most pressing of environmental issues.

The pace and dynamic of engagement with North Korea and Iran over the nuclear issue has been not only frustrating, it also has been notable for its failures. North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon. Iran, with each passing day, goes further down the road to processing the highly enriched uranium necessary for nuclear weapons. And now the potential for Obama to diplomatically engage each of these countries has been greatly complicated by recent events — the detention of two U.S. journalists by North Korea and, in Iran’s case, the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the harsh treatment of Iranians who protested the election results.

As for the Middle East, even those who see opportunity in the current historical moment consider it fleeting and fragile. The less-optimistic view is that Israel’s leadership has committed to a course on settlements that will be all but politically impossible to undo, and that the Palestinian leadership lacks the unified support and legitimacy to convincingly represent its people. Even in the best case, genuine progress will require intense engagement from the U.S., Europe and the rest of the region. One wonders when and how the diplomatic energy will be mustered.

And then there is the issue of global climate change, in advance of December’s Copenhagen climate talks. Despite positive rhetoric from Obama this week, there is little chance of progress at that summit without hard commitments from the U.S. — commitments that Obama won’t be able to give because it now seems unlikely in the extreme that a U.S. Congress still wrestling with health-care reform will be able to deliver this year on the president’s proposed cap-and-trade legislation for dealing with carbon emissions.

Finally, there is the economy. The four pillars laid out by Obama, in their generalities and specifics, reflect ideals and aims that are not only difficult to achieve but also will be subject to the unpredictable nature of world events. And as Obama said in his remarks, “real change can only come through the people we represent.” As he lays out an ambitious and critical international agenda, this American president’s chances of achieving his goals on the world stage may depend most of all on the U.S. economy dealing him a more favorable political hand in Washington. 