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| Image: Flickr User - United Nations Photo |
By Jerome Cartillier, with Andrew Beatty in Washington
President Barack Obama used his farewell UN address Tuesday to castigate strongmen and populists, taking aim at Vladimir Putin's Soviet nostalgia and Donald Trump's rise at home.
Obama told the UN General Assembly that democracy remains the "firmest foundation for human progress" as he repudiated "crude populism" that has mushroomed in the United States and around the world.
"Some argue the future favors the strongman," Obama said, in remarks that will echo in the 2016 US campaign as much as the Kremlin, or Tiananmen Square. "I believe this thinking is wrong."
"History shows that strongmen are then left with two paths: Permanent crackdown, which sparks strife at home, or scapegoating enemies abroad, which can lead to war."
Obama's solemn valedictory remarks came less than 50 days before Americans decide whether fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, or Trump, the Republican nominee, will be his replacement.
Read the full story at SpaceDaily