Continued from last week.
While KPMG was trying to keep the South African tornado under the lid, Donald Trump, President of the United States of America launched his hurricane first against Kim Jong Un the Supreme Leader of North Korea when he took the podium at the United Nations for the first time since he became president of the most powerful nation on earth on January 20, 2017.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President, world leaders, and distinguished delegates: Welcome to New York. It is a profound honour to stand here in my home city, as a representative of the American people, to address the people of the world.
As millions of our citizens continue to suffer the effects of the devastating hurricanes that have struck our country, I want to begin by expressing my appreciation to every leader in this room who has offered assistance and aid. The American people are strong and resilient, and they will emerge from these hardships more determined than ever before.
Fortunately, the United States has done very well since Election Day last November 8th. The stock market is at an all-time high — a record. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 16 years, and because of our regulatory and other reforms, we have more people working in the United States today than ever before. Companies are moving back, creating job growth the likes of which our country has not seen in a very long time. And it has just been announced that we will be spending almost $700 billion on our military and defense.
Our military will soon be the strongest it has ever been. For more than 70 years, in times of war and peace, the leaders of nations, movements, and religions have stood before this assembly. Like them, I intend to address some of the very serious threats before us today but also the enormous potential waiting to be unleashed.
We live in a time of extraordinary opportunity. Breakthroughs in science, technology, and medicine are curing illnesses and solving problems that prior generations thought impossible to solve.
But each day also brings news of growing dangers that threaten everything we cherish and value. Terrorists and extremists have gathered strength and spread to every region of the planet. Rogue regimes represented in this body not only support terrorists but threaten other nations and their own people with the most destructive weapons known to humanity.
Authority and authoritarian powers seek to collapse the values, the systems, and alliances that prevented conflict and tilted the world toward freedom since World War II.
…
The scourge of our planet today is a small group of rogue regimes that violate every principle on which the United Nations is based. They respect neither their own citizens nor the sovereign rights of their countries.
If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph. When decent people and nations become bystanders to history, the forces of destruction only gather power and strength.
No one has shown more contempt for other nations and for the wellbeing of their own people than the depraved regime in North Korea. It is responsible for the starvation deaths of millions of North Koreans, and for the imprisonment, torture, killing, and oppression of countless more.
We were all witness to the regime’s deadly abuse when an innocent American college student, Otto Warmbier, was returned to America only to die a few days later. We saw it in the assassination of the dictator’s brother using banned nerve agents in an international airport. We know it kidnapped a sweet 13-year-old Japanese girl from a beach in her own country to enslave her as a language tutor for North Korea’s spies.
If this is not twisted enough, now North Korea’s reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life.
It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime, but would arm, supply, and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict. No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles.
The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. That’s what the United Nations is all about; that’s what the United Nations is for. Let’s see how they do.
It is time for North Korea to realize that the denuclearization is its only acceptable future. The United Nations Security Council recently held two unanimous 15-0 votes adopting hard-hitting resolutions against North Korea, and I want to thank China and Russia for joining the vote to impose sanctions, along with all of the other members of the Security Council. Thank you to all involved.
But we must do much more. It is time for all nations to work together to isolate the Kim regime until it ceases its hostile behaviour.
We face this decision not only in North Korea. It is far past time for the nations of the world to confront another reckless regime — one that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing death to America, destruction to Israel, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this room.
Donald Trump was not done yet. He had plenty of missiles left for chartered accountants, especially the “Big Four”
“When we open our hearts to patriotism (and professionalism), there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry, and no tolerance for hate. The young men and women we send to fight our wars (and corruption) abroad deserve to return to a country that is not at war with itself(partners versus retired partners) at home. We cannot remain a force for peace (and accountability) in the world if we are not at peace with each other.
Let me quote SØren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) “There are two ways to be fooled: one is to believe what isn’t true, the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
Like the rest of you, I have been following the KPMG tornado in South Africa:“KPMG and McKinsey dragged further into South Africa scandal”
“KPMG and McKinsey have been hit further by the fallout of the growing political scandal involving South Africa’s Gupta family that has already caused the collapse of British PR firm Bell Pottinger.
KPMG on Tuesday lost two further audit contracts in South Africa and faced widespread reviews as clients sought to distance themselves from reputational damage from their links to the firm.
McKinsey faced allegations of fraud and collusion in corruption from South Africa’s main opposition party over the management consultant’s work with a company linked to the Guptas, the family accused of corrupting state contracts through ties to President Jacob Zuma.
Both firms have scrambled to limit the damage caused by their links to the Gupta family, which is at the centre of South Africa’s worst political scandal since the apartheid era.
On Tuesday, the Democratic Alliance made allegations against McKinsey over its work with Trillian Capital, a company owned by an associate of the Guptas that has been accused of exerting influence on the award of large contracts by Eskom, the state power utility.
A spokesperson for McKinsey denied paying or authorising payments to Trillian and “was never asked to approve any payments made by Eskom” to the company. “We will co-operate fully with any official inquiries and investigations,” the spokesperson said.
Bashorun J.K. Randle
