Determined that the nsa had been listening in on her private conversations. Brazil, very important country in south america, an ally of the United States. It was a tiff for awhile there between the president of brazil and the United States because of, well, the nsa had been listening to her personal phone conversations. Lets talk about the most important story of the day. And to help us set things up as we await to hear from the president Chris Matthews, chris jansing, and msnbc managing editor. Thank you for being with us. Chris, i want to start with you. Set the stage for us as president obama plays to an International Audience as well as one here at home well, i think hes very comfortable in a international setting. Hes a different kind of world leader from the beginning with the cairo speech when he first went into office. He had hopes for the arab spring and democratzation and being on the good guys side, if you will in the middle east. Not being knee jerk proisraeli but trying to build real support base among the arab salespeoppe. He tried. Now he has to go to war in the arab world again. He has to bomb muslims and killing muslims on national television. This is what i opposed. A lot of people opposed the idea of americans putting on the show of killing arabs for the whole world to watch. Here we are, perhaps for the best of reasons, theyre beheading our people, theyre killing christians, theyre killing yezidiezidiyezidis. He has to sell to a developing world audience today in the General Assembly. Us, the western power, the white power, if you will the United States going into that part of the world and killing a lot of people. Its a hard fight ethnically, even if hes righton the facts. Much of the world and much of that region understands the language of power. And the president , no doubt, spent a lot of time reaching out to the arab world and giving an optimistic view of the future. You know what . Theyre killing us. Who cares what they think. Its a situation where the president feels its in the National Security to deal with something. Its not because theyre muslims. Are we having an argument . Excuse me, im explaining what the president is trying to do today. Hes trying to win a world audience. Its not about your opinion or my opinion. Its what hes trying to do. Hes trying to win the audience. Thats why he went up there today well, im not bringing an opinion im just saying try to win World Opinion on our side a tricky situation. A ultimate western power. Once again finding arabs on our side, monarchs, trying to, you know, someone would say parasites in the country. Trying to call them our allies in a world where the arab street may be against us and maybe the developing world is against us in terms of us being the big shot again. I think its a similar situation for americans to face even when we fought cuba. We had to send pictures to show they were building a Nuclear Weapons against us and even then we had to make the argument. Its a tough argument in that environment. And, chris, i bring you back to supposedly what fdr said when dealing with kninicaragua. Hes an sob but hes our sob. You cant choose your allies. When the statement about the south and latin america is a buck in the pocket and kick in the butt. The there was a wloft countries to the south of us. Now we are dealing with poor countries. They have the representatives in new york. Its not of new york. The u. N. Is a Global Community sitting there right in new york. Theyre not exactly proamerican. I think thats going to be his challenge today. To face into the audience. Make the case that in this case were the good guys. Its a hard fight. Yeah. Hey, chris, stay with us. I want to bring in chris jansing. Swefed details about the details about the president s speech. Its going to be a lot of topics. Obviously as youve been talking about. This is the focus on it. On monday the United States started dropping bombs in syria. Ping the white house would make the argument to Chris Matthews that thats the reason he articulated how fraught this is why they felt they needed to bring this Arab Coalition together. Look, these five states that backed the u. S. , four of them with air strikes of their own, are not people who actually get along so well themselves. They have their own internal problems amongst themselves. The reason they are signing on they see isis and the rise of the terrorist group is a threat to them as well as to us. I think that is what youre going to hear from the president. Its the largest diplomatic gathering in the world. This is the biggest stage he has. Hes going to make the argument to the folks there, also, to the larger world where it will be reported. But i also think theres going to be one on one diplomacy that goes on. As the white house is looking for more commitments, of various kinds from the military to the humanitarian, much is going to be done in private meetings that the president will have across today and tomorrow as well. Thank you so much. I want to go back to Chris Matthews. Lets talk about the domestic implications of this. The president , as you very well pointed out, is speaking to a group that isnt particularly fond of americans. The president does have to deal with the political ramifications behalf hes doing in the United States. Isnt it interesting, jose . Theres a strange bedfellow situation between Mitch Mcconnell and harry reid . Why do they not want to vote . Why did they let the congress go home and not vote on something as important as war and peace. Its incumbent protection. Protecting people in office. Its a rotten deal. Why do the guys and women decide its in their interest, in fact, they do it out in front. We want the job title of congressman or senator. We like the title and the position. We dont want to take the responsibility of making big decisions. Were going to slide away from it. It is pretty rot ton when you think about it. They had plenty of chances to have a vote. So now theyre talking about going back and maybe doing it after the election. Well, what good is that . The voters get to vote they dont know where they stand on the war. I think it might be progressives, in big cities, for example. You might find minorities and liberals generally dont like the war. They dont want to force the people to have vote, the members of congress. You have red state democrats. Certainly people landrieu and pryor and the red states facing tricky election. They might be better off voting for a tough war situation. I think we should all have a vote. I think you agree. I think most americans think thats why we have a congress to vote on the big stuff. Absolutely. We had senator nelson of florida on in the hour that just passed, and he said, well, i think we should go back and vote on it. What does it take, chris, to get them back in d. C. . Harry truman did it in 1948. He called the congress back into session and said i want you to vote on the republican platform. I want you to do what you say youre going to do now. He won the election because he did that. It shows so much guts and strength to say nice speeches. Nothing got done. He won the election. I think he can pull that one out of the hat. That would take real guts to go out and say i want harry. Say i want you back in town. No more campaigning. Back here, quick. Tuesday. I want to vote. Wow wow its always wouldnt that be great . It would be so unusual as well, wouldnt it . Hes asking for votes in the u. N. But not the United States. They also have a responsibility, you know. They get paid to do their jobs. Lets let them ask their own schedule. We never fight. We have the great exchanges of ideas. Which i learn from. Its a pleasure to see you, my friend. Chief Foreign Correspondent richa Richard Engel is live in turkey. What is the latest . Good afternoon, richard. Its good to talk to you. And here along the border a and in turkey people are watching closely what is happening inside iraq. What is happening inside syria. There have been more air strikes today. At least five of them against isis targets. Four of them in iraq. One in syria. Were told by a u. S. Military official. And were expecting to hear what the president is going to say at the u. N. General si ame bli quite soon. I would expect unanimously everyone is going to come out and support in principle, at least, some sort of condemnation against isis. Isis is a disgusting group. Its been beheading people. Its been enslaving people, its been persecuting religious minorities. Its been going from town to town like hords of locusts and looting and pillaging and selling women into slavery. Its easy for people to say they dont stand for this. However, the specific strategy that this administration has come up with to confront isis is raising a lot of questions. Even people weve been talking to here refugees say there are inherit flaws in the strategy. They say the u. S. Is trying to target isis, which they welcome, but the u. S. Is also helping assad, which they dont welcome. They said there are inherit inconsistency thats u. S. Is trying to back the free syrian army, its been promising to back the moderate rebels for three years now. Its backing them just enough so they cant win and can only go into battle and lose the battle. If you ask people, refugees with, those directly affected by the conflict, they say the u. S. Strategy has been unclear and sets up syria for many more years of civil war. Now a civil war that includes american selective bombings of american enemies in syria. Richard, thank you so much. I want to bring in nbc news chief global correspondent joining us from the Northern Iraq town of irbil. Good morning. After six weeks of u. S. Attacks in iraq and syria. What impact is that having . The question, jose. Thats when well hopefully hear in a few moments from president obama. One thing may tell how successful these air strikes have been and indeed how he judges success in the longterm. Weve had four more air strikes in iraq overnight. Two in baghdad and two near where im standing now in irbil. That brings to a total of 198 air strikes in the last six weeks. And yet a cautionary tale from iraq. It looks like the actual frontline positions havent moved a great deal. Isis has been pushed back only a few miles but thats it. They remain a threat to cities like irbil and others in iraq and indeed on the outskirts of baghdad. The big question for president obama and, indeed, other members of the coalition is how do you judge success . How is isis being hit . Is it losing men, is it losing momentum . And, you know, how long will this campaign continue . We expect president obama to answer some of the questions. Appreciate it. There was some technical issues, but were having a live shot fromm from irbil, iraq. We go live to the United Nations. The president of the United States about to speak. Mr. President , secretary general, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen, we come together at a cross road between war and peace. Between disorder and integration. Between fear and hope. Around the globe there are posts of progress. The shad koe of world war that existed at the founding of the institution has been lifted, the prospect of war between major powers reduced. The ranks of Member States has more than tripled, and more people live under governments they elected. Hundreds of millions of human beings have been freed from the prison of poverty with the proportion of those living in extreme poverty cut in half. And the World Economy continues to strengthen after the worst financial crisis of our lives. Today whether you live in Downtown Manhattan or in my grandmothers village more than 200 miles from nay row bee, you can hold in your hand more information than the worlds greatest libraries. Together we have learned how to cure disease and harness the power of the wind and the sun. The very existence of this institution is a unique achievement. People of the world committing to resolve their differences peacefully. And solve their problems together. I often tell young people in the United States that despite the headlines this is the best time in Human History to be born. For youre more likely than ever before to be literate, to be healthy, to be free to pursue your dreams. And yet there is a pervasive unease in our world. A sense that the very forces that brought us together have created new dangers made it difficult for any single nation to insulate itself from global forces. As we gather here an outbreak of ebola overwhelms Public Health systems in west africa, and threatens to move rapidly across borders. Russian aggression in europe recalls the days when large nations trammed small ones in pursuit of territorial ambition. The brutality of terrorists in syria and iraq forces us to look into the heart of darkness. Each of these problems demands urgent attention. They also are symptoms of a broader problem. The failure of our International System to keep pace with an interconnected world. We collectively have not invested adequately in the Public Health of developing countries. Too often we have failed to enforce International Norms when its inconvenient to do so. We have not confronted forcefully enough the intolerance, sectarianism, and hopelessness that feeds violent extremism in in too many parts of the globe. Fellow delegates, we come together as United Nations with a choice to make. We can renew the International System that has enabled so much progress or we can allow ourselves to be pulled back by an under tow of instability. We can reaffirm our collective responsibility to confront global problems or be swamped by more and more outbreaks of instability. For america, the choice is clear. We choose hope over fear. We see the future not as something out of our control but something we can shape for the better through concerted and collective effort. We reject fatalism, or cynicism when it comes to human affairs. We choose to work for the world as it should be, as our children deserve it to be. Theres much that must be done to meet the test of this moment. Today i would like to focus on two defining questions at the root of so many of our challenges. Whether the nations here today will be able to renew the purpose of the u. N. s founding with, and whether we will come together to reject the cancer of violent extremism. First, all of us big nations and small must meet our responsibility to observe and enforce International Norms. We are here because others realize we gain more from cooperation than conquest. 100 years ago a world war claimed the lives of many millions proving that with the terrible power of modern weaponry, the cause of empire ultimately leads to the graveyard. It would take another world war to roll back the forces of fascism. The notions of racial sprem see and form this United Nations so nation can subject gait their neighbors and claim their territory. Recently russias actions in ukraine challenge this post war order. Here are the facts. After the people of ukraine mobilized popular protests and calls for reform, their corrupt president fled. Against the will of the government in kiev, crimea was annexed. Russia pored arms into the Eastern Ukraine fuelling violet separatists in a conflict that killed thousands. When a civilian airliner was shot down from areas that these proxies controlled, they refused to allow access to the crash for days. When you craukrainyou moved the border. This is a vision of the world in which might makes right. A world in which ones nations can be redawn by another. Civilized people are not allowed to recover the remains of their loved ones because the truth that might be revealed. America stands for something different. We believe that right makes might. Bigger nations should not be able to bully smaller ones, that people should be able to choose their own future. These are Simple Truths but they must be defended. America and our allies will support the people of ukraine as they develop their democracy and economy. We will reinforce our nato allies and uphold our commit to collective selfdefense. We will impose a cost on russia for aggression, and well counter falsehood with the truth. We call upon others to join us on the right side of history. For while small gains can be one at the barrel of a gun, theyll ultimately be turned back if enough voices support the freedom of nations and peoples to make their own decisions. More over, a different path is available. The path of diplomacy and peace and the ideals of this institution is designed to uphold. The recent ceasefire agreement in ukraine offers and opening to achieve the objective. If russia takes that path, a path that for stretches of the post cold war period resulted in prosperity for the russian people, then we will lift our sanctions and welcome russias role in addressing common challenges. After all, thats what the United States and russia have been able to do in past years from reduce our Nuclear Stockpiles to meeting our obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty. To cooperate, to remove and destroy syrias chemical weapons. Thats the kind of cooperation we are prepared to pursue. Again, if russia changes course. This speaks to a central question of our global age. Whether we will solve our problems together in a spirit of mutual interest and mutual respect, or whether we dissent into the instructive rivalries of the past. When nations find common ground, not simply based on power, but on principle then we can make enormous progress. I stand before you today committed to investing american strength to working with all nati