1. a) On what day will President Obama give his annual address to the 2014 U.N. General Assembly meeting?
b) What topics is President Obama expected to cover during his annual address to the U.N. General Assembly?
c) List the President’s schedule for the U.N. General Assembly this week.

2. In addition to his annual address to the U.N. General Assembly, what world issues will the President likely discuss/address with the representatives of other U.N. member states?

3. CHALLENGE:
a) What is significant about the attendees at President Obama’s meeting on global warming?
b) Why do you think these two countries will not attend?

4. a) What is the U.N. Security Council? How many members does it have? Who are they?
b) President Obama will chair a special session of the U.N. Security Council this week. What is the focus of this meeting?

5. What outcome do you think President Obama is aiming to achieve regarding the most important issue to most Americans: the Islamic State terrorists?

6. The U.K. Guardian reported on Sept. 21:

Barack Obama is to press the UN security council to pass a sweeping new resolution that would impose global travel bans on fighters intent on enlisting in overseas wars, and could lead to sanctions on countries that fail or refuse to implement the new regime.

US officials say the UN resolution, which will be personally pushed by Obama when he chairs a meeting of the security council on Wednesday, is supported by sufficient countries to pass a vote this week.

But the diplomatic move will raise questions about UN intervention in the democratic processes of its member states. If passed, the resolution would require UN member states to implement and update their own national laws to tackle the flow of foreign fighters, including withholding travel documents and sharing airline information.

Other measures expected to be contained within the resolution include the UN freezing assets of "foreign terrorist fighters" by placing them on sanctions lists; Interpol coordinating efforts to monitor the transit of fighters across several countries; and a call for the international community to implement preventative programmes to deal with radicalisation of their populations.

"As the president has made clear, every country can contribute something to this effort," said Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN. "And there's universal support, I think, for degrading and destroying this group."

The US is building a coalition of allies to take on ISIS in the hope that a combination of air strikes, intelligence sharing, financial freezes and a travel crackdown will obviate the need for boots on the ground to fight the militants.

a) Do you think this plan will succeed in “obviating the need for boots on the ground to fight the militants”? Explain your answer.
b) Ask a parent the same question.