 Obama warns against strongman governments 
 
 Making his case against nationalistic and anti-immigration movements that have grown both in the U.S. and around the globe, President Barack Obama told the United Nations general assembly Tuesday that “today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself.” 
 
 Obama’s remark appeared to be an allusion to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has campaigned hard against the president’s record and has pledged to build a wall along America’s southern border with Mexico. He made two other references to the ineffectiveness of walls in stopping global forces, quipping in an apparent reference to the Zika virus that "mosquitoes don't respect walls" and saying of terrorism that "the world is simply too small to be able to build a wall and stop it from affecting our own societies." (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) (Photo: Andrew Burton, Getty Images) 
 
 President Obama delivered his eighth and final speech as president to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, pushing other world leaders to do more to meet the needs of the world's swelling throngs of refugees.
– President Obama addressed the United Nations as president for the final time on Tuesday with a speech that urged world leaders make a "course correction" and be more open to refugees and less authoritarian. And he seemed to be take a shot, more than once, at Donald Trump's vision of a big, beautiful wall. Some lines from accounts by the AP, Politico, Reuters, ABC News and NBC News: "Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself." “The world is simply too small to be able to build a wall and stop it from affecting our own societies.” He also said, apparently in reference to Zika, that "mosquitoes don't respect walls." "We must respect the meaning that people draw from their own traditions, from their religion, their ethnicity, from their sense of nationhood. But I do not believe progress is possible if our desire to preserve our identities gives way to an impulse to dehumanize or dominate another group." "In countries held together by borders drawn by colonial powers with ethnic enclaves and tribal divisions, politics and elections can sometimes appear to be a zero sum game. And so given the difficulty in forging true democracy in the face of these pressures, it's no surprise that some argue the future favors the strongman. A top-down model rather than strong democratic institutions. But 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." "In a world that left the age of empire behind, we see Russia attempting to recover lost glory through force." "Surely Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel ...(and if) Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land." Watch a video of the speech via USA Today.