A year ago he spoke by video. This time, Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, showed his people’s resistance live. He made a prayer when he finished his speech before the UN General Assembly.
“Listen to me”, he begged. “ Russia pushes the world into the final war. Ukraine is doing everything possible to ensure that after Russia’s aggression, no one in the world will dare to attack a nation, armaments must be contained, war crimes must be punished.” he stated
Zelenski, the star of the day, warned that Russia uses everything as a weapon, from food or the kidnapping of children – “this is genocide, it uses hatred” – to energy. Russia is turning nuclear power into a weapon. Not only is it spreading its unreliable nuclear power plant construction technology, but it is turning other countries’ power plants into real dirty bombs,” he said.
He also announced that on Wednesday he will present his peace plan to the Security Council (SC), the executive arm of the UN. He assured that it has the support of more than 140 countries and international institutions.
A great staging in a SC that has proven to be ineffective in terms of conflict resolution, as highlighted by the Secretary General of the organization, the Portuguese António Guterres.
In the opening speech of the 78th General Assembly, he pointed out this obsolescence. “The world has changed, our institutions have not”, he appealed to demand a thorough review of the mechanisms and representativeness of the Council, which is still anchored in the world of the two blocs, the capitalist versus the communist, on a planet every once more “multipolar”. The Global South – the developing nations – also exists and must have a voice, a deficit that with the focus on the war in Ukraine has done nothing but gain light.
Perhaps it would be better to say that Guterres made it now the turn of the five permanent great powers with the right to veto (the capitalist United States, France and the United Kingdom and the “communist” Russia and China), who are the ones who they actually move the threads. Either a reform is made and voice and power is given to more countries or “there will only be a rupture”, he proclaimed.
His cry of condemnation and help occurred in an Assembly in which the absences exemplified the contempt for the institution. Only the President of the United States, Joe Biden, participates this time, in which he also advocated for the expansion of permanent members and not for “breaking the deadlock that prevents consensus”, while the leaders of China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, the other four fixed, preferred to stay at home. What is the message?
After illustrating that, in the same Mediterranean where Libyans are drowning, rich millionaires sunbathe on their expensive yachts, the Secretary General warned that “our world is turned upside down, geopolitical tension is on the rise, global challenges are growing and we are unable to give a joint response”. For him, “we face a series of threats, from the climate crisis to disruptive technologies, and this takes place at a time of chaotic transition”.
“We are now moving rapidly in a multipolar world. This, in many ways, is positive. It brings new opportunities for justice and balance in international relations”, he remarked.
“But multipolarity by itself does not guarantee peace”, he insisted. “A multipolar world needs strong and effective multilateral institutions. However, global governance is stagnant in time, just look at the Security Council,” he added. Maintaining the current state “only leads to rupture”, he predicted.
