Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven't yet, sign up here. The United Nations General Assembly's annual meeting in New York is often mocked as a farce for the endless speeches and the traffic snarling the city. This year's gathering feels more like tragedy. As world leaders meet for the session's third day today, the US, France and Arab nations are racing to negotiate a three-week halt to fighting that has seen Israeli air-strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon kill at least 600 people and threatens to trigger a full-blown war. An Israeli air strike on Lebanon yesterday. Photographer: Rabih Daher/AFP/Getty Images President Vladimir Putin of Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, said Moscow will consider responding with nuclear weapons if attacked by the type of Western long-range high-precision arms that Ukraine is seeking to use to halt his invasion. In Sudan, conflict fueled by Russia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 10 million. The violence and chaos engulfing the globe put questions around the UN mandate — "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" — in stark relief. Antonio Guterres is the first to admit that the secretary-general of the UN has no power, just a voice. It's one he uses time and time again like a modern-day Cassandra to lament that the world is currently experiencing the most conflicts since the organization was founded in 1945. The past three years were the most violent in three decades, according to one think tank. The UN has come under attack, too, with more than 200 staff killed in an Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza that has killed more than 41,000 people. "We are edging towards the unimaginable — a powder keg that risks engulfing the world," Guterres said. At an election rally yesterday, US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump accused President Joe Biden of failing to do enough to stop an Iranian plot to assassinate him. He said if he were in the White House he would threaten to blow the country "to smithereens." The UN Charter's call for people to "practice tolerance and live together in peace" has rarely looked more forlorn.— Augusta Saraiva Guterres speaks during the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg |
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