World leaders meet amid shadow of global divisions, three wars and possible Middle East conflict

World leaders meet in the shadow of global divisions, three wars and possible Middle East conflict Summary:.
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[New Sancai Compilation and First Release] In the shadow of growing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, and the threat of larger conflicts in the greater Middle East, world leaders opened their annual meeting at the United Nations General Assembly on September 24. Meeting.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, previewing his opening "State of the World" speech to presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and ministers at the Future Summit on September 22, said: "We The world is going off the rails, and we need to make tough decisions to get there.”

Conflicts "are intensifying from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan, with no end in sight," he noted, noting that the global security system is "threatened by geopolitical divisions, nuclear postures and the development of new weapons."

He also cited huge inequalities, the lack of an effective global system to deal with emerging and even existential threats, and the devastating effects of climate change.

There was a noteworthy moment at the opening conference on September 24: U.S. President Joe Biden may appear on the world stage for the last time, a platform he has used for decades.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters last week that the U.S. focus at the conference would be ending the "scourge of war" and acknowledged the estimated 2 billion people living in areas affected by the conflict. Pity.

But she also said: "The most vulnerable people in the world are counting on us to make progress, to make change, to give them hope."

Other speakers on the opening day included Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Iranian leader accused Israel on September 23 of seeking to launch a broader war in the Middle East and setting "traps" to lead Iran into a broader conflict. He pointed to last week's deadly bombing of pagers, walkie-talkies and other electronic devices in Lebanon, which he blamed on Israel, as well as the July 31 inauguration of Hamas political leader Ismail ·The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

"We don't want a war," the Iranian president said. "Israel wants to drag everyone into war and destabilize the region. ... They are dragging us to a point where we don't want to go." Iran supports Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

David Miliband, chairman of the International Rescue Committee, recalled that at the 1945 San Francisco Conference that founded the United Nations, then-U.S. President Harry Truman implored delegates to reject the premise that "might makes right." and transformed it into "justice makes might", which is enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

"Nearly 80 years later, we see the dire consequences of failing to reverse this equation," Miliband said. "In areas such as Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, might makes right."

Faced with growing global humanitarian needs, uncontrolled conflicts, unmitigated climate change and rising extreme poverty, Miliband challenged world leaders: "How will you strengthen over the next 80 years rather than Undermining the principles of the United Nations Charter?”

The annual meeting of the General Assembly will end on September 30, after the two-day Future Summit adopted a blueprint to unite the world's increasingly divided countries to deal with 21st century challenges from conflict to climate change to human factors.

The 42-page "Future Compact" requires leaders of the 193 United Nations member states to translate their commitments into practical actions to change the lives of more than 8 billion people in the world.

"We are here to bring multilateralism back from the brink," Guterres said.

He said that through the agreement, leaders opened doors. "Now, getting over this hurdle is our shared destiny. It requires not just agreement, but action."

At the 2023 United Nations global conference, Ukraine and its president Volodymyr Zelensky took center stage. But as the one-year anniversary of Hamas' deadly attack in southern Israel approaches on October 7, attention is sure to be on the war in Gaza and the escalating violence along the Israeli-Lebanese border that now threatens to spread to the wider Middle East.

(Compiled by: Wang Jimin)
(Editor: Jiang Qiming)
(Source of the article: Compiled and published by New Sancai)