U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that growing instability in Asia, the Middle East and Europe was the consequence of an unstable geopolitical order, describing the world as being stuck in “purgatory” as its biggest players hash out a global pecking order.
His speech, which came at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, contrasted sharply with that of U.S. President Joe Biden, who in his fourth and final speech to the chamber insisted that the "center has held" in the face of multiple and severe global crises.
Guterres pointed to the Russian war in Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the breakdown of order in Haiti and the civil wars in Myanmar, Yemen, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as examples of suffering that the world has been unable to stop.
He blamed the lack of regional and international cooperation on humanitarian crises on the shifting power landscape in the world.
“Instability in many places around the world is a byproduct of instability in power relations and geopolitical divides,” Guterres said. “For all its perils, the Cold War had rules. There were hotlines, red lines and guardrails. It can feel as though we don't have that today.”
“Nor do we have a unipolar world. We are moving to a multipolar world, but we are not there yet. We are in a purgatory of polarity,” he added. “In this purgatory, more and more countries are filling the spaces of geopolitical divides, doing whatever they want with no accountability.”
The current system is “unsustainable” he said, calling for a revamping of the U.N. structure, which was designed in the wake of World War II with just 51 countries, to restore its relevance.
“We can’t go on like this,” Guterres said. “The challenges we face are solvable, but that requires us to make sure the mechanisms of international problem solving actually solve problems.”
UN failures
Much of Guterres' message was mirrored by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, who was next up to the podium, following a Cold War-era custom that Brazil's leader is the first head of state to speak – a 1947 "fix" that placated both the United States and Soviet Union.
Lula slammed the United Nations for its inability to coordinate an end to the conflicts in the Middle East and in Ukraine. In the absence of any multilateral solution, China and Brazil would jointly offer a six-point plan for Russia and Ukraine to begin talks, he added, without elaborating.
But individual countries should not be forced to facilitate such peacemaking, Brazil’s president argued to the assembly.
“About to turn 80, the United Nations Charter has never undergone comprehensive reform. Only four amendments were passed – all of them between 1965 and 1973,” Lula said, slamming the organization for failing to tackle “some of humanity's most pressing challenges.”
Lula, who has long campaigned for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council for Brazil, said the 79-year-old United Nations is a relic of a past geopolitical order and is in need of deep changes.
“When the U.N. was founded, we were 51 countries. We are now 193,” he said. “Several countries, mainly on the African continent, were under colonial rule when the U.N. was founded, and had no say over its composition. There is no gender balance in the highest positions.”
To applause in the chamber, Lula pointed out that the role of U.N. secretary-general, now onto its ninth officeholder in Guterres, had not once been held by a woman. (Earlier, also to applause, Guterres had criticized the “unacceptable” fact that “less than 10%” of the leaders scheduled to speak before the assembly this week are women.)
Better late than never
An awkward gap followed the Brazilian president’s speech, with dead air filling the U.N. General Assembly as it became clear that Biden – next up to speak on the schedule – was not yet in the building.
After about 10 minutes, the U.S. president’s arrival was announced, with Biden coming out to the podium for the final time before he hands over power on Jan. 20 to either his vice president, Kamala Harris, or predecessor, Donald Trump, depending on November’s election.
Biden poked fun at his age, telling the gathered world leaders that he had witnessed a grand sweep of world history in his time as a senator, vice president and president, despite looking “like I’m only 40.”
Vietnam and the United States were at war when he became a U.S. senator in 1972, Biden noted, with America “divided and angry” and facing “questions about our staying power and our future.” A similar situation prevails in the country today, he argued.
“The United States and the world got through that moment,” Biden said of the 1970s. “It wasn't easy or simple, or without significant setbacks, but we’d go on to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons through arms control, and then go on to bring the Cold War itself to an end.”
“Last year in Hanoi, I met with Vietnamese leadership. We elevated our partnership to the highest level,” he said, calling the reversal in ties between the countries in the span of his career “a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for reconciliation.”
“Today, the United States and Vietnam are partners and friends as proof, even from the horrors of war, there's a way forward,” he said. “Things can get better. We should never forget that.”
‘The center cannot hold’
Biden then read from the 1919 poem " The Second Coming" by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, quoting the lines: "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."
“I see a critical distinction in our time: The center has held,” he said of the world’s current struggles, calling for an optimistic stance.
Leaders “from every region and across the political spectrum” have stood together to fight against political extremism, climate change, COVID-19 and the invasion of Ukraine, Biden argued.
“There will always be forces that pull our countries apart and the world apart – aggression, extremism, chaos and cynicism, a desire to retreat from the world and go it alone,” Biden said. “Our task, our test, is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger.”
Biden is scheduled to meet with the new Vietnamese president, To Lam, in New York on Wednesday, a U.S. official said Monday.
Lam himself appears before the assembly on Tuesday evening.
Edited by Joshua Lipes.