A year ago he spoke via video. This time Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, showed live the resistance of his people. He made a plea at the end of his speech to the UN General Assembly.
“Listen to me,” he pleaded. “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,” she stated.
Zelensky, the star of the day, warned that Russia uses everything as a weapon, from food or the kidnapping of children – “this is a genocide, it uses hatred” – to energy. “Russia is turning nuclear energy 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 this Wednesday he will present his peace plan to the Security Council (SC), the executive arm of the United Nations Organization. He assured that it has the support of more than 140 countries and international institutions.
A great staging in a CS that has proven ineffective in resolving conflicts, as highlighted by the organization's secretary general, the Portuguese António Guterres.
In his opening speech at the 78th General Assembly he highlighted this obsolescence. “The world has changed, our institutions have not,” he appealed to demand a thorough review of the mechanisms and representation in the Council that remains anchored in the world of the two blocs, the capitalist versus the communist, in a planet that is increasingly “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 only gained light.
Perhaps it would be better to say that Guterres put the ball in the court of the five great permanent powers with the right to veto (the capitalist United States, France and the United Kingdom and the "communist" Russia and China), which are the ones that actually they pull the strings. Either a reform is carried out and more countries are given voice and power or “there will only be a rupture,” he proclaimed.
His cry of condemnation and help occurred in an Assembly in which the absences exemplified contempt for the institution. Only US President Joe Biden participates on this occasion, where he also advocated expanding the permanent members and not "breaking the blockade that prevents consensus", while the leaders of China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, the other four permanent members , they preferred to stay at home. Which is the message?
After illustrating that in the same Mediterranean in which Libyans drown, rich millionaires sunbathe on their expensive yachts, the Secretary General warned that “our world is unhinged, geopolitical tension is on the rise, global challenges are growing and we are incapable to give a joint response.” For him, “we face a series of threats, from the climate crisis to disruptive technologies and this is happening at a time of chaotic transition.”
“We are now moving rapidly to a multipolar world. This, in many ways, is positive. It brings new opportunities for justice and balance in international relations,” she stressed.
“But multipolarity by itself does not guarantee peace,” he insisted. “A multipolar world needs strong and effective multilateral institutions. However, global governance is stuck in time, you only have to look at the Security Council,” he added. Maintaining the current state “only leads to breakup,” she predicted.
