U.N. speeches reflect grim global realities

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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The world, warned President Joe Biden, is at an “inflection point.”

The world, warned U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “is in a whirlwind.”

“Our task, our test,” the president said, “is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than those that are pulling us apart.” Today’s choices, he said, “will determine our future for decades to come.”

“We are in an era of epic transformation,” the secretary-general said, “facing challenges unlike any we have ever seen — challenges that demand global solutions.”

The perilous descriptions of today’s frayed geopolitical order went even deeper as both Biden and Guterres continued with comments that were complementary but not coordinated as the United Nations began its 79th annual General Assembly on Tuesday at U.N. Headquarters in New York.

Biden, bidding farewell to the world stage, was more self-referential. Guterres, who has a few more years on his second term, was a bit wearier. But the speeches’ similarities were striking.

Reflecting a worldview tied to geopolitics, Guterres said that “we are edging toward the unimaginable — a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.”

Among the potential igniters is what the secretary-general described as “a world of impunity, where violations and abuses threaten the very foundation of international law and the U.N. charter,” as well as “a world of inequality, where injustices and grievances threaten to undermine countries or even push them over the edge” and “a world of uncertainty, where unmanaged global risks threaten our future in unknowable ways.”

Biden channeled these challenges — especially Russia’s illegal, immoral invasion of Ukraine. “We cannot grow weary; we cannot look away,” Biden said after highlighting his administration’s advocacy for Ukraine and strengthening of alliances, including a reinvigorated and expanded NATO, which along with everyday Ukrainians “stood up.”

Beyond Eastern Europe, the Mideast was on both leaders’ minds as they addressed fellow world leaders. Indeed, as they spoke carnage continued on multiple fronts, including the deadliest days since at least 2006 in Lebanon, the home base of Iran-backed Hezbollah, which like Hamas in Gaza is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S. and scores of other countries.

“We should all be alarmed by the escalation,” said Guterres. “The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

Imperiled Palestinian civilians, Biden said, “didn’t ask for this war that Hamas started.” Nor, of course, did Israeli citizens. “The world must not flinch from the horrors of October 7,” the president said.

Guterres and Biden called for a cease-fire and continued their unceasing call for a Palestinian state.

“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” Biden said, adding that a “diplomatic solution is still possible.”

Transnational challenges were on both leaders’ agenda too — especially unchecked artificial intelligence and climate change.

Biden, bowing out of foreign affairs after 50 years, was wistful in saying “there is so much more I want to get done.” But, he added, “Some things are more important than staying in power: It’s your people.”

While that admonition was for assembled presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and others, it might also have been meant for former President Donald Trump, who if elected threatens to alienate the alliances Biden bolstered while accommodating authoritarians who pose a continuing threat to democracy.

Indeed, the next American president will likely reap a global whirlwind. That leader must understand the geopolitical complexity and consequences of exceedingly dangerous conflicts that continue to burn worldwide.