The paradox of our time is the division in a united entity. As world leaders gather in New York for the seventy seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, one thing is apparent,there are cracks in the assembly of nations. The united nations is no longer united. Notwithstanding,the cracks have been gradually appearing but since no satisfactory efforts were put in place,the gap has become extremely large and almost irreparable. A divided house will definitely fall. Some of the divisions include global north and global south divide,war in Ukraine and the issues between Russia, China and the United States of America.
The first major split is that of Russia and the collective West including the United States of America. This disconcerting rift has been widening significantly since the Russian special military in Ukraine which began in February. The west not only condemned the Russian Federation for what they referred to as unprovoked war but also imposed punitive sanctions against the Putin regime. As expected Russia followed swiftly with counter measures like sanctions and considerably reducing energy exports to the European union. This war will be one of the main topics of discussion at UNGA which the Russian Federation president Vlamir Putin has boycotted. Putin has been calling persistently for the creation of a new body to rival the west controlled United Nations.
Speaking at the assembly,the chairman of the African Union, Senegalese president Macky Sall, reiterated the need to solve the conflict amicably and come to a speedy end. He intoned about the rift between the global north and global south stating that the north had neglected their counterparts in the south. Lack of a seat in security council,lack of funding for climate change measures,lack of food aid to African states are some of the issues widening the gap between the two. Most African nations decided not to support either of the conflicting parties,on the contrary,they advocated for peaceful negotiations,this even after being cajoled to take a side by both parties. How these splits are going to unravel in the future waits to be seen.Macky Sall further added that Africans were tired of being the playing field of the notorious cold war between the West and the East.
Two more strategic world leaders missing from the global assembly are Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping. China,India and Russia only sent a delegation at a time when their leaders presence would have been sentimental. It’s a time when the world is faced by a myriad of problems which require collective effort such as climate crisis, high cost of fuel and global inflation. All the three countries are among the top countries with high population and colossal economies and they are also members of the BRICS organization. Shock waves and fears across the political world as the future seems gloomy. There maybe some unrelated and coincidental reasons for their missing but just last week all three were bundled up together in Samarkand for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It seems far-fetched but pessimists will insist that a new power is being formed to challenge the hegemony of the west.
Anonymous 