As the United States commemorated the 9/11 terror attack 20th today with pomp, circumstance, and moments of silence, the United Nations was warning of coming peril.. Global troubles.. All the trouble in the world amplified by all the threats, the virus.. the terror.. the division..
‘ENORMOUS STRESS’
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a dire warning that the world is moving in the wrong direction and faces “a pivotal moment” where continuing business as usual could lead to a breakdown of global order and a future of perpetual crisis. Changing course could signal a breakthrough to a greener and safer future, he said.
The U.N. chief said the world’s nations and people must reverse today’s dangerous trends and choose “the breakthrough scenario.”
The world is under “enormous stress” on almost every front, he said, and the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call demonstrating the failure of nations to come together and take joint decisions to help all people in the face of a global life-threatening emergency.
So how to fix?
THE NEW WORLD ORDER SOLUTION?
Perhaps now we see the agenda more clear..
In today’s world, Guterres said, “Global decision-making is fixed on immediate gain, ignoring the long-term consequences of decisions — or indecision.”
He said multilateral institutions have proven to be “too weak and fragmented for today’s global challenges and risks.”
What’s needed, Guterres said, is not new multilateral bureaucracies but more effective multilateral institutions including a United Nations “2.0” more relevant to the 21st century. “And we need multilateralism with teeth,” he said.
