šŸŒ This week at the UN

Plus: Catch of the day

IN TODAYā€™S EDITION
1ļøāƒ£ This week at the UN
2ļøāƒ£ South Korean botox goes global
3ļøāƒ£ Catch of the day

Hi Intriguer. New Yorkers fled the city in droves this week, as thousands of climate and world leaders descended for some hobnobbing during the overlapping Climate and UN General Assembly High-Level weeks.

For me, itā€™s been an intriguing week of people-watching, happy-hour hopping, and anxiety-inducing FOMO from trying to hit all the events across town.

One of the more amusing things Iā€™d heard from a local New Yorker was that she could clearly mark the recent end of New York Fashion Week and the start of the "officials" week by the spike in saggy suits across Manhattan.

Sassy sartorial observations aside, this week has been an interesting one in global affairs. Letā€™s dive into some of its highlights in todayā€™s top story.

THE HEADLINES

Japan gets a new leader.
Japanā€™s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has voted to elect political veteran and former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba as its next leader. Ishiba now replaces Fumio Kishida as prime minister after the embattled PM announced last month he would step down amid low approval ratings. Ishiba has pledged to reform his party, is in favour of establishing some kind of ā€˜Asian NATOā€™, and has backed allowing women to become emperor.

Sudanese army launches offensive to retake capital.
The sounds of artillery and airstrikes have rung out across Khartoum this week as the Sudanese army has begun attacking positions held by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary in an attempt to regain control of the capital city. The civil war began in April 2023 and has since killed tens of thousands, displaced 10 million, and triggered one of the worldā€™s worst humanitarian crises.

Trump dines with UK PM Starmer, Zelensky meeting up next.
Donald Trump has met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the first time on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The pair discussed UK-US relations ahead of the November presidential election. Trump is also due to meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky today (Friday). PS - donā€™t miss our very own Election Intrigue for a weekly briefing on what the US election means for the world (and vice versa).

Nauru becomes 110th member of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The China-led AIIB has added another member - the Pacific Island nation of Nauru. The AIIB is the worldā€™s second-largest development bank in terms of membership (the World Bank is first), but its relevance has dropped since its founding in 2016.

TOP STORY

This week at the UN

Is the UN getting eclipsed?

Ever wondered what the diplomacy equivalent of Disneyland would be? Oh, okay. Well just in case you change your mind, the answer is the UN General Assembly.

Want proof? They both have branded cupcakes

The annual ā€˜High-Level Weekā€™ is wrapping up, with 87 heads of state, two vice presidents, one crown prince, 28 heads of government, three deputy PMs and 13 ministers all taking the stage in New York to share a few thoughts on where our world is headed.

So here are some of the most intriguing quotes from the proceedings:

  1. ā€œWeā€™re witnessing an alarming escalation of geopolitical disputes and strategic rivalries.ā€ - šŸ‡§šŸ‡· Brazilian President Lula da Silva

Thank you Sherlock. Weā€™ve been saying this for a while now, and kinda left our diplomatic careers and founded an entire media company to keep saying it. But it probably sounds more consequential coming from Lula. Distrust is on the rise and governments are pulling up the drawbridge. 

Finance types are waking up, too: in a recent survey, both central banks and sovereign wealth funds listed geopolitics as their primary risk factor, overtaking inflation.

Anyway, Lula went on to note that ā€œ2023 holds the sad record for the highest number of conflicts since the Second World Warā€, before lamenting ballooning defence budgets worldwide and a global shift towards a ā€˜might is rightā€™ doctrine.

  1. ā€œI call for an immediate ceasefire between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel.ā€ - šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy

Weā€™re cheating a little here since Lammy actually made his appeal during Wednesdayā€™s Security Council meeting, though he went on to note that ā€œwe talk of the risk of full-scale regional war but the truth is we are already witnessing conflict on multiple fronts.ā€ 

The US, France and others are all now pushing for a 21-day Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, but neither side is budging. Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu told journalists yesterday that Israel will ā€œnot stopā€ targeting what it says are Hezbollah sites across Lebanon.

  1. ā€œThere may well be no greater test of our leadership than how we deal with AIā€ - šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø US President Joe Biden

President Bidenā€™s speech was among the first on Tuesday morning and it was a bit of a horizon scan, which makes sense for a superpower with interests just about everywhere: the Russo-Ukraine war, the Sudanese civil war, the Israel-Hamas war, and beyond.

But interestingly, he dedicated serious airtime to concerns around artificial intelligence, building on last yearā€™s passing mention. What changed? Well he (like many others) has now seen the latest Mission Impossible movie, which did an eerily good job of warning the world about where this could all head. Plus AI tech has continued to develop as the stakes keep rising. 

So Biden stressed the need to foster more collaboration to regulate the new tech, and to prevent AI from being used ā€œto give dictators more powerful shackles on the human spirit.ā€

  1. ā€œWhen the aggressor exercises veto power, the UN is powerless.ā€ - šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡¦ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 

As we just flagged, thereā€™s now more open frustration towards the UN on display. In his speech, the Ukrainian president took aim at the fact that Russia can invade its democratic neighbour and then use its own veto power to block any meaningful UN response.

French President Macron echoed a similar sentiment in his 15-minute slot, and suggested an amendment to ā€œlimit the right to a veto in case of mass crimes.ā€ Thatā€™s kinda remarkable when you remember France is one of the five countries with a Security Council veto.

But realistically, thereā€™s nothing to suggest the others (the US, UK, China and Russia) would consider limiting their own influence over the UNā€™s highest executive body.

  1. ā€œSea levels have risen, and we are too late to prevent them from eating away at our shores. But we must also be clear: we will not be wiped off the map, nor will we go silently to our watery gravesā€ - šŸ‡²šŸ‡­ Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine 

Heine and her speechwriter deserve a respectful nod for that poignant if gloomy language. Climate change isnā€™t dominating the agenda like it used to (see above for some of the reasons why), so small island nations need ways to draw attention while they figure out how to grapple with the risk of disappearing under rising sea levels.

Their options look limited: Fiji has earmarked over 40 villages for permanent relocation, and various partners are helping finance adaptation projects. But itā€™s hard to beat what tiny Tuvalu recently did: it signed a treaty with Australia to start relocating its small population there, while declaring itā€™ll still be a sovereign country even if its nine islands and atolls disappear.

But weā€™ll leave you on a lighter note with one of Heineā€™s lines that captures the hope many countries still place in the UN as the best shot weā€™ve got: ā€œFor small island developing states, the UN is the coral where all the fish congregate to seek shelter. We must nourish and maintain it for ourselves and future generations.ā€

INTRIGUEā€™S TAKE

If Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, then the UN General Assembly is arguably the gloomiest this week. Not just because of what itā€™s actually like on the ground for the thousands of diplomats desperately trying to shepherd duelling VIPs through Manhattan (our resident meme-lord Jeremy has kindly provided illustrative memes here and here).

But also because itā€™s the one place where everything facing our world right now seems to congeal into an impenetrable morass of tension, disagreement, ideology, and bureaucracy. But we canā€™t leave you on that note, soā€¦ have a great weekend?

Also worth noting:

  • Of the five UN Security Council leaders, three turned up to this yearā€™s General Assembly: šŸ‡«šŸ‡· Emmanuel Macron, šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ Keir Starmer, and šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø Joe Biden. Thatā€™s an improvement on last year, when only one (Biden) showed up.

MEANWHILE, ELSEWHEREā€¦

  1. šŸ‡µšŸ‡° Pakistan: Pakistan has announced itā€™s sold JF-17 Block III fighter jets (co-produced with China) to Azerbaijan. While neither side has revealed further deets, Pakistan says itā€™s part of its strategy to increase defence cooperation with ā€œfriendly countriesā€, plus Pakistan and Azerbaijan share a common friend: Turkey.

  2. šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ UK: A damaged Russian-operated ship carrying up to 20,000 tonnes of explosive ammonium has anchored off the UK coast this week as it waits to refuel after being turned away from ports in Norway and Lithuania. While thereā€™s no suggestion of immediate danger, the ship has a damaged rudder and hull, and is carrying seven times the ammonium nitrate that caused Beirutā€™s catastrophic explosion of 2020.

  3. šŸ‡®šŸ‡© Indonesia: In an effort to widen its export markets, Indonesia has now formally asked to join the ā€˜CPTPPā€™ Trans-Pacific trade pact. Itā€™s unclear whether Indonesia will be willing to open its markets to the extent required to join the pact, which includes 11 members like Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Japan, and Vietnam, plus the UK from December and many more on the waitlist.

  4. šŸ‡ØšŸ‡“ Colombia: Colombiaā€™s largest pipeline operator has warned the country is in an energy crisis as record low rainfall saps reservoirs. Colombiaā€™s state energy company says itā€™s working to ensure the country has enough gas, but industry sources are projecting a gas shortfall starting next year.

  5. šŸ‡©šŸ‡æ Algeria: Algiers has re-imposed visa rules for neighbouring Moroccan nationals after accusing travellers of abusing visa-free entry to engage in criminal activity, including ā€œZionist espionageā€. Ties have been in turmoil since Algeria cut contact with Morocco back in 2021, months after Morocco normalised relations with Israel.

EXTRA INTRIGUE

Four things we couldnā€™t cram into this weekā€™s briefings

CATCH OF THE DAY

Credits: Catalina Island Marine Institute

That beast above is an extremely rare ā€˜oarfishā€™, and it actually washed up on the California coast a decade ago. But weā€™re mentioning it again now because another one popped up years later for the first time off Australiaā€™s Great Barrier Reef.

Known as a regalecus russelii (presumably named by a dude called Russell), they can grow up to eight metres in length. In Japanese mythology, theyā€™re referred to as ā€˜Messengers from the Sea God's Palaceā€™, and for such a rare fish, they really get around: thereā€™ve been a handful of sightings in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans.

FRIDAY QUIZ

Today is World Tourism Day!

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