Guterres: Security Council Paralysed, UN Not Broken — SkimNews
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- Antonio Guterres called the Security Council 'paralysed' in his most scathing comments on global leadership, arguing superpower divisions have produced a culture of 'impunity' that lets mid-sized powers wage wars without consequence — even as the UN has, in his telling, prevented direct superpower conflict and a third world war.
- Guterres said the Security Council, World Bank, and IMF still reflect 1945 power relations and called for 'more than a simple reform … really an overhaul' of multilateral institutions to match today's world.
- India stands ready to mediate in Ukraine, with Guterres telling PM Modi that 'no country is better placed' to serve as a bridge-builder amid what he described as a global trust deficit that blocks even reasonable agreements.
- The UN has proposed exception mechanisms for food and fertilizer blockades — citing the Black Sea Grain Initiative and an unaccepted Strait of Hormuz offer to Iran — as navigation is threatened in the Black Sea, Strait of Hormuz, and Bab el-Mandeb.
- Guterres pointed to the UN's first international scientific panel on artificial intelligence and the first global AI dialogue as evidence the UN is 'full of vitality,' while calling the U.S. Board of Peace and China's Global Governance Initiative 'unilateral initiatives that take the place of what the UN system itself' should do.
- Guterres clarified that a map on the UN website showing parts of Indian territory with disputed borders is an NGO contribution, not an official UN map, and that the recent General Assembly resolution addresses landmass distortions, not border definitions.
Why it matters: Guterres's 'paralysed but not broken' verdict, delivered as he prepares to leave office, sets the framing challenge for his successor: inherit an institution he himself says needs a full overhaul of 1945 power structures, while Washington and Beijing launch parallel governance initiatives that chip away at the UN's monopoly on multilateral legitimacy.
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