In the spotlight: start of the 76th United Nations General Assembly
Audio 05:03
The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) in New York.
Daniel SLIM / AFP
By: Mehdi Meddeb
9 mins
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What to expect from this 76th United Nations General Assembly? “
Almost nothing
,” according to
La Presse
in Canada. The previous one, the 75th, had been "
sinister
"
,
judges essayist Romuald Ciora in the Quebec newspaper. The "
Trump, Trudeau, Macron or Poutine had shone by their absence
", before tackling: "
The secretary general of the UN no longer exerts any influence on the international scene
". And yet, Antonio Guterres is struggling on the climate, the first subject debated during this first day. And how can we be interested when this "
General Assembly is usually little attended?"
», Recalls the
Washington Post
.
By inviting the BTS group to sing and talk?
CNN is relaying the speech of the seven K-pop stars.
The "
face of South Korean soft power followed by a million people online
"
,
tells us
the Washington Post
.
They said their "
hope to see teens and under 20s shaping the future on climate change
."
But will they be heard?
Because how to do when "
the leaders of the biggest polluters are absent?
"
,
Politico
points out
.
Joe Biden was still "
this morning in his house on the beach in Delaware
"
,
recalls the American newspaper.
With a view of the coming tsunami?
Speaking of waves precisely, in Bologna, Milan, Naples, Rome, Turin and Venice, "
the climate emergency is here and now
"
,
says
La Repubblica
.
The Italian daily deals with the climate at the UN by focusing on six Italian cities threatened by rising sea levels or long heat waves, according to a recent report.
Long-awaited Joe Biden
“
America is back.
We believe in the United Nations and its value,
”recalls
The Hindu,
the leading newspaper in southern India, which quotes Joe Biden's words as a preamble to his interview with Antonio Guterres.
According to
The Los Angeles Times
, for his first intervention at UN headquarters, Joe Biden will “
try to reassure his partners [...] that the United States will not turn its back on global commitments on the management of Covid- 19 and climate change
”. "
All eyes are on Biden,
" insists
The Financial Times
. The US special envoy for the climate, John Kerry, was "
optimistic
" according to
The Guardian
.
"
The United States should succeed in unblocking 100 billion dollars for the climate
", it is a "
major test of credibility for Biden
", warns
The New York Times
.
After a year of restoring confidence with his allies who were quite drunk by the Trump years, Biden now finds himself in troubled waters.
His first speech will be made when there are "
new strong doubts about its ability to put the United States in a position of world leader
", insists the New York daily.
"The Trump Method"
These doubts come from the crises endured after the precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan and from the affair of the submarines. "
The Trump method
", headline, cruel,
Süddeutsche Zeitung
, with in photo a Joe Biden in military salute. “
What the world is seeing is that the United States is ready to abandon the Afghans and betray our allies. Just another America-first version of Trump,
”recounts the German correspondent in the United States, quoting this tweet from one of Washington's leading foreign policy experts. The defense of a multilateral world confronted with Biden's unilateral decisions, recalls the German newspaper: “
The reality is as follows
: suspicious and troubled governments in Europe, a deeply wounded France
".
"
This is widespread skepticism among UN member states,
" criticizes the
Guardian
.
The new US-Australia-British pact - the submarine affair - unveiled last week triggered "
a breakdown in relations with France,
" adds
The Washington Post
.
And it is clearly not "
the atmosphere that Biden wanted before his first intervention at the UN
", explains the American daily.
What about the China-US relationship?
Foreign newspapers focus on China during this UN General Assembly. Competition with Beijing is clearly a "top
priority
" for Biden,
Politico
argues
. The lieutenants of the American president in commando operation with the arrival of their boss in New York. No, "
there is no completely dysfunctional relationship with China,
" as Antonio Guterres assures the AP agency. "
There will be no new cold war with Beijing,
" according to the White House press secretary.
"
Despite overall friction
[between the two countries]
the United States has refrained from publicly shaming China for its ties to the post-coup regime in Burma [...]
".
Despite this cautious diplomatic dance between Chinese and American officials at the UN,
The Japan Times
claims to be prophetic: “
Washington got caught up in an anti-Chinese crusade with this obsession to be the leader in South Asia. , which is a thing of the past.
"
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