Talking heads

The UN General Assemblys hand-wringing over Syria further underscores its inadequacy

The UN General Assemblys hand-wringing over Syria further underscores its inadequacy

The United Nations General Assembly UNGA debate in New York concluded on Monday to a lukewarm reception. Not a forum of great consequence,this,the 67th session of the UNGA,seemed to further highlight its waning relevance in a fast changing world. At no time was the UNGAs inadequacy in addressing international crises more apparent than when Syrias foreign minister,Walid al-Moallem,spoke on the final day to defend his governments role in the countrys 19-month crisis,which has spiralled into a civil war. A call to action by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was met with a tepid commitment from US President Barack Obama that the international community would remain engaged in Syria. Despite several meetings on the crisis on the sidelines of the debate,it is unlikely that new measures to substantively deal with it will emerge.

On Syria,the lack of substantive solutions at the UNGA reflects the deadlock in the UN Security Council,where three resolutions that condemned Syrias President Bashar al-Assad and threatened sanctions were vetoed by Russia and China. The stalemate over Syria at the UNSC is only the most visible indicator of the splintered post-Cold War consensus between the permanent UNSC members,Britain,France,Russia,China and the US. The Middle East has emerged as a major site of contestation for the P5,and differences between the Western powers on the one hand and Russia and China on the other have stymied collective action in the region more often than not on Irans nuclear programme,for example. Divisions within the Middle East along sectarian lines complicate matters.

Obama,who has been eloquent about his commitment to multilateralism,made a drive-by appearance at the UNGA. He delivered his speech and,as was noted by several domestic commentators,did not schedule any bilateral meetings on the sidelines as is the norm for a US president,choosing instead to hang out with Whoopi Goldberg and others on the TV programme,The View. The White House defended his decision,claiming that if Obama met one world leader,hed have to meet several,and he didnt quite have the time. But the implicit idea was clear: further engagement at the UNGA was deemed unworthy of his time.