Ryan Bridge: Nothing solves global conflict like a good UNGA session

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge - A podcast by Newstalk ZB

Thank God the UN General Assembly is underway in New York. Nothing solves global conflict like a good UNGA session.  I've been to one of these before, back when John Key was the Prime Minister – there was a resolution on Iran.  A lot of sitting around talking and listening, which as Winston Peters pointed out yesterday, is quite important!  Netanyahu's enroute. Zelensky's there. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Putin the Pariah obviously won't be, but does anybody hold out any hope that the UN will fix the big issues? Magically solve the wars and conflict?  As we reported to you on Thursday's show, China's launching missiles into the South Pacific for the first time since the 1980s. A Japanese warship’s just sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time overnight. Israel's hammering Lebanon - today they said "no thanks” to a peace deal.  Putin's lowering the threshold for nuclear weapons. Trump says Ukraine is dead, and delegates are talking over the top of Winston Peters at the Security Council, which he wasn't happy about, calling for the room to be quiet.  "Maybe a third principal, when somebody's addressing you, the rest of the people in the room keep quiet.”  Some would say these are challenges the world can face together, united as one United Nations, but most of the time it's about as useful as ashtray in a motorbike, and most countries and their leaders know this.  But off they go to the off to the Big Apple, to do their dance and thump their fists and have their say, while the rest of world largely ignores and carries on - business as usual. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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