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Will Israel's ban on UN staff impact peace efforts?
Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.
Is Israel's UN ban a blow to peace efforts?
If it was permanent, I'd say yes as it is. I think we won't be talking about it in a few days. Look, obviously, on the back of these horrific terrorist attacks, everyone in Israel is on edge and more willing to lash out when they hear anything that sounds not 100% aligned with the message they want to hear. I'm empathetic to that, and I expect they're going to back away, especially because the Secretary-General has been consistent in talking about how he has condemned Hamas terrorist attacks. You know, anyone can pick a sentence and cherry-pick it for their purposes. That's what's happened here. I think it's unfortunate. The Global South will certainly align more with the Secretary-General, as they always do. But Antonio then doubled down and clarified his statement on Hamas all the way through. I think this will not be a big deal.
Will Qatar's diplomacy efforts secure the release of Gaza hostages?
Meaning more Gaza hostages. We've got four out so far. I certainly think a lot more can be released if there is further delay for Israel on the ground assault. And, you know, frankly, I think that there's very good reason for the Israelis to continue to hold off. I mean, the fact of the matter is, you will get more citizens, not military people that have been captured, and there are a bunch of those, too. But I think, you know, women, children, infirm, the aged, the willingness of Hamas to let them go, buy themselves time, get more international support as they do it, less condemnation and work with the Qataris is probably pretty high. So I do think that that's going to happen. But I'd be very surprised if the Israelis are willing to wait for like a month before the invasion. It does feel to me increasingly soon.
How will Erdoğan's stance on Hamas impact Turkey's standing with the Western world?
Well, I mean, it's not new that Erdoğan has had warm relations with Hamas, supported Hamas, and certainly has not considered them a terrorist organization as the United States does. He also has recently, after the terrorist attacks, refused to condemn them. That is a harder-line policy than we see even from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia right now. And keep in mind, Turkey is a NATO ally. On the other hand, they're now letting the Sweden vote go through the parliament. So, I mean, the fact is that Turkey has always been a NATO's ally with challenges and they're never 100% aligned with the United States and most of Europe on most things. And this continues to be the case. But let's be clear that unlike the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where the entire West was aligned, on the Israeli response to the Hamas terrorist attacks, the West is not fully aligned. And certainly most of the world opposes Israel's military bombings. The extent of the bombings as well as the likely ground invasion. So in that regard, I think there's less to be seen here with Turkey's position.
That's it for me, and I'll talk to you all real soon.
The state of multilateralism: Shaky, fragile & stretched to capacity
Dr. Comfort Ero of the International Crisis Group has spent her career tackling the most difficult conflicts in the world, often exacerbated by severe environmental or social disasters. But as the climate crisis and war in Ukraine compound the forces pushing many fragile societies to the brink, she says multilateral institutions like the United Nations are not prepared to meet the challenge.
Faced with state collapse, food insecurity, and lack of governance, countries like Libya, Lebanon and Sri Lanka are not able to access the help they need to stabilize, build resilience and thrive.
“Countries are already facing difficult trend lines with a multilateral system that is shaky, that is fragile, that is already stretched to its capacity, not able to deal.” she said during a Global Stage livestream event at UN headquarters in New York on September 22, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The discussion was moderated by Nicholas Thompson of The Atlantic and was held by GZERO Media in collaboration with the United Nations, the Complex Risk Analytics Fund, and the Early Warnings for All initiative.
Watch the full Global Stage conversation: Can data and AI save lives and make the world safer?
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2023 UN General Assembly's top objective, according to António Guterres
Every year, world leaders and top diplomats descend on New York City for the annual UN General Assembly, or "UNGA," as it's known. And this year's UNGA promises to be a blockbuster week, given the array of urgent global challenges facing the United Nations. From an unending war in Ukraine, lurching into its third year, to a climate-battered planet that UN Secretary-General has described as "Global Boiling," to growing hunger and poverty worldwide, there's plenty to discuss.
But what's the one thing to watch out for? That's what Ian Bremmer asks UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview for GZERO World, days ahead of UNGA week. "There will be of course a lot of discussions on Ukraine," Guterres tells Bremmer, "But our most important objective in this week is in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals Summit. And the possibility not only to improve a declaration that is far-reaching, but to have a number of strong commitments by member states and by other entities in relation to the sustainable rules in general and climate in particular."
It remains to be seen if the Ukraine war will suck all the oxygen out of the room, or if member nations can agree on which urgent global challenges to tackle first.
Watch the full GZERO World interview: UN Chief on mounting global crises: "Hope never dies"
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld and on US public television. Check local listings.
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Follow GZERO Media for exclusive, on-the-ground reporting at the 78th Annual UN General Assembly
Keep a close eye on GZERO Media all week for on-the-ground coverage inside the 78th Annual UN General Assembly in New York City.
Watch Ian Bremmer's interview with the UN’s top diplomat, Secretary-General António Guterres, an exclusive and in-depth conversation on Ukraine, AI, climate change, and much more. You can watch that interview on our public television show, GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, airing on US public television starting Friday, September 15, and also available or our YouTube channel and at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld.
We'll be live from the UN on Wednesday and Thursday, with two livestreams coming to you during high-level week as part of GZERO's Global Stage series. Find out more and check out our interviews with newsmakers throughout the week at gzeromedia.com/globalstage.
Sign up for our free newsletter on global politics, GZERO Daily, and follow GZERO on social media for updates throughout the week.
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UN chief: We must avoid the mistakes that led to World War I
Winston Churchill once said: "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Those words ring as true today as they did in 1948. Churchill, who served in the First World War before he led Britain through the Second, knew all too well the miscalculations that presidents and prime ministers made leading up to the Great War.
A century later, the UN's top diplomat, Secretary-General António Guterres, fears that world leaders today are making the same mistakes that got us into WWI. In an exclusive interview for GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Guterres explains what makes him so wary of this moment in geopolitics.
"We really need stronger and reformed multilateral institutions to be able to coordinate on what is becoming a multipolar world," Guterres tells Bremmer. "I would remind you that Europe, before the First World War, was multipolar. But because there was no multilateral governance institutions at the European level, the result was the First World War."
Watch the full GZERO World interview: UN Chief on mounting global crises: "Hope never dies"
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld and on US public television. Check local listings.
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Peace in Ukraine is world's priority, says UN chief António Guterres
As the 78th annual UN General Assembly week gets underway in New York—bringing diplomats, ministers, and heads of state together— there is a growing divide in the international community over Ukraine. In the US we’ve heard rumblings from GOP candidates about decreasing or stopping aid, and the once favorable opinion among Americans for continued support has dropped.
Leaders from the Global South, such as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, are calling for a shift in focus away from Europe to getting international development back on track, to talking about debt relief and increasing access to financing. They want to see real progress on the much-vaunted “Sustainable Development Goals” that member nations have vowed to accomplish by 2030. What they don’t want to do is to spend the entire week talking about a distant European war.
But, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres tells Ian Bremmer in an exclusive interview for GZERO World, ending the war in Ukraine is the top priority. “The single most important thing is to have peace in Ukraine," Guterres tells Ian. "The war in Ukraine is a complicating factor of everything else, so the first thing that we need is to stop that war.”
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
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Podcast: UN Secretary-General António Guterres explains why peace in Ukraine is his top priority
Listen: The challenges facing the world today, from conflict in Ukraine to climate catastrophes across the globe, cannot be solved by one country alone. The need for multilateral solutions between nations, even between warring nations, has never been greater. And yet, as diplomats, ministers, and heads of state converge on the United Nations in New York this week for the 78th annual UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary-General fears that we are entering a time of increased global fragmentation.
"We really need stronger and reformed multilateral institutions to be able to coordinate on what is becoming a multipolar world" Secretary-General António Guterres tells Ian Bremmer in an exclusive interview for the GZERO World podcast. "I would remind you that Europe, before the First World War, was multipolar. But because there was no multilateral governance institutions at the European level, the result was the First World War."
Whether it’s the costly war in Ukraine, lurching towards its third year, or the ongoing climate crisis that, in Guterres’ words is quote “boiling” the planet, the Secretary-General and Ian discuss a wide-array of pressing global issues. And don’t forget our brave new world of artificial intelligence, which will need a new global regulatory framework of its own.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.- António Guterres: Ukraine war united NATO, but further divided the world ›
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UN mobilizes to help disaster-stricken Libya and Morocco
First, there was the devastating earthquake in Morocco. And then, cataclysmic flooding in Libya. Recent natural disasters in northern Africa have shocked the world. They've also mobilized United Nations rescue and support teams, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an exclusive GZERO World interview.
“We have a central emergency response fund, and we mobilized $10 million to support the operation in Libya," Guterres tells Ian Bremmer. "We are discussing, with Moroccan authorities, our best way to support them...We'll be doing everything to mobilize international community to support these two countries in this very, very tragic situation."
What role can the United Nations play in these devastated zones, and how much is a warming planet contributing to recent climate catastrophes?
For the full interview, tune into GZERO World with Ian Bremmerat gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.