Wars, AI and a Historic Leadership Race Define This Year's UN General Assembly

The World's Stage Opens in New York

The United Nations General Assembly kicked off its high-level General Debate today, September 22, drawing nearly 130 world leaders to New York for one of the most consequential gatherings in recent memory. This year's session is being held under the theme "Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all" — a title that reads less like a slogan and more like a direct response to critics who question whether the institution still works. The stakes feel unusually high. Wars continue to grind on multiple fronts, artificial intelligence is reshaping civilization faster than governments can respond, and the man who has led the UN for a decade is walking out the door.

Among the opening day's headliners were U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, both of whom spoke Tuesday after Secretary-General António Guterres delivered his opening "state of the world" address. Guterres introduced the annual report on the activities of the organization at the opening of the general debate. For him, it was a bittersweet moment. Guterres, the Portuguese former prime minister who has held the job since 2017, ends his second five-year term on December 31, 2026.

War, AI, and the Absent Leaders

Under a global cloud of wars and bitter divisions, world leaders arrived facing new fears that runaway artificial intelligence could threaten humanity even as climate shocks and escalating prices are already making life much tougher for hundreds of millions of people. The UN Security Council added a high-level meeting on AI to its agenda for Wednesday afternoon, a sign of the growing apprehension around the issue and the need to address it. It marks the first time AI has formally headlined the Security Council's agenda — a recognition that the technology's risks are now considered a matter of international peace and security, not just a tech policy debate.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian are scheduled to speak Wednesday. Zelenskyy's appearance carries particular weight. He is expected to encourage more support for Ukraine as the Russian war enters another winter. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending the UN meeting, but his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is there and will address the group on Saturday. Putin's absence is now a fixture — this marks his 11th consecutive year skipping the assembly. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the assembly on Thursday. For a second year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas won't be coming to the UN because the U.S. has refused to give him a visa — he will nonetheless address the assembly by video the same day. The United States, under its agreement with the UN to host the organization, is required to allow diplomats from all member nations to attend meetings — making the repeated visa denial a pointed diplomatic statement.

A Historic Race to Lead the UN

Hovering over the entire week is the question of who comes next. Costa Rican economist Rebeca Grynspan moved to the front of the race to become the next secretary-general, drawing the most support in the Security Council's third informal straw poll. She received nine "encourage" votes, five "discourage" votes and one "no opinion" among the Council's 15 members. Guyana's UN ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett finished a close second with eight encourage votes. If Grynspan ultimately prevails, she would make history as the UN's first female secretary-general.

A single veto from the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, or France would block her nomination. The contest is also shaped by the lack of agreement between Washington and Beijing, which have not converged on a consensus candidate. The next secretary-general will take office in January 2027. With UNGA week serving as the world's most watched diplomatic forum, the corridors of the UN headquarters will be just as important as the podium itself — where quiet conversations between permanent Security Council members could determine whether the UN's next chapter is written by its first woman leader.