UN Secretary General Guterres Warns of ‘Great Fracture’ and ‘Clashing Security Frameworks’ Facing Mankind

Sept. 20, 2023, (EIRNS)—Delivering the opening speech of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19, UN Secretary General António Guterres sounded the alarm over the growing divisions in the world “among economic and military powers, and between North and South, East and West.” He said that the world is “inching ever closer to a Great Fracture in economic and financial systems and trade relations ... and potentially clashing security frameworks.”

Guterres’s dire warning is unfortunately an accurate description of the state of the world, and the discussions underway at the UNGA after its first two days of speeches. Leading spokesmen for the Global Majority, such as BRICS members Brazil and South Africa, issued an urgent call for a new international architecture to replace the bankrupt IMF financial system and its drive for war; but they were met with emphatic intransigence by Western advocates of looting and imperial aggression, such as U.S. President Biden, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, and Poland’s Duda.

“Our world is becoming unhinged. Geopolitical tensions are rising. Global challenges are mounting. And we seem incapable of coming together to respond,” Guterres began. “We confront a host of existential threats,” he added, and called for reforms of existing institutions, such as the United Nations and its Security Council.

“That means reforming the Security Council in line with the world of today. It means redesigning the international financial architecture so that it becomes truly universal and serves as a global safety net for developing countries in trouble.

“I have no illusions. Reforms are a question of power,” Guterres stated. “I know there are many competing interests and agendas. But the alternative to reform is not the status quo. The alternative to reform is further fragmentation. It’s reform or rupture.”

After accurately reflecting the urgency of the crisis facing all nations, Guterres withdrew into the accepted pabulum of non-solutions. He demanded “an end to coal—by 2030 for OECD countries and 2040 for the rest of the world. An end to fossil fuel subsidies.” And he attacked Russia for purportedly launching an “unprovoked aggression” against Ukraine.