Unlike their upstart competitor McKinsey, they don’t bother to homogenize their people. They never made their people wear fedoras; they put no premium on the trained-seal avidity McKinsey wants. They acculturate their people slowly, on sailing jaunts, or sprawling banquets, or card games, or benders in stodgy, opulent resorts.
President Trump spoke about seven minutes in his video speech at the United Nations General Assembly opening-day speeches, the same day America’s death toll from the coronavirus hit 200,000. JOHN PENNEY
In Chinese President Xi Jinping’s video to the UN-75 commemoration, he said the “sudden attack of Covid-19 is a grave test for the entire world.” Since the pandemic began in March, at least 31 million cases have been confirmed globally and nearly one million people have died. JOHN PENNEY
President Trump attending the United Nations lunch for world leaders at last year’s annual opening debate of the General Assembly, in the pre-Covid-19 universe. It is unclear if he is physically attending this year’s session; if not, he will likely deliver his remarks by video, like other leaders. Some UN-watchers are expecting more harsh criticism, or worse, from him on the UN. LI MUZI/XINHUA POOL PHOTO
Zuzana Caputova, the president of Slovakia, addressing the General Assembly’s 74th session, Sept. 24, 2019. This year, she is the first woman to speak at the opening session, No. 53 on the UN’s provisional list of speakers, reflecting the abysmally low number of female heads of state, 22. CIA PAK/UN PHOTO
President Zuzana Caputova of Slovakia spoke at last year’s opening session of the General Assembly, and is the first woman to speak at this year’s, albeit 53rd on the list. RICK BAJORNAS/UN PHOTO
Abdou Abbary, Niger’s envoy to the UN, assumes the Security Council presidency for September 2020. It is the first time the nation has been in the Council for almost 40 years. JOHN PENNEY
Niger hasn’t been a member of the Security Council for almost 40 years, and now that it has a voice on one of the world’s most visible platforms, it intends to use it to build more alliances with influential world powers while furthering a regional agenda.
With a representative like this Palestinians might be better off with no envoy in Canada. A recent profile of the Palestinian Authority’s agent in Ottawa confirms the PA is more a colonial tool than a voice for an oppressed people.
Lieut. Gen. Ricard Costa Neves, center, the force commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, May 2020. He is one of a succession of Brazilians to have led the UN operations there militarily. The authors reflect on Brazil’s long, extensive role in the UN but lament President Bolsonaro’s hostility toward it now. KEVIN JORDAN/MONUSCO
A Black Lives Matter protest in Philadelphia, June 2020. The UN’s top human-rights official must write a report within a year on systemic racism and violations of international human-rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law-enforcement entities. CREATIVE COMMONS
