The year of the horse, the UN General Assembly and 193 speeches

Who listens to 193 speeches? A German newspaper’s correspondent in New York asked himself this question and decided to sit on an uncomfortable plastic chair and listen, listen, listen… The result? A historic speech by the president of Mongolia. And an answer to the question of why the Republic of Nauru is now called Naoero.

Enver Robelli

Even this year world leaders gathered in New York, at UN headquarters, where the annual General Assembly was held. The atmosphere resembles a bit the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, a bit the Khan al-Khalili market in Cairo, and most of all a world championship of diplomacy. One week, 193 speeches from all 193 member states. Add to that the speeches of the UN Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, the EU representative, the Holy See, as well as Palestine, which has observer-state status.

Who listens to 193 speeches? The New York correspondent of “Süddeutsche Zeitung” asked himself this question and decided to sit on an uncomfortable plastic chair and listen, listen, listen… The result of this challenge is a quite interesting report (published on Monday). When Donald Trump speaks, most listen, they stay in the hall. He is an important man. Even when the Chinese speaks it matters. He too is an influential man. For known reasons it matters what the president of Ukraine says. But the bitter truth is: most presidents and prime ministers speak before empty chairs. This did not happen only to the prime minister of Albania. In his speech, Finland’s president Alexander Stubb quoted the veteran American diplomat Strobe Talbott: “Multilateralism is a real hell and can get on your nerves. On the other hand, it remains nevertheless the best option we have as humanity.” (In 1999 Talbott was the chief American diplomat who negotiated with Russia on the presence of KFOR in Kosovo; the Russians wanted their own sector, they didn’t get it).

Has anyone heard of Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh? That is the president of Mongolia. “Süddeutsche Zeitung” writes that in his speech before the UN General Assembly, Khürelsükh quoted from a letter that the Mongol ruler Oljeitu wrote to the French king Philip the Fair in 1305: “Indeed, there can be nothing better than reconciliation and understanding.” The heirs of Genghis Khan believed that people of different cultures could coexist peacefully, instead of constantly bashing each other’s heads. This distant historical experience prompted the Mongolian president Khürelsükh to ask whether this “Pax Mongolica” would not be a good model for a more peaceful present, for a “Pax Globalica.” President Khürelsükh takes things slowly. In the great UN hall he announced Mongolia’s “official candidacy” for non-permanent member of the UN Security Council – for the years 2048 and 2049. That’s what you call long-term planning.

According to the German newspaper’s correspondent, the Mongolian president also drew attention with another detail. He praised UN resolution 79/291, by which “World Horse Day” was proclaimed, to honor – according to Khürelsükh – the “invaluable contribution of horses” to human history. In July, this world day was celebrated for several days in a row in Ulaanbaatar, with a parade of some 10,000 horses and riders, as well as guests from 56 countries.

David Adeang had another concern: he said before the UN Assembly that as president he has a request that his country no longer be called Nauru, but Naoero. Why? Because the world has misunderstood the pronunciation. Don’t forget: Naoero, not Nauru.

And so the week goes, speech after speech. Tonight everything comes to an end. Until the next UN Assembly.

We almost forgot. The president of Switzerland, Guy Parmelin, also spoke in New York. Switzerland refused to be a UN member until 2002. Parmelin, a wine producer by profession, began his speech with alpine metaphors. At least the beginning is worth reading:

“Ladies and gentlemen, Switzerland is a country of mountains, valleys and linguistic diversity. In the course of our history, we have learned to overcome what divides us. We did not flatten the mountains. We learned to climb them. And later, to cut right through them. For this purpose we built roads, bridges and tunnels. We understood clearly that a natural border does not have to be a dividing line – it can also be transformed into a meeting place. This simple experience seems to me applicable to our world today.”

If only it were that easy…