Global Affairs Session 99 25 September 2026

WORLD WAR AT UN

Age of Wars & role of UN

UNGA 2026 reveals a world where military conflict, economic coercion, technological rivalry and institutional distrust increasingly overlap. Ukraine, Iran, Gaza, maritime chokepoints, sanctions, AI competition and demands for UN reform now converge in one diplomatic arena. The United Nations remains a meeting place, but consensus is harder as power becomes more multipolar. “World War at UN” captures this friction, not as a literal world war inside the chamber, but as a struggle over security, sovereignty, law, representation, technology and the rules of global order today.

Summary

UNGA 2026 reveals a world where military conflict, economic coercion, technological rivalry and institutional distrust increasingly overlap.

Ukraine, Iran, Gaza, maritime chokepoints, sanctions, AI competition and demands for UN reform now converge in one diplomatic arena. The United Nations remains a meeting place, but consensus is harder as power becomes more multipolar.

“World War at UN” captures this friction, not as a literal world war inside the chamber, but as a struggle over security, sovereignty, law, representation, technology and the rules of global order today.

An ‘Age of Wars’, and an age of ‘Great Power Politics’

1. More wars at the same time - The world is experiencing a historically high number of armed conflicts, with several major wars unfolding simultaneously.
2. Wars lasting longer - Many conflicts are not ending through peace agreements. Instead, they continue for years, freeze temporarily, and often restart.
3. Great-power rivalry is growing - Major powers increasingly compete through military alliances, arms supplies, sanctions, proxy conflicts and geopolitical pressure.
4. Warfare becoming more complex - Modern wars now combine traditional fighting with drones, cyberattacks, satellites, AI, misinformation and economic warfare.
5. Global system struggling to stop them - Institutions such as the UN face political divisions and Security Council deadlock, making collective action and conflict resolution much harder.

A world under stress

1. Trust meets fragmentation: UNGA’s official theme emphasizes restoring trust while conflicts, inequality and institutional distrust deepen.
2. Faultlines become canyons: Guterres linked war, inequality, climate change and artificial intelligence as interconnected tests of power.
3. Equal votes, unequal power: All 193 members vote in the Assembly, while five permanent Council members hold vetoes.
4. Old system, new world: UN leaders openly argue that institutions designed around 1945 no longer reflect current realities.
5. Africa remains excluded: Guterres again called the absence of permanent African Security Council representation indefensible.
6. Friction defines the moment: The UN remains universal, but agreement is harder as geopolitical power becomes more dispersed.

Wars enter the UN

1. Iran confronts America: Trump urged complete economic isolation while Pezeshkian said Iran would not surrender to pressure.
2. Threats meet diplomacy: Public warnings coexisted with shuttle talks as both sides explored paths toward ending the conflict.
3. Ukraine reaches New York: Zelenskyy sought continued support while Russian and Ukrainian strikes continued during UNGA week.
4. Gaza divides diplomacy: Humanitarian access, accountability and the future political settlement remain major sources of international disagreement.
5. Palestine joins virtually: After a United States visa denial, the General Assembly authorized Mahmoud Abbas to participate remotely. (Reuters)
6. Courts become contested: Trump attacked the International Criminal Court, exposing another battle over sovereignty and international legal authority.

When the veto blocks action

1. Veto blocks action: Any permanent member can prevent a substantive Security Council resolution from being adopted.
2. Hormuz exposes paralysis: China and Russia vetoed Bahrain’s April 2026 maritime security draft despite eleven supporting votes.
3. Veto faces scrutiny: A 2022 General Assembly mechanism now triggers debate after Security Council vetoes are cast.
4. Ukraine tests structure: Russia’s permanent membership makes great power conflict inseparable from arguments about Security Council effectiveness. (United Nations)
5. History offers precedent: The 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution expanded Assembly action when permanent member disagreement blocked Council action. (United Nations)
6. Suez shifted authority: British and French vetoes in 1956 helped push the crisis into an emergency General Assembly session.

Who gets to shape order

1. Global South demands voice: Developing countries increasingly seek greater influence over security, finance, technology and global rulemaking.
2. India pushes multilateralism: India co-sponsored the inaugural P4M summit calling for participation, transparency and stronger international cooperation.
3. Front row, back row: Jaishankar said the Global South faces crises directly while remaining marginalized in decision-making.
4. Four Fs connect: India linked fuel, food, fertiliser and finance to geopolitical disruption and supply vulnerability.
5. Japan challenges 1945: Takaichi renewed calls to remove the UN Charter’s obsolete enemy-state clauses.
6. Representation shapes legitimacy: Reform debates increasingly ask whether institutions can retain trust without reflecting contemporary power and membership.

Economic warfare travels

1. Chokepoints become strategic: Hormuz disruptions show how regional conflict can rapidly affect energy, shipping, inflation and trade.
2. Supply chains become security: Governments increasingly treat excessive dependence as vulnerability during sanctions, conflict and geopolitical pressure.
3. Food feels geopolitics: Energy, fertiliser, transport and financing disruptions can transmit war costs into food systems worldwide.
4. Finance spreads shocks: High borrowing costs and limited fiscal space leave poorer economies vulnerable to external crises.
5. Markets read diplomacy: Oil prices respond rapidly to escalation, export disruption and expectations of renewed negotiations.
6. Economic conflict travels: Modern confrontation reaches distant households through prices, shortages, investment uncertainty and disrupted trade routes.

AI becomes another front

1. AI joins geopolitics: Artificial intelligence now sits beside war, climate and inequality in debates about global power.
2. Macron proposes third path: France called for a shared open-source frontier model beyond dependence on America or China.
3. Standards become strategic: AI safety rules, technical standards, chips, compute and infrastructure increasingly overlap with national security.
4. Security Council debates AI: Technology leaders briefed diplomats as advanced AI became an explicit international security concern.
5. Access becomes geopolitical: Macron explicitly invited Indian, Brazilian, African and Gulf states into an independent AI coalition.
6. Digital blocs may deepen: Rival technology ecosystems could reinforce geopolitical divisions if standards and infrastructure diverge further.

Can the UN still hold

1. UN faces resource strain: The organization projects its systemwide resource base will shrink sharply between 2024 and 2026.
2. Demands keep expanding: Wars, humanitarian crises, climate pressure, development gaps and AI governance now compete for attention.
3. Rules themselves are contested: States increasingly disagree over force, sanctions, courts, sovereignty, technology and legitimate international authority.
4. Conflict still comes here: Governments continue bringing disputes to the UN even while criticizing its effectiveness and structure.
5. Reform becomes strategic: Security Council representation, veto accountability and institutional legitimacy now sit inside wider geopolitical competition.
6. Friction proves relevance: The struggle over votes, rules and legitimacy shows states still contest world order through multilateral institutions.

Conclusion

UNGA 2026 shows that today’s conflicts are
no longer confined to battlefields

Military force, economic pressure, maritime chokepoints, technological rivalry, legal disputes and demands for institutional reform increasingly intersect. The United Nations cannot erase these divisions, and veto politics frequently constrain collective action. Yet states still come to New York to argue, negotiate, vote and seek legitimacy.

That is the central paradox. The institution looks strained because the world is strained, but it remains an arena where competing visions of global order confront one another.

Value addition

Glossary and related terms

UNGA

United Nations General Assembly, the universal deliberative body in which all UN member states participate. The session uses UNGA 2026 as the main diplomatic arena where multiple conflicts and global-order disputes converge.

Age of Wars

The phrase used in the session for a period marked by many simultaneous conflicts, long-running wars, renewed great-power rivalry, more complex warfare and heavy pressure on global institutions.

Great Power Politics

Competition among major powers for influence, security and strategic advantage through alliances, military support, sanctions, proxy conflicts and geopolitical pressure.

Multipolarity

A distribution of global power across several important states or centres of influence rather than one or two dominant poles. The session links greater dispersion of power with harder diplomatic consensus.

UN Security Council

The UN body discussed in the session in relation to international peace and security, permanent-member vetoes and the difficulty of collective action during major-power disagreement.

Permanent Five (P5)

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council that hold veto power. The session contrasts this structure with the equal voting status of all member states in the General Assembly.

Veto

The power of a permanent Security Council member to prevent adoption of a substantive Council resolution. The session uses veto politics to illustrate institutional deadlock and debates over accountability.

Uniting for Peace

The 1950 General Assembly resolution cited in the session as a historical mechanism for expanded Assembly action when permanent-member disagreement blocks the Security Council.

Emergency General Assembly session

A special Assembly meeting convened for an urgent international peace or security question; the session points to the 1956 Suez crisis as a historical example of authority shifting toward the Assembly after Council vetoes.

Global South

A broad political and economic grouping commonly used for developing and emerging countries. In the session, it appears in demands for greater influence over security, finance, technology and global rulemaking.

Multilateralism

International cooperation through institutions, rules and participation by multiple states. The session links it with calls for broader participation, transparency and stronger cooperation.

P4M

The cooperation initiative named in the session in connection with participation, transparency and stronger international cooperation, with India described as a co-sponsor of its inaugural summit.

Four Fs

Fuel, food, fertiliser and finance. The session uses these four channels to connect geopolitical disruption with supply vulnerability and economic consequences.

Enemy-state clauses

UN Charter language originating in the post-Second World War settlement. The session discusses Japan’s renewed call to remove these clauses as obsolete.

Maritime chokepoint

A narrow or strategically important sea passage through which major shipping or energy flows move. The session uses Hormuz to show how regional conflict can transmit economic effects internationally.

Economic coercion

The use of economic pressure to influence another actor’s choices. In the session, sanctions, supply dependence, shipping disruption and other economic pressures form part of modern geopolitical competition.

Supply-chain vulnerability

Exposure created when trade, production or essential inputs depend heavily on routes, suppliers or systems that can be disrupted by conflict, sanctions or geopolitical pressure.

AI geopolitics

Competition and cooperation around artificial intelligence as a source of economic, technological and security power. The session connects AI with chips, compute, infrastructure, standards and national security.

Open-source frontier model

The kind of shared advanced AI model referenced in the session as part of France’s proposed third pathway beyond dependence on American or Chinese technology ecosystems.

AI governance

The rules, standards and institutional arrangements used to manage advanced AI. The session places AI governance alongside security, development and institutional reform as a growing international issue.

Institutional legitimacy

The degree to which an institution is regarded as appropriately representative and authoritative. The session connects legitimacy with Security Council representation, veto accountability and whether global institutions reflect contemporary membership and power.