UN General Assembly Week, Trump's Triumphal Arch, Air Traffic Control AI

Michelle Martin (0:02)

World leaders gather in New York for the UN. General Assembly this week.

Steve Inskeep (0:05)

Wars in Ukraine and Iran hang over the meeting. President Trump and Iran's president will attend, so what does that mean for a world body that has not been relevant to their war?

Michelle Martin (0:14)

I'm Michelle Martin, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News.

President Trump has a new rationale for one of his construction projects that faces legal problems. He wants to build a giant arch between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. First, he said the nation's capital needs one. Now, he says it will be a base for drones, snipers and ammunition. Does that make it easier to keep going without asking Congress?

Steve Inskeep (0:37)

Also, three news organizations are suing the Trump administration. President Trump banned CNN, MS Now and Politico because he didn't like their coverage. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. It's the time of year when world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

Michelle Martin (1:01)

This meeting is the last for UN. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

SPEAKER_3 (1:05)

For me, this is not the moment to look back.

Michelle Martin (1:08)

It is a time to look ahead. Which makes sense, since the world body cannot look back on much relevance lately. World powers are fractured over climate change, AI and wars in Ukraine and the Persian Gulf.

Steve Inskeep (1:19)

NPR's Michelle Kellerman is in New York all week and joins us. Michelle, good morning.

Michelle Kellerman (1:23)

Good morning, Steve.

Steve Inskeep (1:24)

What are you going to be watching for?

Michelle Kellerman (1:26)

Well, first will be President Trump's address to the world body. That's tomorrow morning. And while he's been trying to pitch himself to the world as a peacemaker, the war he launched against Iran really overshadows this gathering. President Trump promised it wouldn't take long, but here we are many months in and there's no sign the conflict is ending. And you know, Steve, it's really disrupted not just energy markets, but also the supply of fertilizers. And that has a big impact around the globe. So many countries are looking to the US., they're looking to Gulf countries, to Iran, to find some ways to restore those shipping routes. Iran's president will be here, so that's another big thing I'm watching. He'll be speaking a day after Trump. It's not clear if there'll be any kind of interaction between lower level US and Iranian officials, but US officials haven't ruled that out.

Steve Inskeep (2:13)

Okay, I don't know. They'll be in this giant building that is designed for diplomacy at a meeting that is supposed to be about diplomacy. Is there any chance of any diplomacy?

Michelle Kellerman (2:23)

Well, there could be on the sideline meetings, but the UN itself has really been sidelined.

It offered to set up a system to monitor civilian shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, for instance, and that didn't gain much traction. I talked to one UN watcher, Richard Gowen, of the International Crisis Group, and he says while Secretary General Antonio Guterres really is trying to find solutions, the world is just too fractured. Take a listen.

Richard Gowen (2:48)

In some ways, he has been defending the idea of international cooperation almost after it's too late. Leaders like Vladimir Putin, perhaps President Trump, don't take this talk of global solidarity all that seriously.

Michelle Kellerman (3:07)

And there'll be some key players missing, including China's Xi Jinping, who's meeting with Trump later in the week in Washington.

Gowen says it's going to be kind of a split-screen moment where you have the US and China at the White House, while smaller powers are speaking at an increasingly empty UN. General Assembly hall. And that just shows where power lies these days.

Steve Inskeep (3:30)

So is the UN also irrelevant to Ukraine?

Michelle Kellerman (3:33)

Well, Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council with veto powers, so the Council hasn't been able to do anything on Ukraine. But Ukraine's president will be back here this year. He says he's meeting with Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with Russia's foreign minister. And European officials are definitely trying to keep attention focused on this to help Ukraine get through another winter.

Steve Inskeep (3:54)

What are diplomats of the United Nations also trying to focus attention on if they can?

Michelle Kellerman (3:59)

Well, climate change and AI are going to be big topics. Though, you know, President Trump last year called climate change a hoax, and he tried to downplay all this latest concerns about AI too. It'll also be interesting to see what Venezuela's interim leader, Delcey Rodriguez, has to say. She was vice president to Nicolas Maduro before the US military swept in to arrest him earlier this year. And while she's here at the United Nations, Maduro remains in custody just a few miles away.