World more unpredictable than during Cold War – UN Chief

UN: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the current world is “much more chaotic, much less predictable” than during the Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the United States, and it’s dangerous because there are no “instruments” to deal with crises.

He said in a wide-ranging press conference on Friday that the Cold War was between two opposing blocs where there were clear rules and mechanisms to prevent conflict. It “never became hot because there was a certain level of predictability”, he said.

He said he wouldn’t call the dangerous situation today a Cold War or a Hot War but probably “a new form of tepid confrontation”.

As he starts his second term as UN Secretary-General, Guterres said in an Associated Press interview on Thursday that the world is worse in many ways than it was five years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions that have sparked conflicts everywhere but unlike US President Joe Biden he thinks Russia will not invade Ukraine.

Guterres reiterated that the U.N. Security Council, which does have the power to uphold international peace and security including by imposing sanctions and ordering military action, is divided, especially its five veto-wielding permanent members.

Guterres spoke to reporters after presenting his priorities for 2022 to diplomats from the UN’s 193 member nations in the General Assembly and assessing the global landscape which he called “not a pretty picture.”

“I see a five alarm global fire,” the secretary-general said. “Each of the alarms is feeding off the others,” he said. “They are accelerants to an inferno.” He cited inequity and injustice in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, “a global economic system rigged against the poor,” insufficient action on “the existential climate threat” and “a wild west digital frontier that profits from division”.

– Indian Express