Earlier this year, I wrote a brief piece on my blog about the United Nations. The idea of the UN, conceived after World War II, is in itself so powerful, a place where all the nations of the world can come together and share their views on the issues humanity faces every day. But then I realized, as time went on, that like all other institutions in the world where money rules, the UN is corrupt and has been hijacked and hence rendered impotent.
Last month, like every other September, all these nations gathered again in New York to talk. That’s all it seems to be, talk. Only talk. Nothing ever truly changes. Yet one thing remains certain about the UN: it still gives every nation a platform to air its grievances about the state of the world. But even on that stage, one nation dominates above all, the United States.
The 2025 session of the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York amid unprecedented global condemnation of the U.S.–backed Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Delegates from across the Global South used the world stage to denounce what they described as genocide, double standards, and the failure of the United Nations to uphold its founding principles of peace and human rights. Impotence of the U.N. as highlighted.
Widespread Condemnation of the Gaza Assault
Leaders from Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela delivered some of the most forceful statements. Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez condemned Washington’s repeated vetoes blocking ceasefire resolutions, calling U.S.–Israeli actions “genocidal extermination and ethnic cleansing.”
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared that “nothing justifies the genocide in Gaza,” adding that the supposed moral superiority of Western powers “lies buried under the rubble.”
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro labeled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “genocidal war criminal,” invoking Bolívar’s cry of “freedom or death” and calling for an international coalition to protect Palestinians.
Nicaragua and Venezuela likened the United States and Israel to colonial and fascist regimes of the past, warning that “new Hitlers have emerged in the West.”
The United States as a Rogue Power
Many speakers accused the United States of acting as a rogue state, violating international law while imposing sanctions, coups, and economic coercion on other nations. They cited U.S. wars in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, as well as its ongoing support for Israel, as evidence of a decaying empire enforcing global subjugation under the guise of democracy. Petro charged that Washington and NATO are “killing democracy and spreading totalitarianism.”
The session highlighted a growing consensus for reforming the UN, especially the Security Council’s veto system, which allows a small group of powers to override the will of the majority. Cuba’s Rodríguez noted that when the UN was founded in 1945, only 51 largely colonial powers were members, while today there are 193 nations still governed by the same unequal structure.
Speakers across the Global South called for a new, multipolar world order rooted in equality, peace, and mutual respect, rejecting what they termed “U.S. imperialism and Western hegemony.”
Again, despite all its flaws, the UN remains one of the few forums where oppressed nations can speak. It definitely has potential but corruption built in from its inception has rendered it ineffective in addressing some of its stated missions. This year, 2025, they made it clear, the world rejects U.S. imperialism and demands a just, multipolar international system.
That is my take post this year's UNGA.
Pal Ronnie
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