Zelenskyy's final message

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Sep 21, 2023 View in browser   By Suzanne Lynch Presented by Philip Morris International ​​With Nahal Toosi and Mona Zhang POLITICO’s Global Insider is morphing this week into UNGA Playbook, an exclusive seven-edition series spotlighting the world stage at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. But that's just the start! We're thrilled to announce the upcoming evolution of this newsletter into POLITICO’s Global Playbook. This premier pop-up newsletter, authored by Suzanne Lynch, is an insider's look at the pivotal gatherings and moments shaping global policy, politics, and power. Up next: The frontlines of COP28 from Dubai in November. Stay tuned! Follow Suzanne on X | Send tips to slynch@politico.eu Good morning from New York. I’m Suzanne Lynch, bringing you Thursday’s edition of U.N. Playbook. Keep sending your tips and info here as we keep you up to date on what’s happening this week at the U.N. General Assembly, where some of the biggest players in politics, industry and civil society meet for high-level debates on the climate, health and development challenges facing the world right now.   A message from Philip Morris International: Worldwide, an estimated 1 billion people still smoke. Let’s change that. It’s time to try a more inclusive and innovative approach that’s been proven in several countries and has the potential to significantly accelerate a decline in smoking. For adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, switching to a smoke-free product is a pragmatic option that can have a positive impact on both individual and public health. See how at PMI.com/Rethink   ZELENSKYY’S PARTING SHOT MOVING TRIBUTE: On Wednesday night, in the stunning surroundings of the Cipriani on Wall Street, Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered his final message to the New York crowd as he prepared to depart the city for Washington: Don’t give up on Ukraine. Details: The Ukrainian president, fresh from a series of meetings at U.N. headquarters after delivering a speech at the Security Council, struck an incongruous note, dressed in his trademark khaki T-shirt amid the glitz and glamor of the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards event. But his message and sincerity was unmistakable. “I address this award to all Ukrainian men and women in uniform. I address this award to all our sweet children who have been killed by Russian terrorists — I will never forget them,” he told the audience of prime ministers, C-suite corporate execs and civil society activists. “I address this award to our fathers [and] mothers who brought up [such] brave Ukrainian soldiers. And to all teachers and to all doctors who didn’t leave the Ukraine from [the] first days of full-scale war.” Zelenskyy pulled no punches in his speech to the Security Council Wednesday — but his target was not so much Russia as it was the United Nations itself. | Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo Next stop Washington: Zelenskyy may have spent the past 36 hours focused on winning over non-Western countries that have been equivocal about their support for the Ukrainian cause, but today his focus will be on the U.S. as he travels to Washington. One of his tasks? Convincing wavering Republicans that they should continue to provide funds and weapons to Ukraine (among his engagements is a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy). He is also expected to visit the Pentagon. (The visit comes just after another ally, Poland, announced it is no longer sending weapons to Kyiv.) Message for U.N.: Zelenskyy pulled no punches in his speech to the Security Council Wednesday — but his target was not so much Russia as it was the United Nations itself. As Nahal, Eric Bazail-Eimil and Mona write, the Ukrainian leader slammed the international body’s ineffectiveness in the face of Russia’s war on Kyiv in a tension-filled special session. 547 days and counting … since full-fledged Russian aggression means "547 reasons for changes in this chamber,” he said, telling the Security Council that it was time to reform. "Veto power in the hands of the aggressor has pushed the U.N. into deadlock.” Telling it as it is: He wasn’t the only one to slam the Security Council. “Let’s not beat around the bush. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has once again shown the inability of the Security Council to act,” said Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. "It’s high time that we address the obvious structural problems." Close encounter: In the end, a head to head between Zelenskyy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov never happened. Lavrov arrived after Zelenskyy left. Security Council marathon: The action will continue today at the U.N.’s key decision-making body, with Wednesday’s debate due to spill over because of the number of speakers on the list. Diplomat of the day: Albanian Prime Minister (and former basketball star) Edi Rama, who shut down Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia’s complaints about Ukraine’s inclusion with this one-line riposte: “There is a solution for this. If you agree you will stop the war, President Zelenskyy will not take the floor.” And threw in a bit of Russian literary history to boot. "Who is the aggressor and who is the aggressed? It is the same sharp difference between war and peace, as Tolstoy would remind you. Go back and read it." RAGING WITH THE MACHINES  HELLO AI: As some of the world’s biggest political names battle it out over politics, climate action and Sustainable Development Goals, there’s another theme permeating the debates here at UNGA — artificial intelligence. Big picture: New technologies like ChatGPT have rocked the world this year, and AI has been on the tip of leaders’ tongues this week amid concerns about the impact on jobs, security and the technology’s potential to widen the gap between advanced and developing economies. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and others discussed how to use AI to actually improve lives during a high-level meeting Monday … South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol called for an international organization to govern the use of AI in his speech to the Security Council …. Even Ukraine's Zelenskyy referenced AI in his U.N. address, warning it could be used for combat, before it’s harnessed to help humanity. Thinking ahead: Policy-makers gathered here are discussing ways to harness AI and distribute it equitably — from helping to predict climate patterns (which has become all the more urgent given this month’s floods in Libya) to using AI to help document the war damage in Ukraine. “What we don’t want is this to become like Covid vaccines — that the developing world is left behind,” said one diplomat. What we’re hearing: Playbook heard from some key figures in the AI community about the chatter this week: Google’s Senior Vice President of Research, Technology and Society James Manyika:  “There’s a lot of talk about AI in every setting … On the one hand there’s a lot of discussions about what are the possibilities, what progress has been made and could this help advance the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals]; on the other, when you have representatives of the entire world here, you quickly realize that the conversations in the Global South are different than the conversation in many Western economies. The question of inclusivity — how does everyone participate, how we make sure all countries are part of the conversation, is crucial.” Botswana’s Foreign Minister Lemogang Kwape, on making sure the AI dividend is spread equally:  “Young people represent 60 percent of our population … We need to invest in them, and in their creativity … There’s a need to regulate, but in regulating they must not impede creativity. We must make sure people remain creative. By being creative, they solve a lot of problems. We have to find that right balance.” Brad Smith of Microsoft, on why the digital divide is broader than just AI: “Every UNGA week, every year, we have fundamentally a variant on the same conversation. What do we do about a world that has such an extraordinary divide between the North and the South?” he told an SDG panel. “A critical reason is because technology did not diffuse on a truly global basis. Consider this: 41 years ago this month, the first building in Manhattan, The New York Times building, was lit by electricity, and yet this morning, there were 600 million people in Africa — 43 percent of an entire continent — that woke up with no access to electricity. If we're going to advance connectivity, if we're going to advance AI, we have to advance all the technologies together, close the connectivity gap.” HAPPENING TODAY HEALTH CARE FOR ALL: The high-level health meetings continue today with a gathering of a dozen government leaders and international organizations focusing on universal health coverage, reports my colleague Carmen Paun. Real world reminder: More than half of the world’s population doesn’t have coverage for essential health services, the World Health Organization and the World Bank said in a report this week — and 2 billion people face severe financial hardship when paying out-of-pocket for health services and products. What to expect: The leaders of Chile, Congo and Switzerland are among the 12 heads of state expected to speak. The meeting is expected to result in a political declaration with more than 100 points, including concerns about the high prices of some health products and inequitable access to them within and among countries. Russian obstruction: At the first high-level health meeting of the week on Wednesday (which was focused on pandemics), leaders preliminarily approved a joint declaration that ensures access to medicine and vaccines, strengthens disease surveillance and bolsters the work of the WHO. But opposition from Russia and its allies threatens adoption by the General Assembly in October, POLITICO’s Evan Peng reports. The bloc of nearly a dozen countries is using the opportunity to express their opposition to the use of certain economic sanctions.   A message from Philip Morris International:   SEEN AND HEARD AROUND TOWN MEN IN BLACK: “This morning’s commute looked a little different,” tweeted Matthew Miller, U.S. State Department spokesperson, on Wednesday, linking to a picture of Blinken and his posse crossing midtown Manhattan. Yes, different alright — six suited men but no sign of a woman anywhere in his orbit. Maybe time to shake things up? BEST DRESSED: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sporting a high-collared, zebra-print suit jacket as she received the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award at the Cipriani, Wall Street last night. REACHING OUT: There’s lots of talk this week about bridging the divide between North and South. Yesterday, the Nordic countries in the EU held a breakfast with Latin American representatives — more bilaterals are planned with African, Asian and Caribbean countries in the coming days. Smaller countries unite: One point that Playbook is picking up on the sidelines is that the Biden “democracy versus autocracy” argument against Russia doesn’t necessarily wash with a lot of the countries in the U.N. that are, well … autocracies. What does resonate is the argument — particularly with former colonized nations — that a country should not be permitted to invade its neighbor. Speaking after Wednesday’s breakfast, Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said part of her objective this week is communicating the impact of her country’s own experience, as a small, independent country that has been subject to Russian aggression in the past. “Finland as a small nation can bring our experience to the table. In the past we’ve had to defend our country against illegal invasion by Russia, the Soviet Union back then,” she explained. “Luckily we remained independent, but the Finnish people can sympathize with Ukraine. If the world was a place where the bigger power would decide everything then it would be a much worse place for everybody.” TOP TIPS — Chill-out zone: Take some time away from the madness and step into the Qatari Salon at U.N. headquarters. Air-conditioning, comfy seats and understated decor — that’s if you have the sufficiently high-ranking accreditation badge to make it in (otherwise you’ll need an escort). — Reconnect with nature … by popping into the SDG Pavilion on the north lawn of the U.N. complex. Its foliage-themed interior and relaxed vibe is more indie-chic than international diplomacy but the conversation there is compelling. — Take the subway: Full marks to Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who’s been using the subway to criss-cross New York City. Really, it’s the only way to navigate this week. — Grab your AirPods … and download the first episode of Power Play, POLITICO’s brand new podcast. In an interview with host Anne McElvoy, Keir Starmer, the man who wants to be Britain’s next prime minister, says he’ll restore the U.K.’s “reputation on the world stage.” “I feel very strongly that since Brexit, there's been a sense that we've not just exited the EU, that we've somehow turned our back on the world and wherever you go, people feel almost the absence of the U.K., once a leading voice, now rarely consulted,” the U.K. opposition Labour Party leader said. SPOTTED  — Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs deep in conversation and catching some rays on the promenade of U.N. HQ, overlooking the East River, during a break in the Security Council session Wednesday. — At the installation of a new sculpture of “Le Petit Prince” at the French Embassy on Fifth Avenue, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, French Ambassador to the U.S. Laurent Bili, sculptor Jean-Marc Depas, businessman and collector Tom Kaplan, Project Aladdin’s Leah Pisar, Paul Getty Trust CEO Katherine Fleming, Marina French, Sana Sabbagh, Bénédicte de Montlaur, Tatyana Franck, Gildo Pastor, Yves-André Istel, Guillaume Kientz. — At the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards in the Cipriani, Wall Street: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz; Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida; U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; Victor L.L. Chu; Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani; WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Deputy Canadian Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland; New York Mayor Eric Adams; CEO of the Atlantic Council Fred Kempe; Jenna Ben-Yehuda; Adrienne Arsht; Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla; Richard Edelman; Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog; Pakistani Ambassador Masood Khan; Monégasque Ambassador Maguy Maccario Doyle; Jamaican Ambassador Audrey Marks; Portuguese Ambassador Francisco Antonio Duarte Lopes. — At a reception at the residence of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield: CNN’s Christiane Amanpour; veteran U.S. diplomat Jeff DeLaurentis; and National Security Council Chief of Staff Curtis Ried. — Actress and activist Jane Fonda delivering some hard truths to delegates at the High-Level Event for Nature and People event at U.N. HQ Wednesday. ”So far you’ve simply put aspirations down ... extremely noble aspirations, but aspirations no less. But now you should breathe life into those aspirations. You must fulfill the aspirations you made last year.” AGENDA — U.N. General Assembly continues. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng will take the podium in the afternoon, as will French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Sudanese President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The morning speaking slot includes Kenyan President William Ruto, President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and European Council President Charles Michel, who will deliver an address on behalf of the EU. — Toward more Resilient, Equitable and Sustainable Universal Health Coverage by 2030, hosted by Japan Business and Policy Forum at 8 a.m., Japan Society. Speakers include: Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio; Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin; Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Bill Gates; WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; and Executive Director of UNICEF Catherine Russell. — Dozens of activists are expected to protest outside the European Union mission to the U.N. at 9 a.m. over the bloc’s refusal to reallocate funding from the Ugandan government, which passed a draconian anti-LGBTQ law this year. Activists will call on the EU to live up to its stated values of nondiscrimination and inclusive economic development by ensuring that EU taxpayer money does not contribute to violence and discrimination, according to Health GAP, one of the groups involved in the protest. — High-level meeting on universal health coverage, 10 a.m. — 23rd Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting at 9 a.m. chaired by Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Vincent Biruta. — Devex @ UNGA continues, 12 p.m. — 1st Commonwealth Environment and Climate Ministers Meeting at 3 p.m. — "Mobilizing more donors to bridge the humanitarian funding gap: innovative approaches and strategies.” Co-hosts: The EU, Sweden, Saudi Arabia. From 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. — "Closing the gap: accelerating climate action in fragile and vulnerable contexts." Hosted by the UAE mission to the U.N., co-hosted by EU Commissioner Janez Lenarčič, Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib and COP28 President-designate Sultan Al Jaber, starts 1 p.m. — The Council on Foreign Relations is hosting a few events today: at 9:00 a.m. a lecture with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (livestream here); at 12 p.m. a conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar (livestream here); and at 2 p.m. a conversation with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (livestream here). — High-Level Ministerial Event convened by Jordan and Sweden in support of Palestine Refugees and UNRWA at 1 p.m. at the General Assembly Building. Participants include: U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini; and Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi. — Headway for adaptation at 8:00 a.m. at the Danish mission to the U.N. Expected to attend: representatives from Bangladesh, Denmark, the Maldives, the U.K., the Netherlands, UAE, Ghana, Samoa and the U.S. —The Rockefeller Foundation hosts an event at its headquarters, 8:30 a.m. Speakers include: Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre; CEO of GEAPP Simon Harford; President of The Rockefeller Foundation Raj Shah; Director-General of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol. Thanks to Carmen Paun; Eric Bazail-Eimil; editors Emma Anderson and Heidi Vogt; and producer Rachel Myers.   A message from Philip Morris International: What’s being done to end smoking? When you look around the world, the answer is not nearly enough. There’s no doubt that quitting is the best choice. But for adults who don’t quit, smoke-free products provide nicotine without burning and are a better choice for those who would otherwise continue to smoke. We already see significant health benefits in Sweden, a country that has actively embraced smoke-free alternatives. Look also at Japan. Smoking rates in both countries have rapidly declined because regulations allow adult smokers access to smoke-free products. Why aren’t other countries adopting this approach? Today’s political and cultural landscape deters many governments and regulators from following the evidence. This inaction prolongs the life of cigarettes and risks shortening the lives of smokers across the globe. Let’s change that. See how at PMI.com/Rethink     Follow us

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