We're off to New York!

Hello, and welcome to Intrigue’s coverage of Leaders’ Week at the United Nations General Assembly!

I’m John Fowler, co-founder of International Intrigue. I’m a former diplomat and international lawyer and while I never worked at a UN General Assembly (that particular honour/burden fell to some of my closest friends), I did have the good fortune of working at a G20 meeting in China, an APEC meeting in Vietnam, and countless other diplomatic summits.

I guess what I’m saying is that I have a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a long career. Skills that make me good at understanding what’s important, and condensing those things into a tight, entertaining newsletter for people like you…

Liam Neeson homages aside, this year’s Leaders’ Week - the informal name given to the week during which world leaders descend on New York to give speeches at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) - comes at a chaotic time for global diplomacy.

In my opinion, the UN has never been less influential. Leaders’ Week faces serious threats to its position as the pre-eminent meeting of global leaders: the G20 met in India last week intent on expanding its membership and mandate, and BRICS countries met last month determined to usurp both the UN and the G20 as the true forum for global problem solving.

As if that weren’t a big enough challenge, the UN General Assembly meets this year while one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) continues to prosecute an illegal and brutal invasion of a UN member state, and while two of the other five permanent members of the UNSC are locked in a global arms race.

Of course, the UN has weathered storms before. The very fact that humans haven’t obliterated themselves in a volley of nuclear missiles is due at least in part to the UN and its multitude of forums, committees, agencies and organisations.

And maybe avoiding disaster is enough. After all, diplomacy is a bit like an expensive umbrella - no one likes paying for it, but when the shit hits the fan you’re glad the infrastructure exists. Or as the late Dag Hammarskjöld (former UN chief) far more eloquently put it, “the UN was not created to bring us to heaven, but to save us from hell".

It promises to be a fascinating week ahead, and I’m thrilled to be on the ground in New York to make sense of it all with you. Here’s what to expect…

Daily themes

Each day, I’ll explore a key question about the future of the UN:

• 🎯 Monday - The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It’s half-time in the race to achieve the UN’s 17 SDGs by 2030. I’ll take stock of global progress towards the goals, after first reminding myself exactly what the SDGs are.

• 💣 Tuesday - Is the Security Council broken? President Biden will upset New Yorkers city-wide when he shuts down traffic on his way to address the UN General Assembly. But Prime Minister Sunak and Presidents Macron, Putin and Xi are all skipping Leaders’ Week this year, which leads me to ask: if the leaders of these countries can’t be bothered to turn up at the UN, why do their countries still have a veto on the UNSC?

• 🌿 Wednesday - Climate week at the UN. Climate is always front and centre of the UN agenda. I’ll try to make sense of all the overlapping, concurrent and sometimes conflicting climate initiatives associated with the UN (wish me luck on this one, I’ll need it).

• 🤖 Thursday - Protecting the world from killer robots. If you’re even a little bit online, you’re probably sick of hearing how ‘these five AI tips will save you hours’. But with Silicon Valley tech gurus pleading for AI regulation on Wednesday, and the EU declaring it will lead the way on reining in big tech, what role should the UN play in making sure we’re not all enslaved by machines come 2030?

• 🤷‍♂️ Friday - Week in review. I’ll take a look at the issues and events that most stood out to me here in New York. I also hereby promise not to use this as a forum to complain about the city’s traffic, prices, or sanitation.

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The Intrigue Team and I will debrief you on what we saw and heard each day as well as setting the scene for the day to come 👇

Official schedule and list of speakers

Here are some of the speeches I’ll be paying particular attention to (for different reasons):

• Tuesday: 🇧🇷 Brazil, 🇺🇸 the United States, 🇹🇷 Turkey, 🇮🇷 Iran, 🇳🇬 Nigeria, and 🇺🇦 Ukraine

• Wednesday: 🇱🇹 Lithuania, 🇰🇷 South Korea, and 🇨🇱 Chile

• Thursday: 🇳🇪 Niger, 🇨🇳 China, 🇯🇵 Japan, 🇪🇺 the EU, and 🇮🇱 Israel

Come say hi!

And here are just a few of the events the team and I will be attending. If you’re around, drop us a line!

• Clinton Global Initiative 2023, 18-19 September: Set out in a joint letter from President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Clinton, and Daughter Chelsea Clinton, this year’s theme is “what it takes to keep going”. Personally, I’d love to know.

• Climate Week NYC, 17-24 September: It’s no coincidence that Climate Week coincides with UNGA78, and we’re looking forward to popping in on some of the more… heated… conversations (sorry, couldn’t resist).

• Goldman Sachs x Atlantic Council, 18 September: An invite-only roundtable discussion on “The AI Revolution: The New Frontier of Opportunities and Geopolitical Risks”.

• FP at UNGA 78, 19-21 September: Foreign Policy is hosting a whole range of events, but the team and I will be focusing on the Food, Energy, and Tech Forums.

• Schmidt Futures x BMW Foundation, 20 September: My co-founder Helen Zhang will be moderating a conversation on “Regulating the Future? Responsible Governance in the Age of AI”.

Get in the UNGA mood

Finally, if you’re new to the exceptionally confusing UN ecosystem… here’s a little bit of background reading (and viewing):

• A comprehensive history of the United Nations (New York Times)

• How the UN Security Council works (Council on Foreign Relations)

• Some of the craziest moments from the UN General Assembly (CNN on Youtube)

Can’t wait to see you in your inboxes on Monday!