UN: US-Russia dialogue and clash on Ukraine. Meloni: peace no longer prevails

Developments in the Ukraine conflict, with an intervention by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, following the course reversal by U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, continue to mark the United Nations General Assembly, currently underway at the UN’s Glass Palace. On the sidelines of the Assembly, there was a meeting yesterday between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

During the night in Italy, starting at 2:00 a.m., Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke, noting that “peace, dialogue, diplomacy can no longer persuade or prevail.” In a 16-minute speech in Italian, adhering to the assigned topics—Tuesday, Trump spoke for 56 minutes—Meloni said: “We are living in an accelerated, complex historical phase… suspended between war and peace. There are 56 conflicts in the world, the highest number since World War II: a world very different from the one in which the UN was founded 80 years ago, with the goal of maintaining peace.”

Meloni cited Pope Francis’ words about “a third world war fought in pieces,” focusing on the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. She concluded with a quote from Saint Francis: “Difficult battles are reserved only for those with exemplary courage: I believe the time has come to show that courage.”

After her speech, Meloni returned to Italy, where she will face controversy over the Sumud Global Flotilla and the government’s position on recognizing the State of Palestine. While Meloni was flying back to Italy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was en route to New York, where he will speak tomorrow. On Monday, Netanyahu will be received at the White House by President Trump.

Ukraine: “Paper tiger? Russia is a bear” – Moscow/Washington spat

The Kremlin responded to Trump’s words on Tuesday, after meeting Zelensky, in which he called Russia “a paper tiger.” “Russia is a real bear,” warned Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, “there is no alternative to continuing the war for our future.”

Speaking at the UN, Zelensky said: “International law is collapsing, Russia wants to expand the war… Do not remain silent and help us…” Rubio urged Lavrov to “stop the killings,” but Russian provocations in European skies, including drone and aircraft overflights, continue. Yesterday, Germany reported that a Russian fighter jet flew over one of its frigates in the Baltic; Moscow denied this, calling it European “hysteria.”

The U.S. press continues to question the significance of Trump’s course reversal on Ukraine, from his initial “surrender” to the current “you can win.” The New York Times insists that behind it lies Trump’s desire to “wash his hands” of the conflict, leaving the responsibility for ending or continuing it to Ukraine and Europeans—a Pilate-like choice, made because pursuing peace turned out to be far more difficult than the billionaire had imagined.

The New York Times also points out U.S. international isolation at the Global Climate Summit in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly: countries took turns reporting an acceleration of efforts to combat global warming. Even China pledged, for the first time, to reduce its emissions by 7–10% over a decade—too little, according to scientists and environmentalists—while the U.S. continues to praise oil and coal.

UN: Meloni, Moscow tramples rights; Israel exceeds limits

Meloni’s speech at the UN, “applauded by a half-empty chamber due to the late hour,” is summarized by ANSA reporter Claudio Salvalaggio. It was “a strong attack on Russia, which inflicted ‘a deep wound on international law,’ and a severe critique of Israel, which ‘exceeded the principle of proportionality’ in its reaction to Hamas, violating ‘humanitarian norms and causing a massacre among civilians.’”

Meloni “denounced the inadequacy of the UN architecture and called for action against both religious persecution (‘mostly of Christians’) and human trafficking, including a review of the ‘anachronistic’ international conventions on migration and asylum which, ‘when interpreted ideologically and unilaterally by politicized judiciaries, end up trampling the law instead of upholding it.’”

She also targeted “green plans that in Europe—and across the West—are leading to deindustrialization long before decarbonization.”

The Prime Minister criticized Russia, “a permanent member of the Security Council, which deliberately trampled Article 2 of the UN Charter, violating the integrity and political independence of another sovereign state, with the intention of annexing its territory. Even today, it is not seriously willing to accept any invitation to sit at the peace table.”

“This deep wound to international law,” she continued, “has triggered destabilizing effects far beyond the borders where that war is being waged. The conflict in Ukraine has reignited and detonated several other crisis hotspots. Meanwhile, the United Nations has become even more disunited.”

After condemning the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, Meloni accused Israel of exceeding “the limits of proportionality” in its response. “A choice Italy has repeatedly deemed unacceptable, which will lead us to support certain sanctions proposed by the European Commission against Israel.”

The Prime Minister urged Israel to “get out of the trap of this war”: “Concrete solutions are needed, because peace is not built only with appeals or ideological proclamations welcomed by those who do not want peace.” Meloni found “the proposals discussed by the U.S. President with Arab countries very interesting,” expressing willingness “to help.”

According to the Prime Minister, “Israel does not have the right to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state, nor to build new settlements in the West Bank to prevent it… We have signed,” Meloni recalled, “the New York Declaration on the two-state solution,” noting that “recognition of Palestine must meet two non-negotiable preconditions”: the release of all hostages and the exclusion of Hamas from government roles.

Meloni then criticized “unsustainable environmentalism,” which allegedly “almost destroyed the car sector in Europe, caused problems in the U.S., led to job losses, weakened competitiveness, and depleted knowledge. It took centuries to build our systems, but a few decades are enough to end up in an industrial desert. And in the desert, there is nothing green.”