The Guardian view on the future of the UN: more embattled, but more necessary, than ever | Editorial

As the secretary general, Antonio Guterres, prepares to step down, the general assembly is highlighting the scale of the organisation's challenges

The United Nations was created, its charter states, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". Donald Trump used his address to the general assembly to threaten Iran, another member state, with annihilation again. The charter also speaks of the obligations of international law. On Venezuela, MrTrump gloated that to the victor belong the spoils". His speech in New York on Tuesday might be regarded as an improvement on last year's only in that it was not an explicit, full-scale attack on the UN itself, merely on its founding principles.

The absences this year are perhaps as telling as the US president's hostile presence. Vladimir Putin has not attended for more than a decade. Nor has Xi Jinping - but the snub is more striking as he is in Washington to meet the US president. India's Narendra Modi is not present; nor are Cyril Ramaphosa, BolaTinubu or Abdel Fatah al-Sisi - the leaders of Africa's three giants,South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. While their reasons are various, the gaps speak collectively to Mr Trump's wrecking capability and the broader challenges faced by the UN.

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