The UN's Annual Circus Comes to Town

Angry Planet

Matthew Gault

War, Politics, Conflict, Government, History, News

4.3 • 882 Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Once a year, leaders from around the world leave their capitals behind them for a trip to the Big City, New York. What could pull these powerful men—and far fewer women—away from affairs of state? Is it the revival of Spamalot on Broadway? No, the opening is still a few weeks away. Could it be the glittering bars, restaurants, and hotels? The easy availability of the ingredients for every vice known to humanity? Is it simply the lights on Broadway?

Nope.

It’s the one, the only United Nations General Assembly, which comes to town every September and plays to rave reviews—if you ask the delegates themselves. In reality, many of these leaders are addressing empty seats or facing interns sharpening their pencils for notes they may never take.

So, why come?

We’re going to tell you why with the help of Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group, who knows the arcane, backroom secrets of this annual get together of the powerful and—if they’re stealing—the rich.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love this podcast.
0:02.0	Support this show through the A-Cast supporter feature.
0:05.0	It's up to you how much you give and there's no regular commitment.
0:09.0	Just click the link in the show description to support now.
0:12.0	Today we're here to talk about the United Nations, which actually makes sense since the UN
0:19.0	General Assembly is happening in New York.
0:21.8	I no longer live in Manhattan and this is the one time of year
0:25.2	that I'm really grateful for that with all the traffic and everything.
0:28.3	Wait, what happens in New York during the UN General Assembly? How bad does it get?
0:33.9	For the people that don't live there,
0:35.8	it never have?
0:37.2	It shuts down Midtown completely.
0:40.3	Absolutely completely.
0:41.2	Just all these limousines and everything else.
0:44.6	Has the traffic been treating you, Richard Gowan is joining us today.
0:49.3	He is at the UN, although not at the moment.
0:52.1	The, yes, the traffic has been absolutely dreadful and it feels especially painful this year because since 2020 some of these big UN gatherings have been limited because of
1:06.8	COVID regulations but this year it was back to a full scale general assembly and I think 131 leaders turned up and they all have an entourage and they all have a lot of cars and they're all clogging up.
1:22.0	Much of the east side of Manhattan.
1:27.1	Can you tell people who you are?
1:29.1	Yeah, I'm the UN director for the International Crisis Group.
1:35.0	The International Crisis Group is a global conflict prevention organisation.
	...

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