The Irish Times view on the UN General Assembly: the world’s divisions on show

News Snapshot:

In the wake of three well-attended international summits in recent weeks – the BRICs summit of middle-ranking powers in Johannesburg, the Asean summit in Jakarta and the G20 global economic forum in New Delhi – the non-attendance of top leaders at this week’s 78th annual meeting of the UN General Assembly seems unfortunately to underline the organisation’s marginalisation. At least that is the message some non-attendees wish to send. While US president Joe Biden does reportedly plan in his speech to reinforce the welcome theme that “multilateralism is back”, he will be doing so to a chamber that will not...