Stat attack: Maverick Hermit King of the Hermit Kingdom gets the cold shoulder as Syria dominates the floor
Some of the most powerful decision makers in the world, the lot that shapes the international arena and makes maneuvers that make our heads go spin round and round in circles until we get drop-dead dizzy, congregated at the United Nations General Assembly (GA) to talk about things that played tricks with their minds on a regular basis.
Every single issue that has dominated media outlets of late was laid bare on the platform but that was not a big surprise considering that this is how the GA operates. The biggest surprise this time around was the fact that apart from two states, no other representative bothered speaking of North Korea and its Sun of the 21st Century.
Kim Jong-un who reportedly punished North Koreans if they did not cry hard enough in public following his father’s death, has really fallen down the pecking order or so it seems in world affairs.
This fall from grace does not speak volumes of a nuclear-armed Communist dictatorship. At the GA, it seemed that Kim Jong-un and his unpredictable nature was not something most leaders had time for.
In a session where issues such as the Syrian crisis, ISIS, Crimea, climate, finance and terrorism were discussed with extreme vigor, it really raises the eyebrows of the staff here at Value Walk since we sincerely wanted to know what the most recognizable faces in the international arena had to say about our favorite North Korean tyrant with a Fred Flintstone haircut and his proclivity for emptying his heavy machine gun on family members (the Jang Song Thaek murder of course) while making sure that his Swiss cheese doesn’t go bad while doing that.
The more outrageous the better but it seemed that the speakers at this month’s GA wanted nothing more than a less dose of insanity keeping in view the fact that they are already tackling so many other issues.
Nonetheless, we are very much surprised by the unwarranted and unjustified cold shoulder treatment that was given to the modern day Pharaoh and will make sure that we get to the bottom of it even if it comes to riding on the back of a Siberian Tiger and meeting the erratic yet enigmatic Hermit King.
However, South Korean President, Park Geun-hye should expect a bunch of flowers from the ‘Un of a kind’ (so much pun indeed) leader who was in her thoughts throughout the session, speaking about him and his country on 12 occasions even though there was clearly no love lost whenever North Korea or Kim Jong-un’s name popped up.
Keeping the swag
If there is one leader who really knows how to do well on big occasions, it has to be Barack Obama with the US head of state making references to 12 other countries a whopping 69 times. All in a day’s work for the current resident of the White House.
Abe on fire
Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe may have missed out on a sideline meeting with Barack Obama but he was definitely in great form out there. The Japanese leader mentioned the most individual countries by name (19).
Argentina falling to Obama charms?
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner appeared to be the most US-centric leader at the GA sessions, speaking Obama’s name on 16 occasions during a 40-minute speech.
US confirming its greatest concerns……again!
The fact that President Obama mentioned Iran 16 times, Russia 15 times and Ukraine 8 times is a testament to the fact that the excellent people at Value Walk actually do have a knowledge of where things are headed. Farsightedness at its best indeed!
Economy and War lead the way
Although UN speeches by the G20 leaders kept coming back to war and migration, it was economic-themed speeches that really took center stage and shone brightly with economics-related words mentioned over 100 times. Take that climate change!
Speaking of which, the subject of climate change did manage to get the better of inequality and finance.
The refugee crisis has made all the wrong headlines in media outlets over the past few months but you have to give it to the leaders for making the effort to keep coming to the crisis every now and then even though the whole affair has given many a red cheeks to many a leaders.
USA V China
Xi Jinping was fairly vocal and was brimming with enthusiasm throughout the sessions but the leader of the world’s second-largest economy and home to some characters who love messing with USA remotely, chose to go into great details when it came to topics like democracy, freedom, climate change, economy and trade.
Barack Obama on the other hand, seemed quite mum when it came to discussing topics such as cooperation, community building, inequality and poverty.
Spelling it right!
The biggest confusion that resulted from the session was whether to call the latest bunch of mercenaries to walk the planet (Middle East to be more precise), ISIS, Islamic State or ISIL. The extremist group that has taken over key places in Syria and Iraq was a topic that was always going to be discussed. However, it appeared that the G20 leaders had their own ways of naming the group.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who branded them mercenaries a few days before the GA session, chose to go with Islamic State and referenced it eight times. President Obama on the other hand, chose to call it ISIL. Shouldn’t come as a surprise since the two were never on the same wavelength the moment they met.
Nonetheless, Russia won this mini spelling bee contest of grown men and women since eight other states went with the former KGB man’s choice of words.
All in all, the GA session was definitely an interesting one and in case you missed out on it, here’s a small video that will help a bit. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4EEElNPIe4)
Final thought
Before we forget, let’s also give a round of applause for Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for offering terms to India and to Indian supremo, Mr. Modi for listening very intently. And although things did not work out the way most of the leaders of the world hoped for these two, was worth a shot!
