UN chief says wars can’t be a “get out of jail free” card

Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, spoke out against more and more states and other groups on Tuesday who think they “entitle to a get out of jail free card.” He used the wars in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip, and Sudan as examples.

“They are allowed to break international law.” Guterres told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, “They can break the United Nations Charter.” “They can invade another country, destroy whole societies, or care nothing about the well-being of their own people.” And nothing will happen.”

“The level of impunity in the world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable,” he told us.

Guterres made an emotional plea because the war between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist Palestinian group in Gaza, that has been going on for almost a year now threatens to spread to Lebanon, where Israel attacked more than a thousand Hezbollah targets on Monday.

He said, “Lebanon is on the edge.” “The people of Lebanon – the people of Israel – and the people of the world – cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, and the conflict has recently gotten worse. On August 6, Kyiv quickly took over land in a dangerous incursion into Russia’s Kursk area, and Russia has been attacking with more drones and missiles.

Guterres said, “The price is being paid by civilians in the form of rising death tolls, broken lives and communities.” He also said it was time for a just peace based on the U.N. Charter, international law, and U.N. decisions.

Guterres spoke out against the “brutal power struggle” in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which turned into a war in mid-April of last year, just before the planned change to civilian rule.

As famine spreads, a social disaster is taking place. “But outside powers keep getting in the way, and there is still no unified plan to find peace,” he said.

In his speech, Guterres said that the current state of the world was not sustainable and that the problems that needed to be fixed could be done.

“Geopolitical differences keep getting worse. The Earth is getting warmer. People are in wars and don’t know how they will end. “Nuclear threats and new weapons cast a dark shadow over everything,” he said. “We are edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.”