U.N. Silenced: Laments No Gathering of World Leaders for First Time in 75 Years

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is seen on a TV screen while addressing the United
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

A dark and shuttered United Nations building in New York will not play host to world leaders for a week of speeches come September, as the globalist body contemplates being silent for the first time in 75 years.

A bitterly disappointed president of the U.N. General Assembly confirmed Monday the annual gathering of leaders and bureaucrats been cancelled because of the march of the global Chinese pandemic.

But Tijjani Muhammad-Bande told a news conference he hopes to announce soon how the 193 heads of state and government will give their speeches, hold meetings, attend receptions and host official dinners to address world issues during the assembly’s so-called General Debate.

“World leaders cannot come to New York because they cannot come simply as individuals,” he said. “A president doesn’t travel alone, leaders don’t travel alone” and “it is impossible” to bring large delegations to New York during the pandemic.

“We cannot have them in person as we used to — what happened in the last 74 years — but it will happen” Muhammad-Bande said of the annual event.

The first meeting of the U.N. General Assembly was held in London in 1946 under the roof of the Methodist Central Hall in Westminister. The U.N. itself was founded in San Francisco on October 24, 1945.

Fifty nations gathered then in the hope they could provide a lead in colloborative diplomacy that would end all wars after the abject failure of the League of Nations to be anything other than a spectacularly funded but ultimately useless debating society:

As Breitbart News reported, last month Secretary General Antonio Guterres flagged the possibility of no meeting this year, saying he was instead looking at “various alternatives” made possible by digital technology.

This year was expected to bring an especially large number of leaders to U.N. headquarters to commemorate the founding year.

Muhammad-Bande said the 75th anniversary celebration “is not conceived as one moment” but will instead continue throughout the year.

He said a political declaration on the United Nations at 75 is also being negotiated, and world leaders will have the opportunity to mark the occasion — only not in person.

The General Assembly has never been canceled since 1945 although it has been delayed twice — after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, and in 1964 due to a financial crisis within the organization.

Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com

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