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Showing posts from September, 2022

Ruto’s provocative but timely maiden UN General Assembly speech was spot on

President William Ruto’s inaugural address to the 77 th Session of the UN General Assembly was bold, unapologetic and crystal clear. It focused on major issues bedevilling countries in the Global South and how the problems are directly related to the state of multilateral relations between rich nations in the Global North and poor countries in the South. Importantly, the speech drew particular attention to climate change at a time when much of the world has experienced the worst ramifications of its negative impact. These have included heat waves in much of Western Europe over the June to August 2022 period, mega-droughts in the US south-west and mountain west, leading to almost uncontrollable forest fires, heatwaves and dangerously low levels of moisture and fresh water across numerous states and neighbouring countries including Canada and Mexico. Most recently, the world watched in horror as the worst level of flooding ever witnessed in the country put large swathes of Pakistan