Women take the lead in the race to be the next UN Secretary-General

Well, Mickey, it is a complicated process and there are some very good candidates out there. I I I would just correct you on one thing. I think uh there is a male uh who's one of the three leading candidates, uh Rafael Grossi, um also from Latin America. Um look, I think again, with the UN's future being very much in question, uh what's really going to be important here is not whether it's a man or woman that becomes the next Secretary-General. It's do we have the right, the best candidate to deal with the incredible number of crises we have around the globe, uh and uh the the call by, as I said earlier, by states from the global north and global south for a Secretary-General to be seized with uh the maintenance of international peace and security. Um this is uh a time where we need somebody who's got the kind of track record and experience in dealing with crises uh around the globe um to be somebody who's very seriously considered. Um as I said, the UN's reputation is at stake here. Um the future of the United Nations in general is at stake here and that's why this is such a critical election and I do not believe that we um again, we we need to focus on getting the best candidate. Um this is the 81st year of the UN's existence um and as I said, a lot of people believe that the UN has lost its way uh and you've got great power conflict going on at the UN, you have got growing um humanitarian crises, as I said earlier, many, many wars. Um we've got to have somebody who's going to take that leadership, who's going to work with uh the Security Council, particularly the the P5, who is going to going to show leadership uh in the global south. So, um that's that is what we have in front of us. And and I do hope uh that um while while I think all of us would agree it it's it's certainly important uh that at some point uh there will be a woman leading uh the United Nations. Um that cannot be as far as I see it, that cannot be the basis for making uh a decision on who next leads the UN. It has to be uh the person best suited uh to deal with the maintenance of international peace and security. >> The Security Council is going to be the one that makes the decision in the end. And when you're dealing with the Security Council, you need nine out of the 15 members to agree, but the permanent five members, just as in any Security Council vote, can raise their hand, say I veto, and that's it. So, we're back to the same old thing with the Security Council here, where you've got the US, you've got the Russians generally on opposite ends, the Chinese usually favor the Russians. You got the French and the British, they don't always agree with the US. And now you're in a situation where when you look at the polling so far of the Security Council, only one time has anybody gotten the nine votes yet that would have sealed the deal, but it's unclear if they would have cleared the five Security Council members. Everybody else in every vote has been below that threshold. Could we come to a situation where none of the candidates who have been running all along so far get the requisite support? And then do we wind up getting a new candidate toward the end that that can can garner the necessary support? I mean, it it usually doesn't shake out this way. There's usually a clear early frontrunner. And not this time around. >> Yeah, look, I think um how this is going to shake out uh is that right now the initial rounds of straw polling, and we've had just two, and we have a third one coming up, I believe, on September 18th. Uh the members of the council are just kind of sticking out their positions, taking a look at the field. Uh they may vote they may have voted for someone right now. That may shift. It depends on a number of things. Uh I do think that the current crop has some good candidates. And I do think at the end of the day, um we're going to have we're going to see a secretary general named uh before the end of the year. Um but you know, the one thing the unknown right now, of course, is how the P5 vote, because it's a secret ballot. Um it will only become clear once uh it's decided by uh the Security Council president to move to what they call the color uh coded voting, which basically gives the the P5 they they vote with separate cards. So, it's easier to uh to tell um you know, how they cast their votes. So, this race is uh very much still um uh undecided. Um and uh I think for for those of us who think that somehow um the person in the lead is going to end up becoming the next secretary general, um we shouldn't kid ourselves. That is uh in by no means any kind of a certainty. Uh and so, we'll get a sense after the next round on the 18th as to where this is likely to go. And then, I would suspect I could be wrong, but I would suspect uh that there will be a move uh after this next uh round of balloting to move uh in the next uh for the next round after that to the color coded system. And that may mean that should mean that we're getting closer uh to determining who is actually going to be the next secretary general. But again, this you could have a situation where after uh this next round, it's it's not yet becoming clear. And uh there may be a call for some to let's open it up further and because we're not satisfied with the current group. I I suspect you'll have others may that may try to come in but I think there is a real commitment to that is Latin America's turn for the Secretary Generalship and I think certainly a number of P5 respect that and others on the council respect that regional rotation. But I do think there will become as we move closer to decision time. They will be looking at who is going to be the best candidate to take this organization forward given all its challenges given the concerns about the future. So so I do think there will be in a timely fashion a decision made on the next Secretary General. >> Of course we got the UN General Assembly coming up amidst all of this chaos what we going to have from now the UN General Assembly rolls around in New York. You know people see only the leaders up on the stage. They call it a high-level debate week. It's not really a debate per se it's just everybody espousing their particular points of view and usually playing to their domestic audiences back home but there's so much going on behind the scenes at the UN General Assembly the bilateral meetings the conferences the different side events usually pushing this agenda or that agenda how important is is what goes on not in the the General Assembly Hall but everything else going on that week how how important is that to the broader concept of the UN? >> It's critically important Mike. That's where the real work is done. It's behind the scenes the meetings that go on and there are countless numbers of meetings that go on during high-level week. It really is uh, a a a an important time for very serious diplomacy and a lot of serious diplomacy is done there. Um, from the podium in the General Assembly, yeah, there's a lot of posturing. Um, there's also, uh, initiatives that are launched from there. Um, uh, they're you know, leaders that come, uh, and have specific bones to pick with either the United Nations or other states, regional groupings. So, uh, but that's important as well. But, as you said, behind this the meetings and the diplomacy that goes on behind the scenes that people don't see, that's the critical element, uh, of uh, UN diplomacy and why high-level week is really an important time. It does try tie up traffic in New York City for, uh, terribly for a week, um, but there is actually real work being done.