UN chief issues terrifying warning over rising global conflicts: 'The prospects for peace keep diminishing'

The UN chief, António Guterres, warned that the further escalation of the Ukraine War, in combination with other regions where tensions are brewing, are ‘sleepwalking’ the world ‘eyes wide open’ towards a wider war.

Escalation in Ukraine

António Guterres was addressing the UN General Assembly where the 193 member states meet to debate and take decisions on pressing global matters.

Guterres said that country leaders need to change the current course of short-term decision-making and think about tomorrow, Sky News reports.

Guterres specifically pointed out the situation in Ukraine where the first anniversary of the war is nearing while no peaceful resolution seems in sight.

‘The prospects for peace keep diminishing. The chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing.’

Guterres said it is precisely in Ukraine where a new focus on reconciliation and conflict prevention must start.

The UN Chief said that the world currently is facing the greatest danger of a nuclear war. He also criticized nations that have made nuclear threats of using these weapons of mass destruction as a first choice.

‘We are at the highest risk in decades of a nuclear war that could start by accident or design. We need to end the threat posed by 13,000 nuclear weapons held in arsenals around the world.’The so-called “tactical” use of nuclear weapons is absurd’.

According to The Guardian, the head of the UN also referenced other world regions where tensions are brewing including the resurgence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Sahel, and Haiti.

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Perfecting “war-preparedness”

During the same week, when the UN Chief was warning of the prospects of a wider war breaking out, in North Korea the dictator Kim Jong-un ordered ‘expanded, intensified’ military drills, Arab News reports.

Kim Jong-un was chairing North Korea’s central military meeting where he ordered his military chiefs to perfect ‘war-preparedness’.

‘The issue of constantly expanding and intensifying the operation and combat drills of the (Korean People’s Army) ... strictly perfecting the preparedness for war.’

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The North Korean dictatorcalled out the US and ordered his military to turn the country into a critical war zone.

‘[turn the peninsula into a] huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone.’

The comments by Kim Jong-un follow a strategic visit last week of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in South Korea.

The allies announced the expansion of military drills and the deployment of aircraft carriers and long-range bombers to counter North Korea's weapons development and prevent a war.

Sources used:

-SkyNews: ‘UN chief fears world 'sleepwalking into wider war' - as North Korea steps up preparedness’

-TheGuardian: ‘UN chief fears world is heading towards ‘wider war’ over Russia-Ukraine conflict’

-ArabNews: ‘North Korea pledges ‘expanded, intensified’ military drills’