Zelensky "headed for Moscow", Netanyahu showing a "pager-bomb" at the UN – weekly digest

Zelensky "heading to Moscow", Netanyahu showing a "pager-bomb" at the UN – weekly digest

The conclusion from these passionate speeches is this: the era of saving face is behind us, everyone has started speaking openly, and all veils have been lifted. Netanyahu, no longer engaging in trivial talk, has moved to openly state the claims of the State of Israel: "Jews have lived on the Golan Heights since the time of the Prophet Moses, read about it in the Bible." The fact that such an unserious claim resounded from the global podium shows that there is no longer any balance, no moral boundary that cannot be crossed.

A state claiming another state's land based on verses written in the Torah, the Bible, or the Quran can only lead to new wars. Putting holy books aside, even a single claim related to recent history started the biggest war in Eastern Europe in the last 80 years. Now imagine what would happen if everyone flipped through history books and put forward their claims?

It is enough to look at which modern states were ruled by the empire built by Genghis Khan. Or if the descendants of Alexander the Great came out saying, "Our grandfather rode horses in such-and-such lands," it would be enough to turn the world upside down. The holy lands where the Netanyahu government currently does not stop expelling Arabs and seizing their lands belonged to the Ottomans until yesterday, and to the British after World War I. Now Netanyahu takes the global stage, disregarding the UN—which partitioned Palestine to establish the state of Israel before he was even born—and shows the pager that blew up Hezbollah members on stage. This confirms our statement that no moral boundaries remain in this world.

### A hot week at the UN

The most important event of the week was, of course, the UN summit in New York. Member states bring topics they consider important for themselves to such gatherings. For example, at the 1998 UN summit, the President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, warned the whole world that the uncontrolled situation in Afghanistan was a global threat and that terrorism would actively develop under such conditions.

In September 2000, the late President Karimov repeated his warning about Afghanistan at the UN summit in New York. Exactly one year later, in September 2001, the very city where this warning was voiced—New York—was bombed in a terrorist attack prepared in Afghanistan, the situation in which Karimov had warned was getting out of hand.

Karimov was undoubtedly a great politician; he knew well how to speak from such grand podiums. However, this week's summit was remembered not for thoughtful warnings like the example we cited above, but for bitter speeches, accusations, and illogical claims.

As we mentioned in the introduction, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood up to speak, delegates from about 70 countries left the hall. Israelis joked that "those who left the hall went outside to watch Bibi's speech on TV." But I watched this speech closely live. I follow his speeches because it is not right to criticize someone without following them. Netanyahu is a very charismatic politician, he speaks fluently in English, and his English is extremely clear.

In his speech at the UN, Netanyahu opened his ledger and insulted everyone on the list in a diplomatic style. He called Turkish President Erdogan a tyrant, accusing him of "killing opposition figures, jailing journalists, and not recognizing the Armenian genocide." He shamed New York Mayor Mamdani for calling for his arrest, and even managed to say that "the mayor's wife liked posts justifying the Hamas attack." He accused France and Britain of spreading lies about Israel. In short, no one was left out. In the end, keeping the three or four people left in the hall alert, he pulled a pager out of his pocket and said, "This is what we blew up Hezbollah with."

In addition to Netanyahu, the speech of Ukrainian President Zelensky was also memorable. The Ukrainian President said that the number of soldiers Russia has lost since the beginning of the year is equal to the population of a smaller country, reminded that the Russians are losing 248 people for every captured square kilometer, and called Putin "patient zero who is expanding the war." In medicine, the very first patient who starts the spread of a disease or virus is called that. With this comparison, he portrayed Putin as the spreader of the war idea.

### The President of Iran in America

Another memorable speech at the UN summit was delivered by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Iranian President did not say anything unusual at the summit, repeating previously stated facts such as America killing school children and bombs falling while children were playing in a gym. But the very fact that Iran's number two man went to America was an interesting event. America has been at war with Iran since the beginning of the year, leaving no politician or religious leader unkilled in Tehran. Yet, the Iranian President went to America as if nothing had happened and delivered a speech criticizing America. This America is truly a magical land.

### Elections in Russia

By the way, the results of the parliamentary elections in Russia were announced during the week. According to official documents, Putin's party won with a record result in the election, which was held with record turnout. It couldn't have been otherwise. It was important for the Kremlin to hold parliamentary elections during the war.

More precisely, it was important not just to hold elections and show a landslide victory for "United Russia", but to demonstrate to "Rossiya 24" viewers that any anti-war candidate received a humiliatingly low number of votes. Good or bad, they managed to show such a picture. The Russian opposition claims that "the ruling party actually received a much lower vote than announced," but how could that be proven.

### The President of China visited the US

During the week, Chinese President Xi Jinping also visited the US. No, not to speak at the UN summit, because the Chinese no longer take this organization seriously, even though they are on its Security Council. Xi went to the US on a state visit. Trump personally met him at the airfield, organized a royal reception, and gave a great banquet. But judging by the statements being made, the two world leaders do not seem to have reached any important agreement. Perhaps there was some closed agreement, which we will soon find out from the "intelligence sources" of American publications.

### "I will go on a rocket"

Now we come to the most sensational news, a message worthy of being written with a lightning bolt symbol and "please share" by yellow Telegram channels that love to spread fake news. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is going to Russia! Only there is a nuance, he is going on a rocket. A Russian journalist there asked Zelensky, who had just finished his speech at the UN, "When will you go to Russia?"

Zelensky, being a master of words, looked at the Russian journalist for a moment while talking about another topic and said, "on a rocket." That is, "I will go to Moscow on a rocket," he said. The Russian propagandist wanted to corner Zelensky by asking "When will you go to Moscow and surrender?", but received an extremely powerful answer consisting of just one word. This small episode once again recalled an immortal truth: underestimating the enemy is the first step towards defeat.