Required before we need reforms the u. N. Must continue to develop in order to muster the Global Challenges of the 21st century. As the un faces questions whether its still fit for purpose many feel its the right time to assess its strengths and shortcomings. Lets talk about those strengths and shortcomings we have our chief International EditorRichard Walker with us here in the studio richard and well be following the u. N. General assembly were expecting president trying to speak within the hour well be listening to that live but just hearing what we just saw there in that report where does the u. N. Stand now 75 years then yeah well its a mixed picture and i suppose as you would expect for any institution after such a long time. But i mean the overall picture and World Affairs is obviously looking pretty battered at the moment and i think that applies to the u. N. Especially. Obviously the purpose of the u. N. Is a vehicle for International Corporation is buzzword of multilateral is what does that mean it means its a place where countries go and they try to Work Together to achieve a common good so not each country working for its own but to agree there are certain things that are common goods and we try to work towards those and that very idea the whole idea of doing that is being challenged incredibly strongly at the moment by this wave of right wing populism wave of nationalism essentially of various different stripes but it has kind of in common this idea that so well expressed by donald trump of kind of america 1st my country 1st is that compatible with the United Nations for a movie scene an incredible kind of clash between the trump ideal and the United Nations joining the Trump Presidency with him pulling out of the paris climate of course you know the deal to tackle Climate Change that was negotiated as part of the u. N. System. That is kind of the signal moment that sort of showed this clash where he said well no america 1st matters more working with other countries on trying to tackle Climate Change doesnt matter so much so theres that on one side and many other things on the kind of negative side of the challenges facing the u. S. On the other side you have what we just saw the secretary general the terrorist say and. Clip. For the longest time ever that has not been a clash between major powers and of course i think that can be an achievement that is at least partly down to the u. N. Not only partly and i think almost everyone would agree that if the un didnt exist we would miss it we would want to invent it so so i think. It is a moment where there is call for reform for many sides im sure well talk about that were going to hear that its speeches as well. But. But yeah i think the overall picture mixed but its slightly bassett shape at the moment where you mention one of the leaders who really has presented a challenge to this concept of multilateralism within the u. N. And thats President Donald Trump and indeed yesterday as many World Leaders were sending their messages of congratulations to the u. N. Celebrating 75 years since its founding there was no message from President Trump and he actually sent his deputy ambassador to the u. N. What does that tell us about how the trumpet ministration view is the role of the u. N. Well yeah i mean it was of an extremely transparent snow but from everything that we know about donald trump we shouldnt have expected some great unity in the United States favor from him there may be some who were relieved that he didnt go and sent somebody of such a junior rank to make that statement but of course we are expecting to hear from him today he was asked yesterday and he was said yes i have taped something. And he kind of gave a teaser that hes going to be speaking out against china and i think thats also a kind of a glimpse of the problems the u. S. Has to deal with things that you know the most powerful countries in the world of the moment simply are not getting on and that hubbles us and we will hear from the chinese leader as well a little bit later today weve just been seeing some pictures there of the secretary general antonio terrace because the session has been getting underway one of the holders of this concept of multilateralism is the german chancellor Angela Merkel and she has really called for member. Or is that the u. N. To act more united with that or direct targeted message to leaders like President Trump or was it really a general appeal for more coordinated action well i think its a bit of both but its certainly not just singling out on the trump i think its also aimed at the other members of the Security Council in particular russia and china i mean if we look and i think well probably talk quite a bit is a big issue at the moment has been for a long time as the the u. N. Security council really not being fit for purpose in the expression. That this is a small unit with 5 permanent members 10 nonpermanent members but these 5 permanent members of the victim powers off the 2nd world war dominate World Affairs through the exercise of the veto so that they could each block each other from doing it and that has meant that the u. N. Security council is hopeful to. A great many things including the major crises that the world has experience in recent years you know the war in syria is the worst humanitarian crisis that weve seen in years. Though the u. S. On one side and russia and china on the other side simply dont agree on that and that has prevented any meaningful attempts for them to Work Together on on ending that conflict so i think im going medicals message is aimed at these kind of bickering big powers. That they have to kind of put aside kind of geo political power game sometimes and find agreement is there some consensus behind the idea that the u. N. Needs to see some sort of reform to remain relevant Going Forward i mean chancellor merkel herself is also it made it that that is needed yeah germany along with a number of other sort of similar a midsized power as has been calling for a long time for reform of the united of the u. N. Security council saying that it needs to be big needs to be more diverse it needs to reflect the era that were in today not the era of just off of the 2nd world war. But of course any reforms to an institution that powerful will come up against resistance from those outlaw institutions those powerful countries. People dont like giving up powers these countries are not going to want to give up their veto and i think that is something i mean this move to try to reform the u. N. Security council. The German Foreign office was kind of briefing about this recently and they noticed that its just like the toughest nut to crack in the entire system because the vested interests section that weighs answer powerfully what were seeing as we mentioned terrorists there opening the u. N. G. A. And while were waiting for donald trump to address the General Assembly lets take a look at the history of the United Nations and at some of the challenges that its faced along the way fulfilling its mission. Born out of the ravages of world war 2. The u. N. Charter was signed in 1945 by 50 founding members and aim to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war a Global Organization to help build a better weld. World the probability of the terminator to find our way through rar i 75 years on every country in the world is represented in the uns General Assembly. The organization has lost none of its relevance but it also faces unprecedented challenges in the 75th anniversary ear we face our own 945 moments we must meet that moment and we must show unity like never before to overcome to those emergency get the world moving and working and prospering again and up all the vision of the job. That vision is to Work Together to bolster International Peace and security of a humanitarian assistance and protect chairman rights. The un and its affiliated agencies have become indispensable in crisis situations. They have but the work of the uns most powerful body the Security Council has come in for heavy criticism. The councils 5 permanent members of the 2nd world was principal victor is accusing china. Russia and the u. S. It manages 13 peacekeeping missions around the world but the council is often paralyzed by disagreement and features. On syria the most lethal and destabilizing conflict today it has failed to take any decisive action. Many have argued that these old structures need to be urgently reformed. And there are other big challenges the corona crisis has exacerbated geo political rivalries and put the uns health body the w. H. O. Under enormous pressure not least since the us pulled out of the World Health Organization in the midst of the pandemic. And there is fear that with growing nationalism in some countries support for the un and its mission may be fading Donald Trumps america 1st policy has seen the us conditionally the uns main driver turn its back on multilateralism the very principle the un was founded on. Yes the rich are precisely the point we were talking about earlier this challenge to multilateralism what do you think saying President Trump in that report there are going to be some of these geopolitical fault lines that well see highlighted at the General Assembly for example the u. S. Facing off against china yeah i mean. The sort of prospect of near kind of cold war relations between the u. S. And china is really great is had this year but thats been something thats kind of coming down the line for a long time you know the rise of china as a new superpower in east asia rivaling the power of the United States. Is a major change in the geopolitics of the world in and so weve gone. The end of the cold war there was this long spell where some people called the uni polar world where you have the United States really dominating people talking about theres going to be an end of history the liberal democracy is going to kind of where no. Every country around the world that was inexorable process what we see with the rise of china is not necessarily going to happen. All forest area. Resolutely and he democratic country. Can become an extremely powerful. Force on the world stage and donald trump and we have to leave nationalists in charge of those 2 Different Countries so that that that clash has become particularly pronounced with them in charge so dont try to has forewarned that in his speech hes going to be talking about china and he has many complaints against china some of which the rest of the world shares some of which the rest of the world thinks he is exaggerating for his own Election Year but its going to be interesting to watch and i think one particular kind of case which is very interesting because it kind of rejects the usual alliances with the in the United Nations is talking about the iran nuclear deal. This deal was. Was could together trumps previous as barack obama the europeans were heavily involved with the russians and the chinese were also involved in this was a very unusual moment of cooperation between these different powers to forge an agreement with iran to limit its nuclear program. And donald trump pulled out of that deal just like he did out of paris climate agreement. And that his slightly unusual bedfellows on this side who favor the deal so the europeans and the russians and the chinese are on one side you have the United States or have it and this argument been coming to a head recently we dont need to go massively into the details but the United States is saying that. Wants to reimpose sanctions because it sees iran is breaking the deal itself now the other side the europeans and the russians of the chinese are saying well you can sanction support of this deal because you walked out of this deal yourself so it really is it does kind of crystallize this this issue about multilateralism if if the america goes its own way and says our way 1st. But we still want to reimpose sanctions as part of a deal that weve walked away from now does the rest of the world have to accept that so be insincere see what he says about that and richard we should also say that among the many challenges that will be addressed one of the biggest will be the coronavirus and im a great i mean how much you expect that to dominate what we hear from our leaders well of course i mean its a major issue with everyone but different leaders have different approaches to you know donald trump is someone who. Has tended to talk it down and we saw him only yesterday saying in a speech in a rally in the United States that it affects hardly anybody. Which seems to be him returning to the kind of extreme approach of talking it down that happened at the beginning of the pandemic you have other leaders saying no this is a major Global Challenge and the classic example of where countries need to Work Together to fight is. Donald trump just like he left the iran deal just like he left the climate agreement hes worked out of the World Health Organization which is the health already attached to the United Nations so. Yeah a real clash of of approaches to the world being played out. And of course if this u. N. General assembly was happening for real in new york it would have even more drama obviously what were witnessing now is many of the speeches just being given as video i suppose which of course takes some of that kind of drama out of the situation. But still were witnessing a major clash at the moment what will be. Definitely keeping our eyes on this while we waiting for President Trump to speak in a little bit the picture there on the right hand side of your screen that is the secretary general Antonio Guterres as this General Assembly has gotten kicked off and we will dip into President Trumps a video message as you mentioned richard when that comes and richard will be coming back with us a little bit later to analyze that speech for us as we keep our eye on the u. N. Celebrating its 75 years since its founding richard well have you back then in just a little bit. For now though lets move on to some other news countries across europe are scrambling to contain the coronavirus pandemic after a surge in new infections a british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson said that the u. K. Has reached a perilous turning point as he laid out new restrictions today people across the continent will be forced to curtail their activities in hopes of reopening later in the fall. Hes waited 6 months for this pair for the 1st time since march pops in islander again pulling pints but the industry remains wary of a virus that hasnt gone away because we didnt believe until this morning we turn to the door that were actually getting to open because because so many people start to they only have to look at the capital dublin where bars have been told to stay shot amid a spike in cases there its a stark contrast to the u. K. The only way to go where the government relaxed restrictions much earlier and is now warning of a 2nd wave Prime MinisterBoris Johnson who himself almost died from covert 19 back in march morning that the country has reached a perilous turning point he says if we fail to act together. We will not only place our those roots would jeopardize our own futures with the more drastic action that we would inevitably be forced to take a new restrictions on pump opening time social gatherings and to mask wearing will now come into force painful for any government trying to open up its economy meanwhile hospitals in spain are battling western europes highest kovac 19 caseload Health Officials are considering whether to expand a lockdown light to include the whole of madrid. Some of the families confined to their homes are confused by the mixed messages. So i cant quote but i can go to drink in munich germany the annual beer field october fest was cancelled but the drinking holes are still packed the good cheer belies the worrying surging coronavirus cases in the city officials have now set masks a mandatory in some school as physical hit there so how to control it and those who dont abide by the rules must be punished not a new rules but 100 or one so sent to munich like much of europe is now wrestling with coronavirus all over again and hoping to defeat it without shutting down public life entirely. As we mentioned british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson has Just Announced new restrictions to tackle rising infection numbers and shell out of what is joining us from london i should out there good to see you so walk us through these a new restr