The real question is not simply whether the US or China will dominate the UN, but whether middle powers like India can help craft a multilateralism fit for an age of rivalry and rapid change
As the United Nations General Assembly convenes for its 80th session this week, there is a sinking sense that US President Donald Trump is bent on deconstructing the world’s premier multilateral forum. The UN survived his first-term onslaught (2017-21), widely seen then as an aberration in US policy. This time, Trump is more powerful, less constrained, and moving decisively to reduce the UN’s salience in the global order.