EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
September 30, 2020
UNITED NATIONS — This year's U.N. General Assembly meeting began with calls for multilateralism and cooperation — a declaration that the urgency for countries to unite "has rarely been greater." It concluded with a parade of divisive grievances that echoed when the final gavel fell.
Leader after leader in days of speeches delivered virtually stressed the importance of working together to navigate the coronavirus outbreak and the challenges that lie beyond it. As Germany's foreign minister put it, COVID-19 "shows that international cooperation is neither an ideology nor an end in itself. On the contrary, it delivers results, far beyond the actual pandemic."