The Graphic Truth: A virtual UN General Assembly

This year's United General Assembly will be very different. Hotels in New York will not be full of famous heads of state, metal detectors, or US secret service agents as the coronavirus pandemic has turned the world's largest diplomatic gathering into a mostly online affair to enforce social distancing. A virtual UNGA requires a 20th century institution — which turns 75 and still thinks in analog in many ways — to rapidly embrace 21st century technology. How will UNGA adapt to its new virtual setting? Here are a few things that will change.

More For You

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and businessman Jared Kushner, along with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and otherEuropean leaders, pose for a group photo at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, December 15, 2025.
Kay Nietfeld/Pool via REUTERS

The European Union just pulled off something that, a year ago, seemed politically impossible: it froze $247 billion in Russian central bank assets indefinitely, stripping the Kremlin of one of its most reliable pressure points.