The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has launched a harsh criticism against the United Nations this Wednesday from the very podium of its General Assembly, which he has accused of having become a "useless organization." The president has also placed the Argentine claim over the Malvinas Islands at the center of his speech and has demanded the United Kingdom to resume dialogue to seek a peaceful solution.
"It has become a useless organization that only serves to feed a caste of parasites," Milei stated during his third speech before the General Assembly as president. This year's edition brings together world leaders in New York from September 22 to 28.
The criticism of the organization has precisely led to the conflict over the islands. "Malvinas is for us a national cause", Milei defended, who has accused the United Nations of having "looked the other way" in the face of a dispute that has pitted Buenos Aires against London for decades.
Milei demands the United Kingdom to renegotiate over Malvinas
The Argentine president has defended that his Government will maintain a peaceful strategy, but has warned that it will not limit itself to waiting for action from the United Nations.
"The Malvinas issue is not a matter between Argentina and the United Kingdom, this organization should take note of the resolutions. We choose a peaceful and effective defense," he stated.
Milei has again called on the United Kingdom to dialogue to find a peaceful solution and also address the exploitation of natural resources in the area. "We are not going to sit and wait for the UN to act, we are going to take matters into our own hands," he warned.
The intervention comes after the Argentine Government has raised pressure on the issue in recent weeks. The Executive presented on September 17 a bill to toughen sanctions against companies and other entities that exploit natural resources in the islands without authorization from Buenos Aires.
The matter had also heightened diplomatic tension before Milei took to the podium. The British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, defended the position of the United Kingdom on the islands on Tuesday, while the Argentine chancellor, Pablo Quirno, responded by denouncing what Buenos Aires considers an illegal occupation.
Criticism of the UN for its actions during the pandemic
Malvinas has not been the only argument used by Milei to question the functioning of the United Nations. The president has also criticized the role played by international institutions during the coronavirus pandemic and has claimed an international order with greater room for the sovereignty of states.
This is not the first time that the Argentine president uses the General Assembly to question the functioning of the organization. In previous interventions, he had already accused the United Nations of having strayed from its foundational objectives and had specifically cited the Malvinas conflict as an example of its inability to resolve international disputes.
This time, however, the conflict with the United Kingdom has taken on greater prominence. The claim of sovereignty over the Malvinas has been present in 17 of the last 18 speeches by Argentine presidents before the General Assembly, although during Milei's previous interventions it had occupied a less central space.
Milei defends Israel and the United States and attacks Iran
The Argentine president has also taken advantage of his speech to reaffirm his international alignment with the United States and Israel and maintain his critical position towards Iran.
His intervention comes a day after that of the U.S. president, Donald Trump, who used the same platform to harden his message against Tehran and threatened to "annihilate" the Iranian regime if an agreement is not reached, although he assured he trusts that it can happen after the U.S. elections in November.
Artificial intelligence as "the pin factory of the 21st century"
Milei has reserved another part of his intervention for artificial intelligence, a field in which he has defended harnessing its economic potential against partisan positions to impose greater restrictions.
"Where many see a threat, we see a frontier," he stated before defining AI as "the pin factory of the 21st century", referring to the well-known example of the division of labor developed by Adam Smith.
For the Argentine president, technology requires "prudence," but not "fear or obedience," and must function as an accelerator of productivity capable of increasing production and, with it, the level of consumption.
Artificial intelligence is having a prominent weight in this General Assembly. Trump also defended this week a development with fewer restrictions, while the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has warned about the risks associated with increasingly autonomous systems and has called for international rules for their development.
Milei has closed his intervention by recovering one of the expressions that he has turned into a hallmark of his political speeches: "Long live freedom, damn it".