World leaders arriving in New York to mark the 80th anniversary of the United Nations need to confront one overriding fact: war and impunity, not peace and cooperation, are on the march.

The U.N. was created to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” but in 2025 there were more armed conflicts than at any time since 1945. These 59 active conflicts are not just humanitarian emergencies, they are political emergencies. Around the world, international politics are trending towards fragmentation and competition—a far cry from the unity and action evoked by this year’s U.N. theme, “Building our Future Together.”

There are three poles to the debate about what should be done. Unfortunately they continue to pull us in divergent directions.

The division of international diplom

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