UN Secretary-General António Guterres travels to Moscow to talk to Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine. But what can he actually achieve there? About an unusual diplomat.
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Hubert Wetzel, Washington
There are posts in world politics for which applicants should have one characteristic above all: humility. This includes the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations. The person at the head of the world organization – so far it has always been men – may have all sorts of influence and power on paper. In reality, however, especially when it comes to war and peace, what the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin once said disparagingly about the Pope applies to the UN Secretary General: “How many divisions does he have?”