Argentine President Javier Milei used his platform at the 81st UN General Assembly on Wednesday to deliver one of the sharpest denunciations of the world body heard from any head of state this year, calling the UN a "useless organisation" that exists mainly to sustain what he termed a caste of self-important bureaucrats. It was vintage Milei: theatrical, combative, and delivered from inside the very institution he was attacking.
The core accusation: rules for some, impunity for others
Milei's central charge was that the UN has abandoned its founding purpose of guaranteeing collective security and human rights, and in doing so has let "chaos, violence and international terrorism" spread unchecked.
His sharpest line argued that compliance with international rules earns no reward, while violations carry no real cost a critique less about any single UN failure than about the entire architecture of accountability the institution is meant to enforce.
A personal grievance, not just an ideological one
Milei's attack was not purely abstract. He accused the UN of "looking the other way" on Argentina's long-standing claim to the Falkland Islands, which Argentines call Las Malvinas and consider part of their national territory.
Buenos Aires has repeatedly argued that Britain, which has controlled the islands since the two countries fought a war over them in 1982, is violating a UN resolution that calls on both sides to refrain from unilateral action there.
For Milei, the islands dispute functions as concrete evidence for his broader claim: that the UN enforces its own resolutions selectively, and that a powerful state can ignore one indefinitely without consequence.
Consistent with and useful to his broader worldview
This was not a one-off outburst. Milei has used the UN podium in previous years to attack what he calls the "woke" agenda embedded in global governance institutions, and Wednesday's speech extended that pattern into a direct assault on the UN's institutional legitimacy itself.
As one of the Latin American leaders most closely aligned with US President Donald Trump, Milei's rhetoric also tracks a wider populist critique of multilateralism that has gained traction among several of Trump's international allies, questioning whether large international bodies deliver value proportional to the sovereignty and funding member states hand over to them.
The timing tells its own story
The most revealing detail may not be the speech itself but what Argentina and the United States announced on the very same day: a joint initiative, dubbed the Andes-Atlantic Corridor, aimed at improving Argentine infrastructure and linking the country's transport, digital, mineral and energy sectors, including the massive Vaca Muerta hydrocarbon deposit, to major Atlantic ports and Western markets.
The juxtaposition is hard to miss. Milei used the UN stage to declare multilateral institutions useless, then turned around and sealed a bilateral infrastructure and investment pact with Washington within hours.
The message to allies and critics alike appears calculated: Milei is not rejecting international engagement, he is rejecting the multilateral form of it in favour of direct, transactional bilateral deals with powerful partners who share his politics.
Why it matters beyond Argentina
Milei's speech adds to a UNGA week already marked by unusually blunt confrontations with the institution itself, including dozens of envoys walking out during a separate address.
For a body that depends heavily on member-state buy-in and funding to function, a sitting president calling it useless from its own podium, especially one aligned with the current US administration's skepticism toward multilateral bodies, feeds a broader question hovering over this year's Assembly: whether major powers and their allies still see the UN as a body worth fully investing in, or increasingly as a stage for grievances better resolved elsewhere.
Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,
International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)
[email protected]
+233555275880
Source
Channels Television / AFP, "Argentine President Calls UN 'Useless Organisation'," 24 Sep 2026. https://www.channelstv.com/2026/09/24/argentine-president-calls-un-useless-organisation/
Channels Television / AFP, "Argentine President Calls UN 'Useless Organisation'," 24 Sep 2026 (primary source for the 2026 "arrogant parasites" speech, the Falklands accusation, and the Andes-Atlantic Corridor announcement). https://www.channelstv.com/2026/09/24/argentine-president-calls-un-useless-organisation/
Buenos Aires Herald, "Milei accuses UN of imposing 'socialist' and 'collectivist' agenda," Sep 2024 (his first UNGA address background on the pattern). https://buenosairesherald.com/world/international-relations/milei-accuses-un-of-imposing-socialist-and-collectivist-agenda
Reuters via DZRH News, "Argentina's Milei criticizes 'Leviathan' UN, pledges 'agenda of freedom'," Sep 2024. https://dzrh.com.ph/post/argentinas-milei-criticizes-leviathan-un-pledges-agenda-of-freedom
IntelliNews, "Argentina's Milei criticises UN in fiery General Assembly address," Sep 2025 (his second UNGA speech, proposing four reform principles). https://www.intellinews.com/argentina-s-milei-criticises-un-in-fiery-general-assembly-address-403183/
Ynet News, "Argentina's Milei slams UN bias against Israel at General Assembly" (on his recurring Israel/Human Rights Council criticism). https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkkvtnzra
Última Hora, "Javier Milei denuncia imposición de una agenda ideológica de la ONU y rechaza Pacto para el Futuro," Jul 2026 (Spanish-language coverage of his broader critique of the UN's "Pact for the Future" and Agenda 2030). https://www.ultimahora.com/javier-milei-denuncia-imposicion-de-una-agenda-ideologica-de-la-onu-y-rechaza-pacto-para-el-futuro
UN General Assembly official transcript archive (79th session, Argentina): https://gadebate.un.org/en/79/argentina
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