The InterDependent

The InterDependent met with the new General Assembly president, Joseph Deiss of Switzerland, in August. Deiss, 64, a career politician, has held posts that include president of the Swiss confederation and economic minister. He was also the foreign minister heading the membership process of his country into the UN in 2002, after decades of Switzerland’s holding observer status.

Serving the UN from 1983 to 1997, Goulding was known as the second-most powerful person in the world body. After a distinguished diplomatic career, Goulding came to the UN and played a major role in shaping and expanding the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which he presided over from its creation in 1992.

As the United Nations is well aware after decades of international negotiations, politics and war are two of the world’s most constant endeavors.

But global hot spots aren’t the only environment where the UN must negotiate. Outer space, very much devoid of people, is home to the very real presence of political warfare, requiring the same measures of diplomatic prowess that national feuds elsewhere need.