Image Inside the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations. The most riveting theatrical performances in New York aren’t on Broadway right now. They’re happening in Turtle Bay, in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations, where hundreds of leaders of sovereign nations have gathered this week to debate (and maybe even address?) global issues.

It’s been super weird. Just seven months ago, Masoud Pezeshkian was running Iran from an underground bunker, trying to stay alive as American and Israeli missiles rained down. Now he’s moving around New York under the protection of the Secret Service.

Yesterday, he accused the United States and Israel of “cowardly” attacks on his country, a day after President Trump mulled from the same lectern about whether to make a deal with Iran or “annihilate” the nation. It was the first time in the U.N.’s 81-year history that a leader whose country is at war with the United States had ever addressed the Assembly. Here was President Javier Milei of Argentina whaling on the U.N. itself, a bunch of “fatally arrogant parasites masquerading as well-intentioned bureaucrats.” Nice to see you, sir.

There was U Kyaw Moe Tun of Myanmar, the lonely representative of a government overthrown by a military putsch in 2021. The U.N. still recognizes his ambassadorship, but his own country doesn’t. He didn’t speak.

Dramatis personae Image Volodymyr Zelensky Let’s look at some of the main players in the show. President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran: Pezeshkian held up pictures of people killed by American and Israeli airstrikes and defiantly vowed that Iran could “not be made to surrender.” He said the country would never accept limits on a nuclear program meant only for peaceful purposes, though he allowed that Iran was “ready for dialogue.” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine: He’s in a tough spot. His country is low on munitions that can intercept Russian drones and missiles, and so is the United States.

He warned the General Assembly that without aid, his country might not survive — and that Russia’s “ridiculous and never-ending” war could spread beyond Ukraine. He predicted a harsh winter but pledged, “We will have no choice but to make it painful for Russia, too.” Delcy Rodríguez, interim president of Venezuela: She’s in a tough spot, too. Eight months ago, U.S. Special Forces showed up in Caracas to snatch her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and lock him up in a Brooklyn jail.

Then, the United States claimed a significant portion of Venezuela’s oil reserves. She spoke last night from the cultural capital of the nation that essentially appointed her, vowing to oversee elections and an “orderly legal transition” after years of authoritarian rule by her party. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada: Over the past year, Carney has emerged as the most prominent global leader to take on Trump.

At a news conference at the U.N., he spoke about how nations can protect their mutual interests after a “rupture” in the world order caused by the United States and China. And in a discussion with The Times, he described in close detail how he is systematically reducing Canada’s reliance on the United States. Offstage A number of leaders are absent from the General Assembly.

One is Xi Jinping of China, who arrived in Washington last night to see Trump. Their meeting today is expected to overshadow any speeches at the Assembly. On the anticipated docket: tariffs, the sale of weapons to Taiwan and, most of all, artificial intelligence.

The race to develop the tech has become a kind of arms race between the two countries. (Some of America’s biggest A. I. magnates, including executives from Open AI, Google and Nvidia, are expected to be at the state dinner honoring Xi at the White House this evening.) The meeting’s unlikely to be too chilly. We’re a long way from the harsh anti-China rhetoric Trump was using a decade ago, during his first run for the presidency.

Trump describes Xi as more of a friend than a competitor. The friendl...