Melania Trump expounds idea of ‘single digital nation-state’ at historic UNSC meet
At the United Nations Security Council, US First Lady Melania Trump proposed a “single digital nation-state,” highlighting blockchain, AI and education’s role in peace. Presiding during America’s rotating presidency, she emphasised children, technology and global understanding amid geopolitical tensions
United Nations: US First Lady Melania Trump sent aloft the idea of “a single digital nation-state” as she became the first spouse of a sitting head of a country to wield the gavel at the Security Council. “Is a single digital nation-state inevitable?” she asked in her speech before the Council on Monday.
“Perhaps this idea isn’t so far-fetched since digital currency and payment systems via blockchain, plus AI’s massive factual database is already revolutionising media and financial markets”, she said. “We are in the age of imagination – a period when technology can be free and unrestricted by land borders”, she said.
Before she entered the Council chamber, the permanent representative of all the 15 members of the Council lined up to greet her, a rare honour that even heads of state do not normally get. She presided over the Council in the first open session after the US took over its rotating presidency for the month on Sunday.
US Permanent Representative Mike Waltz did not hold the traditional briefing that heads of delegations convene for the media on the first working day to explain the goals of their presidency and outline the month’s agenda.
After calling the meeting to order, Trump first spoke on behalf of her country and then resumed the task of president. There were no heated confrontations or calls on point of order at the Council session, where courtesy prevailed. With the usual rancour set aside, even Russia’s Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia told her, “We are grateful to you for convening this briefing on such an important topic”.
Speaking softly with a touch of her native Slovenia in her accent, she said, “Enduring peace will be achieved when knowledge and understanding are fully valued within all societies”. “A nation that makes learning sacred protects its books, its language, its science, and its mathematics – it protects its future”, she said.
“This leads to something powerful – to greater understanding, moral reasoning, and tolerance of others. Peace.” The topic was “Children, Technology and Education in Conflict”, but in her speech, she did not refer to Iran, where the conflict started on Saturday when her country and Israel bombed that nation, or Gaza, or Ukraine, for whose children she has been advocating. The only hint came in a sentence addressed to all the children of the world: “I hope soon, peace will be yours”. She repeatedly emphasised what she said was the role of education and knowledge in ensuring global peace and understanding. “Now is the time for our generation to elevate our children above ideology through access to wisdom”, she said.
Some points of difference with the US were aired at the meeting. France’s Permanent Representative Jerome Bonnafont spoke of his country’s efforts to protect children online, which President Donald Trump’s administration has criticised.
It has even threatened action against France and the European Union, calling their efforts “censorship” directed against US companies. Saying it was a “collective responsibility to protect our young people by promoting a secure digital space”, Bonnafont said, “In this regard, France has been a leader at the national and European levels” through laws. To protect children from online pornography, “France decided to restrict the access of children under 15 to social networks to better protect them, because the digital space knows no borders”, he said.
But he also praised Melania Trump for her efforts against cyberbullying, revenge porn and digital fakes. She has waged a campaign to reunite children taken by Russia during the Ukraine War with their families in Ukraine, and made appeals to Kremlin leaders. Nebenzia said the “alleged abduction of 20,000 Ukrainian children” was a “mendacious and disgusting disinformation campaign against Russia”.
He asserted, “We are working to reunite minors with their families with whom they have lost contact as a result of the conflict.” Former President Bill Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton, has presided over Council meetings, not when she was the First Lady, but later in her own right as Secretary of State.
