THE United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned world leaders today that impunity, inequality and uncertainty are creating an “unsustainable world” where a growing number of countries believe they should have a “get out of jail free” card.

“We can’t go on like this,” he said as the UN general assembly’s annual summit meeting began.

Citing deepening geopolitical divisions, wars with no end in sight, climate change and nuclear and emerging weapons, he said humanity is “edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.”

But, he said, “the challenges we face are solvable” if the international community confronts the uncertainty of unmanaged risks, the inequality that underlies injustices and grievances and the impunity that undermines international law and the UN’s founding principles.

“Today, a growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” he said in a reference to the classic board game Monopoly.

The world leaders’ meeting opened under the shadow of increasing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan and the threat of an even larger conflict in the wider Middle East.

Mr Guterres previewed his opening speech at Sunday’s Summit of the Future, where he said global security was “threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing and the development of new weapons and theatres of war.”

He also cited huge inequalities and the devastating impact of climate change.

US President Joe Biden was set to make what may be his final major appearance on the world stage.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters last week that the US focus at the assembly will be on ending “the scourge of war.”

The US spends more than $915 billion (£700bn) on its military, far outstripping every other country, and has more than 900 military bases dotted across the globe.