Boredom, ranting and clowns: Welcome to the UN’s big bash

The United Nations General Assembly is a bit like Christmas with the extended family: hour after hour of extreme tedium, punctuated by the occasional offensive outburst or fistfight. This year’s Most Bored Person at UNGA Award goes to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was caught on camera doomscrolling and posting Instagram reels in the main assembly hall. He’s far from the only one to get distracted during a meeting, of course. In 2012, then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doodled on her printed remarks at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council (she drew spirals, stars and circles — not offensive caricatures of Donald Trump and Monica Lewinsky).