World leaders, virtual meeting 1.0: Was anybody listening?

Nayib Armando Bukele, President of El Salvador, speaks in a pre-recorded video message during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, on Sept 29, at UN headquarters in New York City. — UNTV via AP

In the space of a few minutes, on a prerecorded video filmed thousands of miles from where it was shown, the tech-savvy president of El Salvador captured the two strikingly different sides of this year’s unprecedented – and virtual – "gathering” of world leaders "at” the UN General Assembly in 2020.

On one hand, Nayib Bukele said, humanity holds in its smartphone-clutching hands a 21st-century miracle: "In a world which is almost completely connected, I can say a few words here and be heard in the farthest corners of the world.”