New Delhi, July 31 -- The secret, closed-door corridors of the UN Security Council have yielded their first intriguing signals in the race for the world's top diplomatic job.

The 15-member council completed its initial informal "straw poll" to select the next United Nations Secretary-General; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) chief Rebeca Grynspan emerged as an early front-runner--yet her lead immediately slammed into the opaque reality of Big Power geopolitics.

Commenting on the high-stakes global race to choose the next United Nations Secretary-General, Congress leader and former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor, in a post on X, questioned hanging over New York is whether that sole negative vote was cast by one of ...