After eight years of not exactly chummy relations with the international body, President George W. Bush delivers his farewell speech today at the opening of the United Nations’ annual summit in New York.

The U.N. has plenty of problems of its own, with calls for reform of the body from its own members. Meanwhile Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lamented this week to The Washington Times that he is perceived as “invisible” and that the U.N. is “underappreciated.” Many at the U.N. have described him as a lame duck. At a meeting in Turin, Italy, last month, Ki-moon ripped into his colleagues, telling them, “We must change our U.N. culture.”

At the summit, the U.N. will be covering everything from the Palestinian issue to economic development initiatives.

Other top dogs slotted to speak are Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and, as Kristin posted earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who was greeted in New York with scores of protestors, mostly from Jewish groups.

In an effort to boost her international know-how, GOP veep-pick Sarah Palin will meet today in New York with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. She has other meetings with world leaders scheduled for tomorrow.