The author has summed up his own article really. The UN was indeed “created and led by states, for states”, however, if “it was always going to be this way” then what exactly was the UN supposed to be for? One problem would appear to be that “all states are equal, but some are more equal than others”, as shown by the veto held by Permanent Members of the Security Council. One would have thought, however, that the invasion of one member-state by another would be sufficient grounds for automatic expulsion of the latter until they withdrew, but not even this amount of basic “security” can be taken for granted. It is, particularly at the moment, difficult to see what the point of it all is, other than the maintenance of the current world order.
Steve Jolly
1 year ago
The people that built the UN never really intended it to be anything other than a place for discussion and discourse. They gave hostile nations, USA and USSR, veto power over each other knowing full well it would paralyze the organization’s ability to act. That wasn’t a bug, it was a feature. The UN wasn’t supposed to do anything, lest its attempts to ‘punish’ a ‘rogue state’ end the same way as the allies attempt to punish Germany after WWI. It’s intention was symbolic and meant for the general public, a very visible gesture for a global public weary of war. It was later generations that projected their hopes for an international law enforcement body or a prototype world government onto the existing UN. It was always going to fail by that standard.
Edwin Blake
1 year ago
Ironic isn’t it that the whole North Korean situation was caused by one of the times the UN acted decisively? It was a UN action that gave the US the fig leaf covering its bombing of the country back into the stone age.
Classic example of be careful of what you wish for.
chris redman
1 year ago
The UN has no military force of its own and is not a world government. It is a useful tool none the less for discussion between representatives of member states. Occasionally it can be a focus for international military and policy action. It has and will continue to be ignored by the Great Powers including Russia, The United States, and China, and even second or third ranks powers like Britain and France, with impunity.
The author has summed up his own article really. The UN was indeed “created and led by states, for states”, however, if “it was always going to be this way” then what exactly was the UN supposed to be for? One problem would appear to be that “all states are equal, but some are more equal than others”, as shown by the veto held by Permanent Members of the Security Council. One would have thought, however, that the invasion of one member-state by another would be sufficient grounds for automatic expulsion of the latter until they withdrew, but not even this amount of basic “security” can be taken for granted. It is, particularly at the moment, difficult to see what the point of it all is, other than the maintenance of the current world order.
The people that built the UN never really intended it to be anything other than a place for discussion and discourse. They gave hostile nations, USA and USSR, veto power over each other knowing full well it would paralyze the organization’s ability to act. That wasn’t a bug, it was a feature. The UN wasn’t supposed to do anything, lest its attempts to ‘punish’ a ‘rogue state’ end the same way as the allies attempt to punish Germany after WWI. It’s intention was symbolic and meant for the general public, a very visible gesture for a global public weary of war. It was later generations that projected their hopes for an international law enforcement body or a prototype world government onto the existing UN. It was always going to fail by that standard.
Ironic isn’t it that the whole North Korean situation was caused by one of the times the UN acted decisively? It was a UN action that gave the US the fig leaf covering its bombing of the country back into the stone age.
Classic example of be careful of what you wish for.
The UN has no military force of its own and is not a world government. It is a useful tool none the less for discussion between representatives of member states. Occasionally it can be a focus for international military and policy action. It has and will continue to be ignored by the Great Powers including Russia, The United States, and China, and even second or third ranks powers like Britain and France, with impunity.