When was the last time you heard anything about the United Nations? The U.N. used to appear with some frequency on TV, in episodes of The Twilight Zone when visiting aliens presented themselves to mere earthlings.
The United Nations, in the idealistic 50’s, was a symbol of global unity, cooperation, understanding and peace. In reality, the United Nations is impotent, petty, deeply flawed and increasingly irrelevant.
The United Nations was formed in the aftermath of World War II with two idealistic primary goals: to promote global cooperation and to prevent war. Almost immediately after the U.N. was formed, the Korean War broke out when military dictatorship North Korea invaded democratically elected South Korea. Even at this early date, one of the primary flaws of the U.N.’s structure became apparent. The security council, the top-level executive of the U.N., included nations like the United States and Soviet Union, which were politically and philosophically opposed, and the well-being of other nations would take a back seat to their rivalry.
As the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet empire under its own weight, the United Nations’ slide into mediocrity continued. A new trend was emerging at the U.N. building in New York City. Third world nations, outnumbering former Soviet bloc nations or first world western countries, increasingly appeared to be using the U.N. as either a way for African nations to get revenge on former European colonists, or for Arab nations to settle scores with their hated enemy Israel. Recent climate change strategies, propsoing near-crippling limitations on western nations while allowing heavily-polluting third world nations like India a free pass, are good examples of a popular philosophy at the U.N.
Similarly, in 2009, the United Nations was set to hold an “emergency session” to discuss Israel conducting “genocide” in Gaza, despite the Middle Eastern democracy stating it only attacked Gaza after Palestinians launched rockets and killed Israeli citizens. No mentioned at that time was ever made by the U.N. of Palestinians conducting genocide.
So much for the U.N. promoting understanding. Let’s look at the U.N.’s track record of preventing another conflict such as WWII, or preventing genocide such as the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany against Jewish European citizens. While the facts and causes of the both the Korean and Vietnam wars are well known, other issues, even those more modern, are less so. Take for instance the Rwandan genocide of 1994, where in central Africa over the span of about three months an estimated 850,000 men, women and children were massacred. There’s strong evidence that suggests upper level U.N. officials knew what was about to happen (U.N. officials knew, for example, about militias arming prior to the genocide) but either could not or did not stop it. Either way, it doesn’t look good for the U.N. competency side.
Europe is in the same situation. Last year’s tumult in Ukraine is a perfect example. It’s obvious to anyone with an IQ about 90 that Russian President Vladimir Putin is at least interested in, if not undertaking, a campaign to rebuild the Soviet empire. As “rebel” Ukrainian units conduct a civil war, an Oct. 23 story by Reuters news service stated that destroyed “rebel” armor are actually Russian military T-72 tanks. Russia never offered any explanation why its tanks were involved in battles in Ukraine probably because Russia knows there is no organization in the world that will do anything to stop this “civil war.” Anyone living along the Russian border in former Soviet-block nations probably has a lot to worry about in the coming years and if they think the U.N. is going to help them are living in a dream world. There isn’t enough room on this page to go into China’s recent provocative actions in the South China Sea. Both Russia and China are U.N. security council members, by the way.
Let’s take a wider overview of war right now, shall we? Despite the fact that war was in effect outlawed by the creation of the United Nations, wars continue in many places around the world. An online news service stated that, as of last September, 10 clearly delineated wars are being fought along with eight more “military conflicts” around the world. It’s also said that “violent conflicts” are occurring in 64 countries around the world and involve around 576 militias and separatist groups. So that’s about 82 wars around the world.
The U.N. is funded through required and voluntary funds from member states, and as shown above the money sent is wasted and might as well simply be flushed down a toilet. There is some disagreement about what the annual budget of the United Nations actually is. Some journalists and U.N. critics in 2009 claimed the budget was almost $14 billion; the U.N. itself claimed its most recent budget was “only” almost $6 billion. According to www.glassdoor.ca, four “directors” for the U.N. each earn an annual salary of at least $202,828; that would buy a lot of food for orphans in Ukraine. But it doesn’t really matter what the budget is; nations which are truly interested in stopping war and improving life for people around the world should stop sending money to the U.N.
Nations should learn to cooperate with each other and with legitimate non-governmental organizations in a meaningful way to ease suffering and prevent war and forget about antiquated, wasteful organizations like the U.N., an organization which has obviously failed in every conceivable way.