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The UN has been a nightmare. It is as dysfunctional as the League of Nations. The world has not seen peace even for a day since the UN’s inception in 1945. Delegates should have foreseen the UN’s failure in 1945. The organization came into existence for the UK, the US and the Soviets to expand their hegemony across the world. They projected peace for themselves, and not necessarily for the rest of the world.
How the
Allies became the United Nations
On September 1,
1939, World
War II started with Germany invading Poland. The United Kingdom (UK) and
France declared war on Germany as allies. The Soviet Union (Soviets) invaded
eastern Poland on September 17. In June 1941, the Soviets joined the Allies.
The Big Three (the UK, the US and the Soviets) formed a united organization of
nations to maintain their global peace and security. The Allied powers met and
signed the Declaration
of St.James Palace, pledging collaboration in fighting aggression. It
proclaimed that “the only true basis of enduring peace is the willing
cooperation of free peoples in a world in which, relieved of the menace of
aggression, all may enjoy economic and social security.”
The US
Constitution strictly limits the president’s power and rests the war
declaration with Congress. However, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
short-circuited the Constitution, by authorizing the US to finance and arm the
UK and France. In March 1941, Congress put this policy into law in the form of
the Lend-Lease
Act without the constitutional process of declaring war. Germany and its
allies, Italy and Japan (the Axis Powers), of course, considered the US to be
aiding the enemy in war.
The US later
entered the war formally. In December 1941, Japan’s air force attacked the
American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, catching the US by
surprise. Within days, that attack triggered the US to declare war on Germany.
Within hours, Germany also declared war on the US. That month, China joined the
Allies while resisting Japan’s expansion in China since 1937.
In August 1941,
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
signed the Atlantic
Charter pledging to stop territorial expansion, engage in free trade,
collaborate with other nations, have access to “high seas and oceans”, stop the
use of force, and work for a world peace free of “fear and want”, where all
individuals are free to choose their form of government and enjoy economic
advancement and social security. In January 1942, about four weeks after the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Big Three (the UK, the US, and the Soviet
Union) and China, along with 22 other countries, signed a document pledging to
accept the
Atlantic Charter, which is referred to as the Declaration by the United
Nations.
During World
War II, the devastating effect of that war encouraged the Big Three and China,
(the Big Four), to put aside their differences and collaborate in the war. To
avoid such a war in the future, they began planning for the world. As the
discussion progressed, the idea of a united world organization emerged. In
October 1943, the Big Four signed the Moscow
Declaration, recognizing “the necessity of establishing at the earliest
practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle
of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving States, and open to membership by
all such States, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace
and security.”
In November-
December 1943, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met for the first time in
Tehran, Iran. They discussed the post-war arrangement and partitions. Roosevelt
and Churchill assured Stalin that he could expand Soviet territory into Poland
and Germany. President Roosevelt was so infatuated with Stalin that he called
him Uncle Joe. “I began to tease Churchill,” the American President boasted, “…
Winston got red and scowled and finally Stalin broke into a deep, hearty
guffaw. It was then that I called him Uncle Joe.” This cavalier attitude of
President Roosevelt regarding Eastern Europe is a typical example of a public
servant intoxicated with power, and turning into a despot. Such a cavalier is
responsible for the US presidents’ empowering the Zionist genocide against
Palestinians and the takeover of Palestine. At the end of the Tehran meeting,
they agreed on the Tehran Conference. They said: “We are sure that our concord
will win an enduring peace. We recognize fully the supreme responsibility resting
upon us and all the United Nations to make a peace which will command the
goodwill of the overwhelming mass of the world's peoples and banish the scourge
and terror of war for many generations.”
The
victorious Allies founded the UN
In October
1944, the Big Four met at Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington, DC. They proposed a
United Nations consisting of the following:
- A General Assembly, composed of all the member
nations oversees an Economic and Social Council. Nowadays, it oversees
other councils, too.
- A Security Council is composed of eleven members,
five permanent and six chosen by the GA for two-year terms.
- An International Court of Justice.
- A United Nations Secretariat.
After the war,
they all wanted to be in control
of the global issues. The US had risen to the most powerful one among the Big
Three but felt needed Soviet cooperation to finish the war. The Soviets did not
trust the UK or the US. They insisted on restoring the old Russian Empire and
succeeded.
In April 1945,
delegates from 46 nations attended the San
Francisco Conference and discussed and approved the UN. They set up the UN
objectives to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war…to reaffirm
faith in fundamental human rights…to establish conditions under which justice
and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of
international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom.”
On June 25,
1945, the delegates met in San Francisco. After days of meetings, they
unanimously passed the UN Charter. The major debacle was the veto power of the
Big Five (the UK, the US, France, the Soviets, and China). Less powerful
nations feared that if a veto power threatened peace, the Security Council
would lose its significance. They wanted more power distribution. Finally, they
went along in the interest of global peace.
On September 2,
1945, the war ended. The Big Three decided to expand the United Nations by
inviting other nations to join it.
The
shortcomings of the victors’ peace
They planned the UN Security Council (UNSC) in the UN to ensure their global hegemony. The UK
insisted on limiting the UNSC to the UK, the US and the Soviets. The US wanted
China to be included because of its strong resistance against Japan, which
freed the US to support Europe. The UK insisted on adding France to the Council to ensure Western control. That is how the Big Five surfaced. The Soviets
felt outnumbered by the West and asked for veto power, which was granted to all
permanent members.
The UN General
Assembly (UNGA) is the only organ in the UN in which all member nations vote.
Regardless of size or population, each member nation has only one vote. A
simple majority decides procedural questions while a simple majority or a
two-thirds vote decides substantive ones, depending on importance. It is mainly
a deliberative body empowered to make recommendations to the UN Security
Council (UNSC) regarding international issues.
In contrast,
the UNSC is primarily responsible for maintaining international peace and
security. It is an exclusive club. Nowadays, it has 15 members, 5 of whom are
permanent members and endowed with veto power on every issue. The permanent
members are the US, the UK, China, France, and Russia, also known as the Big
Five. The GA chooses the other ten for two-year terms.
Like the
League, the UN’s primary purpose has been to preserve peace and security. The
UN members have promised not to use force except in self-defense and to use
force collectively to preserve peace. In apparent violation of the UN Charter,
the veto powers granted to certain member states have led to conflicts and
wars, rather than preventing them. Until the fall of the Soviets in December
1991, the world faced two superpowers, the US and the Soviets, competing for
global influence, a period known as the Cold War. They incited proxy wars
nearly everywhere.
Following the
end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US
emerged as the world’s sole superpower. This shift in global dynamics has led
to military interventions and interference in various countries, resulting in
significant human suffering and destruction. Presently, the US is responsible
for much of the global deaths and destruction, particularly in Iraq, Palestine,
Sudan, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen. The US complicity in the genocide against
Palestinians is the talk of the world these days.
Given these
ongoing challenges, it is clear that the current state of the UN is not
conducive to achieving lasting global peace. Meaningful reform or even the
dismantling of the organization may be necessary. Adding Brazil, Germany,
India, Japan or another country is unlikely to address the fundamental issues.
By MEHDI ALAVI
Fair
Observer originally published the article on December 2, 2024.
