UN Security Council
Photo: AP
UN is not a joke
Op-ed: Even when it's ineffective, UN Security Council shows us who the bad guys are
Had the world looked in the mirror this past week, that’s what it would see: In Syria,
Assad
the tyrant, just like his father, continues to massacre
his own citizens. Meanwhile in New York, the diplomats are babbling on over champagne glasses and caviar plates while debating whether to issue a statement urging Assad’s removal.
Under such conditions it is easy and very tempting to view the UN, and especially the Security Council, as one big joke.
Global Chaos
Moshe Ronen
Op-ed: Veto power makes Security Council useless, promotes international pacts out of UN
Moreover, the Council’s make-up is outdated: The US, Britain, China, Russia and France – the five founders and permanent members – are the victors of World War II. They are the only ones allowed to hold nuclear weapons and each has the veto power.
Is there a better way to perpetuate the balance of power that prevailed in the first half of the previous century? Hasn’t the time the come to cast away the ghosts of the past and grant important states, such as Japan and Germany, permanent seats?
China, Russia's true face exposed
Yet despite the above, the UN and Security Council are still relevant and play a very necessary role in the international theater. Indeed, they conduct themselves at infuriating slowness and at times seem ridiculously indecisive, yet these are two important bodies, which play an important role in the global struggle against Iran’s nukes, for example.
One also cannot ignore the Security Councils’ role in defining the boundary between the good guys and the bad guys: In the Syria case, it exposed the true face of Russia and China, which used their power to veto an anti-Assad resolution. And so, we received a more accurate picture of the world we live in. It was no wonder that the only support Assad received came from two non-democratic regimes.
In a perfect world, there is no doubt that the Security Council is needless. Yet as long as our world is home to forces such as Iran and North Korea, we cannot give up the only international forum that enables us to unite in order to fight them.
