![]() While Maliki was unperturbed by the sound of the explosion, Ban Ki-moon almost hid under the lecturn and quickly ran for the exit. Perhaps nothing illustrates better-although farcically-the type of person who has come to fill the role of secretary-general than the incident in Iraq in 2007 when a bomb exploded near the place where Ban Ki-moon and the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, were holding a press conference. Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon and now Guterres were much more pliable: they just went AWOL when matters of war and peace were at stake. Boutros Boutros-Ghali never received a second term. They have colluded in selecting increasingly puppet-like figures for that position. These states have to be unanimous in the selection of the secretary-general, given their individual vetoes over the Security Council’s recommendation to the General Assembly to that effect. Thank you very much for your support! Become a Social Europe Member Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. The UN as a collective-security organisation, whose primary duty is to protect the territorial integrity of its members, has failed in that role-simply by being ignored by the most powerful states. ![]() Among the permanent members, only China did not do so. Thus these four permanent members broke the charter eight times. And Russia attacked Georgia and Ukraine (the latter twice). (For Libya, there was a UN Security Council resolution but its mandate of civilian protection was exceeded by the overthrow of the regime.) France and the United Kingdom, also veto-wielding members of the Security Council, participated in most of these violations of the UN Charter, even if France refused to go to war against Iraq. After the end of the cold war, the US and its allies attacked five countries on four continents without UN authorisation: Panama, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq (the second war) and Libya. What is more, UN rules were openly violated. This is in contrast to what happened after the first and second world wars, as with the foundation of the League of Nations and UN respectively. No new regional-much less global-organisations were created, save for the rather inconsequential European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The first is that after the end of the cold war the United States, finding itself in the position of hyperpower, did not want to be trammelled by any unnecessary global rules. Three factors have made the current UN possibly worse than even the defunct League of Nations. The origins of the recent decline of the UN go back 30 years to the end of the cold war. Technically, the world has entrusted him with the task of preserving peace-or at least with the attempt to preserve peace. He is the only non-state actor in the world with this kind of moral authority. If some do not show up, or ignore him, at least we shall know who wants to pursue the war, and who does not. He can set himself in Geneva, indicate the date at which he wants the ‘interested parties’ to send their delegates, and wait. Independently of the great powers, he can try to bring the warring sides to the table. Please check your inbox and click on the link in the confirmation email to complete your newsletter subscription. He has a moral authority, if he decides to use it. But the secretary-general does possess agency. The five permanent members of the Security Council can veto whatever decision they do not like. Many argue that the secretary-general and the secretariat are hamstrung by the great powers. He has managed, late in the conflict, to effect one trip to Kyiv and one to Moscow. On the most important matter for which the League of Nations and later the United Nations were created-maintenance of world peace-he has nothing to say but platitudes. The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has been seldom heard. But on the biggest issue on the planet, a war which has entered its eighth month between two countries with a combined population of 200 million-one of which possesses the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and threatens to use it-the UN has been a bystander. The traffic in New York was heavy for a whole week, as the delegates shuttled between the hotels and restaurants. ![]() Everybody gave a speech (for most delegations limited to 15 minutes). There were more heads of state and government than ever before. The General Assembly of the United Nations ended its annual session only a week ago in New York. The first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, at the UN General Assembly, her husband, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, delivering a pre-recorded address (lev radin / )
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