The UN is now useless

The war in Ukraine has confirmed the utter impotence of the United Nations. Prisoners of veto power in the hands of five nations, including Russia.

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UN importance

From the beginning of war in Ukraine, as was predictable, a ghost hovers over the battlefield and around the tables of geopolitics: theUN. The most important supranational body, created after the Second World War, to have a center of gravity around which to consolidate peace and block even local wars, has once again shown all its impotence. So much so that one wonders if it really is, under these conditions, the UN can still be of any use.

UN IMPOTENCE

During the war in Ukraine, which broke out following the aggression of a sovereign country and member of the United Nations, the UN failed to do any of the three things that were, in theory, within its reach. An effective and unanimous (Russia aside) resolution against the condemnation of the invasion. An activity of moral suasion against Putin to open a real negotiating table, without leaving it in the unrealistic and hasty hands of individual countries: Turkey, Egypt, Israel. Approval of the use of force, even in the most serious cases.

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USELESSNESS OF THE UN

The uselessness of the UN, not only in cases of very serious conflicts such as the one in Ukraine, is one of the biggest black holes in the globalizationWe have globalized markets, currencies, goods, labor, raw materials. But we have not made an inch of progress. governance supranational, without which globalization will always be lame and exposed to gross injusticesIndeed, the UN's strength has diminished, its role has become increasingly marginal, and the paralysis, consciously desired, is inherent in the functioning of the Security Council, the heart of the United Nations galaxy.

THE VETOS OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

The Security Council is composed of five members (United States, China, Russia, France, United Kingdom), namely the victors of the Second World War with the addition of China, which has now become an indispensable power for any significant negotiation. Representatives of the five permanent members are then joined by representatives of ten other nations, on a rotating basis. What's the catch? Security CouncilWhat prevents it from working effectively and undermines its usefulness? Simple: all five permanent members have a veto. They can lift a finger and, single-handedly, block any measure.

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WHAT CAN THE UN DO?

With this architecture and the associated distribution of power, the UN can do very little about international conflicts. Its hands are tied. And anyone who says the United Nations responds only to the interests of the Americans (even though they have a decisive influence within it) is either acting in bad faith or is ignorant of the facts. Real power, thanks to the vetoes The power they can impose is in the hands of all five nations that sit on the Security Council. The result: since 1945, only seven times has the UN Security Council passed resolutions allowing the use of force to end very bloody conflicts. Wars with local epicenters, however (Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, to name a few) where none of the five nations that are permanent members of the Security Council were directly involved. Needless to say, every attempt to reform the mechanism that regulates the UN's functioning in relation to conflicts around the world has always been unsuccessful. And France, which talks so much about Europe and the United States of Europe, has always refused to cede its permanent seat on the Security Council to a representative of the Union.

HOW MUCH DOES THE UN COST?

Like all clay elephants, the UN is a mammoth machine which, between waste and inflated resources, has enormous costs for its member states. The UN costs around 50 billion dollars, 22 percent of which is covered by US funding. As for Italy, we pay the UN and its agencies every year. 747 million dollarsOne wonders at this point whether this isn't largely wasted money.

WASTE AT THE UN

It's easy to see how much waste there is at the UN by examining some key figures. The first two concern the elephantine bureaucratic machineWe're talking about a giant pachyderm with 37 employees, with average salaries exceeding $50 a year. A bonanza. This average figure rises significantly if the employee works in a different location than the one they were initially assigned to: in this case, they're on business trips, and could stay there for life. With numerous expenses covered, from housing to schooling for their children. Another item that smacks of waste is the one related to annual cost of missions abroad (generally unsuccessful, as we know): $500 million. It goes without saying that UN officials are accustomed to top-class travel (if not on private planes), five-star hotels, and gourmet restaurants. They work for peace, and above all, they want to be left alone.

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