The United Nations Has Problems - But The World Needs It

The following is just a small part of an excellent article by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times: 

Sure, bash the United Nations; it often deserves it. But my guess is that millions more children would die every year if it weren’t for UNICEF, the World Food Program, the U.N. Refugee Agency and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. On balance, that seems a defensible record, no?

Understand also that the U.N. is a crumbling pillar of what is left of this geopolitical global order that the United States helped create after World War II and that has so benefited us and the world. And note that one reason for the infuriating U.N. paralysis and timorousness is that great powers throw their weight around, often vetoing constructive action and, in the case of the United States, slashing budgets as well.

I fear that the paralysis may get worse.

The United Nations is supposed to choose a new secretary general this year, and this is a moment when the world needs a charismatic, outspoken leader who could use the bully pulpit and tackle the globe’s security and humanitarian crises. Sadly, that seems exactly what the United States, China and Russia are determined to avoid.

There is growing concern that Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin may be unable to agree on any of the current candidates for secretary general, and that they will settle on some innocuous dark horse nonentity so mild and inoffensive that the United Nations will be further marginalized and weakened.

The result would very likely be more Ebola outbreaks, more war, more paralysis in confronting the common threats to humanity — and more darkness descending on our planet.