UN is facing extinction in a changed world

Given the state of many unresolved conflicts around the world today, is it not time to assess the need for the UN in its present form?

We have a protracted war in Sudan where the death toll and [need for] humanitarian aid surpasses that of the Israeli/Gaza conflict.

We have a war being fought between Russia and Ukraine. Obviously we have the conflict in Gaza.

At the same time the Houthi rebels in Yemen have declared a war on foreign shipping in the Red Sea.

In the wings, we have China and North Korea sabre rattling at Taiwan and South Korea, respectively.

It is obvious to anyone that the UN has little or no ability to solve any of these world issues.

Its reliance on the Security Council is a farce, given that the five permanent members, namely Russia, China, France, the UK and the US, are directly and indirectly involved in many of the conflicts.

It is no wonder that any resolution brought by Russia and/or China will be vetoed by the US or the other two.

In the same fashion, any resolution brought by the US will automatically be vetoed by Russia or China.

So are we wasting time by even bringing issues to the Security Council and hoping to solve them?

The very term “security” is a joke, as is the term “United Nations”, which is a modern day oxymoron.

If a resolution is even adopted by the Security Council, it is never fully implemented, with little or no ability to police such a resolution.

Even the International Court of Justice, where SA took its case against Israel, has not in any way stopped Israel from continuing to carry out its destruction of Gaza.

I am actually surprised that the US even remains a member of the UN given that its contribution to the peacekeeping budget in 2021 was nearly 28%, compared with China at 15%, France and the UK at about 5.7% each and Russia at only 3%.

South Africa’s share of the budget was .05%.

At least Nato is an organisation which is effective in guaranteeing its members support against any aggressor.

The UN offers no country security against the naked aggression, as we have seen in the Ukraine/Russia conflict.

The “fence-sitters”, or abstainers, which are led by South Africa, also reduce the efficacy of the UN.

Not wishing to upset our Russian or Chinese benefactors, we simply abstain, though we are seemingly not as reticent when it comes to matters involving the US.

This attitude may come back to bite us on our fencesitting backsides if Donald Trump manages to be elected as president of the US in November.

Would the US then continue to be the major financier of a new order of nations?

If the Security Council could get rid of the veto issue things might improve. Maybe not for everyone concerned but at least resolutions would be adopted.

How the world deals with these resolutions probably would be the same as it does now. Some countries simply give the UN the finger and some try to abide.

Whatever happens, the world today is not the same as that of post-World War 2.

Technology, climate change and a new form of imperialism are now the order of the day and the UN is facing extinction like the dinosaur it has become. Malcolm Dodds, Walmer