International institutions are vital, despite flaws

Within a span of a quartercentury, ancient rivalries and simmering tensions propelled the major nations of Europe into two devastating wars that eventually embroiled so many states that they became known as the first “world wars.”

At the end of the first of those conflicts — 100 years ago last month — the United States and other nations sought to create an international body through which they could mediate disputes and avoid future wars . ...

Out of those ashes in 1945, the nations of the world tried again to create a series of international mechanisms to increase cooperation and reduce the chances of another all-consuming war. That effort has been, in the main, successful.

Which is why it is so troubling that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a speech in Brussels on Tuesday, questioned the value of international institutions, singling out for criticism the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of American States and the African Union, among others . ...

Of course there are flaws in these institutions — big ones that occasionally lead to devastating outcomes. But surely the goal should be to strengthen these organizations and fix their problems, rather than to weaken or abandon them in favor of some ill-defined, narrow and parochial modern-day nationalism.