The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) does Herculean work helping children across the globe who have no water, no education, no parents, and are constantly coming under attack from so-called grown-ups in air-planes. These supposed adults drop bombs on civilians, including the elderly, children, schools, and hospitals, kill their parents and friends, deny them doctors and nurses leaving these Palestinian and other children in war torn countries to become self-reliant pretty quickly.
Children are always the innocent victims of war, still at a stage in life’s development, which most of us go through, when they should be mastering Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic at daily class. Instead they are learning the art of survival. Gaza, in Palestine, is coming under daily attacks from the Israelis usually, though not exclusively, from the air and it is the children who are bearing the brunt of these adult activities. They suffer daily due to the lack of education facilities and when needed medical care. While doctors and nurses not yet killed are doing their level best under impossible conditions the children of the Gaza Strip often have to travel miles to secure very basic health care and fresh water, sometimes even this essential is in short supply and carries parasites and diseases.
Wherever war hits a region the UNCEF personnel will be found doing trojan work helping these otherwise orphaned children. This area of UN work cannot be questioned they are beyond reproach. Another of the UNs high commissions is the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) set up in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly, originally to help millions of Europeans who had fled or lost their homes during WWII. In 1951, the UN adopted the Refugee Convention, which became the legal framework guiding UNHCR’s work by defining what a refugee is and outlining their rights. UNHCR personnel like those of UNICEF are all doing yeoman’s work in their own right and many people alive today would be not so without them.
When, in 1945, the UN Charter was drafted and Article 2 of this document explicitly established the “sovereign equality of all its members” questions should have been asked. The contradiction to this apparent egalitarianism is highlighted in Article 27 which simultaneously granted obscene Veto powers to five permanent members (the P5). These countries were and are; the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Tawain, and France. Tawain would be replaced by the Peoples Republic of China in 1971 somewhat belatedly as more and more countries recognised the government of Mao Tse Tung including three of the P5, Britain, France, and USSR.
Wherever war hits a region the UNCEF personnel will be found doing trojan work helping these otherwise orphaned children. This area of UN work cannot be questioned they are beyond reproach. Another of the UNs high commissions is the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) set up in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly, originally to help millions of Europeans who had fled or lost their homes during WWII. In 1951, the UN adopted the Refugee Convention, which became the legal framework guiding UNHCR’s work by defining what a refugee is and outlining their rights. UNHCR personnel like those of UNICEF are all doing yeoman’s work in their own right and many people alive today would be not so without them.
When, in 1945, the UN Charter was drafted and Article 2 of this document explicitly established the “sovereign equality of all its members” questions should have been asked. The contradiction to this apparent egalitarianism is highlighted in Article 27 which simultaneously granted obscene Veto powers to five permanent members (the P5). These countries were and are; the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Tawain, and France. Tawain would be replaced by the Peoples Republic of China in 1971 somewhat belatedly as more and more countries recognised the government of Mao Tse Tung including three of the P5, Britain, France, and USSR.
The creation of the P5 is considered a huge anomaly because the countries which comprise this gang carry absolute unquestionable right of veto and no such powers apply to the rest of the 193 in total (including P5) member countries. There is a two-tiered membership at the UN with countries like Belgium, Ireland, Holland, Australia, Kenya, India and so forth not holding the same level of membership as the P5! This loophole is plain to see and means states tasked with enforcing global peace can themselves violate the UN charter and block enforcement actions against themselves.
For example, the United States say they are trying to stop the Iranian nuclear programme, the existence of which is questionable, by bombing the crap out of them. The Iranians were tricked into believing they were involved in talks over its nuclear programme with the US when Trump struck! The US President then states he could “obliterate” the “Islamic republic” by bombing them out of existence and nothing can be done by the UN to stop him. Trump would, as a P5 member, just veto any such move against the US or any actions by that state bombing Iran.
In Russia Vladimir Putin is in a similar position with his often termed ‘illegal war’ in Ukraine. Putin, like Trump, continually breaks international law simply because it does not apply to him or any of the P5 countries. Recently Moscow stated their military objectives in Ukraine will be reached “no matter the circumstances”. They can afford to make such grandeur statements because even if the other 192 (including the remaining four P5 members) voted against Moscow Putin would just use his veto.
When Trump kidnaped Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, who was a member of the ‘Socialist League’ and later when the League merged into the ‘United Socialist Party of Venezuela’, ranted on and on about Maduro being involved with drug trafficking with no evidence to support such claims. Evidence or no evidence was an irrelevance because Trump has his veto which overrides even the strongest evidence against the US claims making the UN powerless to stop the madman in the White House.
Trump disagreed with Maduro purely on ideological grounds and the fact Venezuela had gallons upon gallons of oil which the US considered to be theirs and would have irrespective of the UN. Any proposed UN actions against the US would be vetoed by the Trump administration. Under the rules of the UN Trump or any other P5 leader can basically do what the fuck they like with no repercussions. Essentially if the US had invaded Greenland there would have been nothing the UN could have done about it except perhaps voice opposition to such an invasion. Britain has committed many crimes in the Six-Counties and got away scot-free, certainly from the UN, because in no small way they are Permanent Security Council members. France, another one of these ‘laws unto themselves’ gang, in Algeria and other former colonies of the Fifth Republic, have committed countless crimes against humanity in these lands. China, and Tiananmen Square in Bejing springs to mind, and the massacres of protestors there in 1989 - if the UN wanted to do anything China would use its veto. Once again, no action was taken against the misleadingly called, very misleadingly, ‘Chinese Communist Party’ which are anything but! Why? Because the Chinese government would simply veto any proposals to chastise them.
The UN, despite what we are told, was and is not designed to be an ‘objective court of global justice’. The perception of the United Nations sitting magnanimously over global disputes and resolving problems without the need for war is for the politically naïve and illiterate. Since its birth in 1945 one of the organisations initial tasks was to ensure major dental surgery was carried out on itself by itself! The UN were themselves the Dental Surgeon who carried out the dentistry removing the teeth from the fledgling organisation, and the chief Dental Consultants were the P5. The whole farcical system was rigged from day one by the victorious allies of World War Two ensuring they would never face consequences for their own actions no matter how aggressive.
The UN, despite what we are told, was and is not designed to be an ‘objective court of global justice’. The perception of the United Nations sitting magnanimously over global disputes and resolving problems without the need for war is for the politically naïve and illiterate. Since its birth in 1945 one of the organisations initial tasks was to ensure major dental surgery was carried out on itself by itself! The UN were themselves the Dental Surgeon who carried out the dentistry removing the teeth from the fledgling organisation, and the chief Dental Consultants were the P5. The whole farcical system was rigged from day one by the victorious allies of World War Two ensuring they would never face consequences for their own actions no matter how aggressive.
Other countries not in the P5 club but who do enjoy the arm of protection. Israel protected by the USA, can, under that protection, also do what the fuck they please. A glaringly obvious example is the Israeli actions against civilians, bombing hospitals and schools in Gaza. Israel enjoys the protective arm of the USA, and particularly under Trump, know the US will use its veto preventing any action against Tel Aviv.
In Ukraine Russia simply vetoed any action to be taken against itself and knowing Ukraine is not a NATO member country a confrontation with another major power was and remains unlikely. The Korean War (1950-53) was backed by the UN security council with the exception of the USSR. This was not because the Soviet Union was ignored by the rest of P5 but moreover because they were ‘boycotting the Security Council meetings’ therefore they did not cast their vote. Had they not adopted this policy and been in attendance the events which covered the Korean peninsula for three years and one month would not have happened; the Soviets would simply have used their veto preventing any UN action or backing against North Korea. As things turned out for the USSR it gave them a chance to pitch their Mig fighters against the US without going head-to-head in direct confrontation. The Soviet Union’s equipment fared favourably and the question could be asked regarding the Soviets boycotting the Security Council, was there an ulterior motive behind their actions?
This United Nations costing billions of dollars are presently (at the time of writing) meeting in New York. Benjamin Netanyahu has an International Arrest Warrant on his head. The USA, one of the P5, do not recognise this warrant so the Israeli criminal is safe. A similar warrant is also on the head of Vladimir Putin but he is not in attendance. This is not because he fears arrest but moreover because all Russian flights over the USA are banned by Congress. Trump could not lift this ban even if he wanted to. A high-powered Russian delegation is in attendance having travelled by alternative means. All Netanyahu had to do was avoid the airspace of those countries likely to enforce the ICC Arrest Warrant. This was done by hugging the Mediterranean coast avoiding such countries as Spain, who would ground the flight, and other hostile lands. This makes the journey much longer which is why cargo and personnel to save fuel was cut to the bare minimum. Once in US airspace the criminal is safe among fellow crooks.
In reality apart from the earlier vital facets of the UN, UNHCR, UNICEF, the organisation is a toothless guard dog. It can occasionally put in a pair of dentures to inflict bites on smaller countries it deems have broken the rules or international law and make examples. These are meaningless interventions compared with any attempt to stop a P5 member. If this crowd wish to hold little get togethers, like in New York at the time of writing, perhaps a little Lyons tea and coffee shop would be sufficient for their needs, not this expensive ritual which carries no weight of importance.
This United Nations costing billions of dollars are presently (at the time of writing) meeting in New York. Benjamin Netanyahu has an International Arrest Warrant on his head. The USA, one of the P5, do not recognise this warrant so the Israeli criminal is safe. A similar warrant is also on the head of Vladimir Putin but he is not in attendance. This is not because he fears arrest but moreover because all Russian flights over the USA are banned by Congress. Trump could not lift this ban even if he wanted to. A high-powered Russian delegation is in attendance having travelled by alternative means. All Netanyahu had to do was avoid the airspace of those countries likely to enforce the ICC Arrest Warrant. This was done by hugging the Mediterranean coast avoiding such countries as Spain, who would ground the flight, and other hostile lands. This makes the journey much longer which is why cargo and personnel to save fuel was cut to the bare minimum. Once in US airspace the criminal is safe among fellow crooks.
In reality apart from the earlier vital facets of the UN, UNHCR, UNICEF, the organisation is a toothless guard dog. It can occasionally put in a pair of dentures to inflict bites on smaller countries it deems have broken the rules or international law and make examples. These are meaningless interventions compared with any attempt to stop a P5 member. If this crowd wish to hold little get togethers, like in New York at the time of writing, perhaps a little Lyons tea and coffee shop would be sufficient for their needs, not this expensive ritual which carries no weight of importance.
Ideally the remaining 188 non-P5 members should be aiming to abolish this veto enjoyed by the P5 countries, will they do this? Well, this veto system has lasted eighty-one years, so why interfere with a working formula the P5 gang would in all likelihood argue! Any further attempts at reform would be met with? Yes, the veto!
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| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
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