A worthy contribution to peace science, this book is as dense as you can get about the current world conflicts and the action (or inaction!) of the United Nations and its contribution. A summary and an insight to very important facts which all should know have been contemplated as follows:
Brief History Of United Nations:
The name United Nations was first used in the Declaration by United Nations of 1 Jan. 1942, during the Second World War when 26 nations pledged that they would continue fighting against the Axis powers. The U.N officially came into existence on 24 Oct. 1945. It was created as a governing body, which would regulate and try to restore order if any discrepancies or tensions prevail between its members, to try to help any member country if it faces hard times and so on and so forth.
Achievements Till Date:
The U.N in its own style has many a times proved its worthiness by helping nations with various severe tribulations, initiating various development projects and the lists goes on and on with the feathers in the cap adding consistently. But, alas, taking the current world scenario into consideration, strong winds have begun to blow causing the feathers one by one to get blown away.
Resolving Disagreements on the basis of outlook:
The U.N till date has always been involved in various peace making interventions in various countries and has in the past ten years brightened and polished its image as a peace keeping body itself. Let’s not forget the big contribution by U.N in maintaining order in Somalia but at that time, what was neighboring Sudan’s Fault? Bloodshed there was at its peak and inhumanity had reached its zenith. As mentioned rightly in the book, it was mostly due to the CNN’s coverage of Mogadishu and its broadcast on Audrey Hepburn holding a starving child. This is, sad to say what the true fact was for the U.N getting involved. The whole situation in Somalia had gone into the media and something had to be done about it. This was not the only time when U.N had taken such a step.
In the case of Bosnia, the U.N had almost lost authority over its own command and was just being regulated by the foreign troops managing the situation. If aid was reaching the needy was not a concern, it all depended on the mood of various political parties as what the next course should be!! The U.N level of perceiving situations and to command the correct response to them till the 70’s was genuine but the cold war and the after math saw the U.S emerging as a world policeman with a baton in one hand and a bull dog in another.
Even the U.N was not left alone and what better way to control world countries and to force them to bow, could they find? Control the world body and you have the world in your palm. Things started deteriorating and the U.N independent thought committee for world solutions got hijacked. A very precise example is what is mentioned above.
The Fight For Control:
The muscles being flexed by the U.S at this stage were first heavily contested by Mikhail Gorbachev, the then president of former U.S.S.R. He paid the arrears which the country had heaped on itself and owed to the U.N and set the country and the tone of half of Europe and Asia to cause the U.N to function as one generalized and unbiased organization. But with the break up of the U.S.S.R, these matters of basic functions and importance took a permanent back seat with the U.S in full control.
A war culture began to be nurtured indirectly triggering an arms race in most of the Asian countries. A universal thought began to go around that the U.N was getting ineffective and the best way for a country to resolve for instance, an internal uprising or a threat of being invaded, was to get the backing or outside support of a super power which in this case, the only left supreme country was the U.S.
Complete Control:
A trend began to develop and as in 1942 and the consecutive years saw the signing up of various countries into the U.N , an UNOFFICIAL signing up of countries began to take place for the safety hand of the U.S on ones head. This factor was then used by the U.S to its maximum advantage.
Few words of remorse:
In other words, with the latest news bulletin broadcasting Mr.Kofi Annan’s speech where he is precisely pointing out that the U.S led invasion of Iraq in more terms was ILLEGAL, I would like to ask that what was the U.N doing for the last two years? Guess it had not seen the ACCIDENTAL killings of hundreds of Iraqi children, men and women and had blinds on its eyes of thick steel. Mr. Kofi Annan’s statements do not come in the least bit of relief to anyone with a human heart and value left for human life. Read the book, it will definitely open up reality of where does the U.N truly stands right now!!