The 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly has begun in the midst of numerous serious global issues, such as natural disasters, unstable economies, shortages of essentials like food and fuel, conflicts within and between countries, cultural wars, and populist nationalism. The geopolitics of the world’s superpowers, however, is weakening the UN’s agenda and impeding the multilateral collaboration required to address the world’s numerous crises as they battle and collide over Ukraine (and Taiwan).
This is not at all what the UN Charter’s authors intended. They had wished to prevent a repetition of history. The League of Nations, the organization’s forerunner, had collapsed precisely because the big countries believed their interests would be better served by staying out.
It was divided in two to encourage the five most powerful post-war countries—America, Russia, France, Britain, and China—to join the new UN. The discussion was held in the General Assembly. The true governing body for peace and security was the Security Council.
Above all, the big five were granted veto power over Security Council decisions, giving any one of them the ability to thwart any effort to avert or end the war. That is the depressing truth of today.
Over a hundred world leaders have arrived in New York, with two notable absences—the leaders of Russia and China—and two notable attendances—the leaders of the US and the UK, who will likely speak out vehemently and passionately against the Russian war in Ukraine and in support of the essentially in place Ukrainian leader.
The UN Security Council’s (UNSC) agenda has already been dominated by Russia’s war in Ukraine, leaving no room for other important concerns that demand global attention. While the UNSC has made some headway in Libya, Yemen, and Mali on the diplomatic and humanitarian fronts, it has failed spectacularly in Ukraine as the major countries continue to exploit it as a political game to score points against one another.
The outcome of this conflict will have significant effects on not only Ukraine but also on the rest of the world. And it might be up to French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who have worked closely with both sides since the Russian invasion, to put up a plan to put an end to it. Many foreign leaders favor a prompt end to the conflict so that the UN can turn its attention to other pressing situations like Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, Mali, and Palestine.
Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign policy, is correct when he claims that the Russian operation in Ukraine has demonstrated how our world is “formed by naked power politics, where everything is weaponized” in a ferocious narrative war. However, let’s be clear: the causes of such geopolitical tensions are shared by both Eastern and Western powers. Sadly, Western powers have fallen short of their lofty ideals, and Eastern nations have not taken their obligations to the international community cautiously. Both sides hypocritically invoke international law and standards only when it suits them.
The international situation was rapidly deteriorating as the war-related issues grew, but instead of seeking a solution and engaging in an open discussion, the West was “undermining confidence in international institutions” and fostering unfavorable trends within the UN.
The US was attempting to make the entire world into its “backyard” and it and its allies were punishing those who disagreed with their worldview through “unilateral sanctions” that went against the UN Charter and hurt the poor people in less developed nations by focusing on their imports of food, medicine, and vaccines. Instead of “honest communication,” the US tried to establish divisions by telling other countries that “you’re either with us or against us.” This led to “disinformation, crude staging, and provocations” rather than “honest dialogue.”
The US national security strategy incorporates the central Western narrative, which Washington wants to amplify through the UN. The fundamental American belief is that Russia and China are obstinate enemies that are “trying to undercut American security and prosperity.” In order to oppress their communities and increase their power, these nations are, in the words of the US, “motivated to make economies less free and less fair, to develop their militaries, and to control information and data.”
Despite decrying Russian intervention in Ukraine, the UNSC veto-wielding power and the biggest economy in the world, the US has actively participated in at least 15 foreign wars of its own choosing (to mention a few: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Panama, Serbia, Syria, and Yemen), whereas China and Russia have only done so in one conflict (Syria) outside of the former Soviet Union. Beyond the former Soviet Union, the US has military installations in 85 nations, China in 3, and Russia in 1 (Syria).
In a nutshell, the conflict in Ukraine will only widen and enlarge the gulf between Russia and China in the east and the US and Europe in the west. With the four making up roughly 60% of the global economy and possessing all of the UNSC veto rights, anticipate their conflict and collision to drain the United Nations’ resources and paralyze the multilateralism that may help the world combat global disasters. Additionally, they are the world’s biggest polluters.
In large part due to Western political leaders’ refusal to be honest about the root reasons for the rising international crises, the world is on the verge of nuclear catastrophe. The persistent Western narrative that China and Russia are bad and the West is good is narrow-minded and extremely risky. Instead of dealing with extremely serious and urgent diplomacy, it is an attempt to influence public opinion. UN is walking in the shadows of its predecessor.