{"id":183659,"date":"2021-04-26T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=183659"},"modified":"2021-04-24T04:56:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T03:56:49","slug":"uns-most-powerful-political-body-remains-paralyzed-battling-a-us-scripted-new-cold-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/04\/uns-most-powerful-political-body-remains-paralyzed-battling-a-us-scripted-new-cold-war\/","title":{"rendered":"UN\u2019s Most Powerful Political Body Remains Paralyzed Battling a U.S.-scripted New Cold War"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The UN Security Council is now the battleground for a new Cold War between the US and China. Credit: United Nations<\/p><\/div>\n

14 Apr 2021 – <\/em>A new Cold War \u2013 this time, between the US and China \u2014is threatening to paralyze the UN\u2019s most powerful body, even as military conflicts and civil wars are sweeping across the world, mostly in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The growing criticism against the Security Council is directed largely at its collective failures to resolve ongoing conflicts and political crises in several hot spots, including Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Ukraine and Libya \u2014 and its longstanding failure over Palestine.<\/p>\n

The sharp divisions between China and Russia, on one side, and the Western powers on the other, are expected to continue, triggering the question: Has the Security Council outlived its usefulness or has it lost its political credibility?<\/p>\n

The five big powers are increasingly throwing their protective arms around their allies, despite growing charges of war crimes, genocide and human rights violations against these countries.<\/p>\n

Last week, Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director at Human Rights Watch, called on Britain \u201cto step up as penholder on Myanmar and start negotiating a Security Council draft resolution on an arms embargo and targeted sanctions<\/a> against the military\u201d.
\nhttp:\/\/www.ipsnews.net\/2021\/02\/china-russia-throw-protective-arms-around-myanmar\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Over 580 people, including children, have been killed since the February 1 coup: \u201cit is time for the Security Council to do more than issue statements and begin working towards substantive action,\u201c she warned.<\/p>\n

But in most of these conflicts, including Myanmar, arms embargoes are very unlikely because the major arms suppliers to the warring parties are the five permanent members of the Security Council, namely the US, UK, France, Russia and China.
\nhttp:\/\/www.ipsnews.net\/2021\/03\/worlds-worst-humanitarian-disaster-triggered-deadly-weapons-us-uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

US President Joe Biden has described the growing new confrontation as a battle between democracies and autocracies.<\/p>\n

In a recent analytical piece, the New York Times said China\u2019s most striking alignment is with Russia, with both countries drawing closer after Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The two countries have also announced they will jointly build a research station on the moon, setting the stage to compete with US space programmes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat of a US-led coalition challenging China\u2019s authoritarian policies has only bolstered Beijing\u2019s ambition to be a global leader of nations that oppose Washington and its allies,\u201d the Times said.<\/p>\n

Ian Williams, President of the New York-based Foreign Press Association and author of \u2018UNtold: The Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War\u2019, told IPS that in<\/a> the early years, with a secure majority in the General Assembly (GA), the US could pretend virtue and eschew using the veto. The embattled Soviets resorted it over and over.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as with so much UN and international law, the Israeli exception had the US making up for lost time. Now the Russians have been catching up with vetoes for Serbia and Syria\u201d.<\/p>\n

China, he pointed out, avoided using the veto unless Taiwan or Tibet was mentioned. In the old days there was a hint of an ideological element \u2014 Third World and Socialism versus Imperialism.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now it is entirely transactional, veto holders looking after their clients and allies, so no one should entertain illusions about China and Russia acting in a progressive and constructive way. But the US is no position to point fingers about Syria while it protects Saudi Arabia and Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can hope that the majority of members will grow indignant enough to try to effect indignation. But sadly, historical experience suggests many governments have almost unlimited tolerance for mass murder in far-away countries of which they know little,\u201d he noted, including Darfur, the Balkans, Rwanda and now Myanmar.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough would be the US saying, end the Occupation and then inviting others to join in a reaffirmation of the Charter.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut since I don\u2019t really believe in the tooth fairy, I would have to settle for a coalition of the conscious-stricken in the GA united for peace \u2013 and international law and order\u201d, said Williams, a senior analyst who has written for newspapers and magazines around the world, including the Australian, The Independent, New York Observer, The Financial Times and The Guardian.<\/p>\n

Asked about the killings in Myanmar, and the lack of action in the UNSC, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters on March 29: \u201cWe need more unity in international community. We need more commitment in the international community to put pressure in order to make sure that the situation is reversed. I\u2019m very worried. I see, with a lot of concern, the fact that, apparently, many of these trends look irreversible, but hope is the last thing we can give up on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vijay Prashad, Executive Director, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, who has written extensively on international politics, told IPS the United Nations is an essential institution, a process, in many ways, rather than a fully-finished institution.<\/p>\n

The agencies of the UN \u2013 including WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR, he said, provide vital service to the world\u2019s peoples; \u201cand we need to make these institutions more robust, and we need to ensure that they drive a public agenda that advances the UN Charter\u2019s main goals (namely to maintain peace, to end hunger and illiteracy, to provide the basis for a rich life, in sum).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Security Council is a victim of the political battles in the world, he argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no way to build a better framework to handle the major power differentials\u201d., said Prashad, author of 30 books, including most recently \u2018Washington Bullets\u2019 (LeftWord, Monthly Review),<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be far better to empower the UN General Assembly, which is more democratic, but since the 1970s we have seen how the US \u2013 in particular \u2013 undermined the UNGA to take decision making almost exclusively to the UNSC\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ever since the fall of the USSR, he said, the UN Secretary-General has become subservient to the US government (\u201cwe saw this shockingly with the treatment of former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali\u201d).<\/p>\n

The new \u2018Group of Friends to Defend the UN Charter\u2019, which includes China and Russia, is a positive development, said Prashad.<\/p>\n

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on March 31: \u201cAnd then in terms of working with my counterparts in the Security Council, I know that there are areas \u2013 and this is a discussion that I\u2019ve had \u2013 with both my Russian and Chinese colleagues \u2013 we know that there are red lines\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are areas where we have serious concerns, and we\u2019ve been open and we\u2019ve been frank about those concerns. In China, what is happening with the Uyghurs, for example. With Russia, in Syria, and there are many others. We know what the red lines are\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to bridge those gaps, but we also try to find those areas where we have common ground. We\u2019ve been able to find common ground on Burma (Myanmar). With the Chinese, we\u2019re working on climate change in, I think, a very positive way. We\u2019re not in the exact same place, but it\u2019s an area where we can have conversations with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo as the top U.S. diplomat in New York, it is my responsibility to find common ground so that we can achieve common goals, but not to give either country a pass when they are breaking human rights values or pushing in directions that we find unacceptable,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, harking back to a bygone era, during the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s, the United Nations was the ideological battle ground where the Americans and the Soviets pummeled each other\u2013 either on the floor of the General Assembly hall or at the horse-shoe table of the UN Security Council.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the most memorable war of words took place in October 1962 when the politically-feisty US Ambassador Adlai Stevenson (1961-65), a two-time Democratic US presidential candidate, challenged Soviet envoy Valerian Zorin over allegations that the USSR, perhaps under cover of darkness, had moved nuclear missiles into Cuba\u2014and within annihilating distance of the United States.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a tense Security Council meeting, Stevenson admonished Zorin: \u201cI remind you that you didn\u2019t deny the existence of these weapons. Instead, we heard that they had suddenly become defensive weapons. But today \u2014 again, if I heard you correctly \u2014 you now say they don\u2019t exist, or that we haven\u2019t proved they exist, with another fine flood of rhetorical scorn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right sir\u201d, said Stevenson, \u201clet me ask you one simple question. Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the USSR has placed and is placing medium and intermediate range missiles and sites in Cuba?\u201d \u201cYes or No? Don\u2019t wait for the translation: Yes or No?\u201d, Stevenson insisted with a tone of implied arrogance.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Russian through a UN translator (who faithfully translated the US envoy\u2019s sentiments into English), Zorin shot back: \u201cI am not in an American courtroom, sir, and therefore I do not wish to answer a question that is put to me in the fashion in which a prosecutor does. In due course, sir, you will have your reply. Do not worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not to be outwitted, Stevenson howled back: \u201cYou are in the court of world opinion right now, and you can answer yes or no. You have denied that they exist. I want to know if \u2026I\u2019ve understood you correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Zorin said he will provide the answer in \u201cdue course\u201d, Stevenson famously declared: \u201cI am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over.\u201d<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

Thalif Deen is the author of a newly-released book on the United Nations titled, <\/em>No Comment \u2013 and Don\u2019t Quote Me on That. https:\/\/www.rodericgrigson.com\/no-comment-by-thalif-deen\/<\/a> – https:\/\/www.vijithayapa.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – ipsnews.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

14 Apr 2021 – A new Cold War \u2013 this time, between the US and China \u2014is threatening to paralyze the UN\u2019s most powerful body. The sharp divisions between China and Russia, on one side, and the Western powers on the other, are expected to continue, triggering the question: Has the Security Council outlived its usefulness or has it lost its political credibility?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":183660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[867,244,1061,278,124,1888,70],"class_list":["post-183659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-anglo-america","tag-china","tag-cold-war-ii","tag-russia","tag-united-nations","tag-unsc","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}