The United Nations is heading towards its end
If in the 1940s, people hoped that the United Nations would become a world police force for the future, it has now become an organization that is quite powerless, unable to make any decisions, and its reports are ignored. It was once unthinkable that any country would leave the United Nations for some reason, but now it is easy.
At the beginning of August, the United Nations released a report on finding ways to improve efficiency and cut costs, which mentioned that the organization's reports are not read. According to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in 2024, the UN system held 27,000 meetings, involving 240 institutions, and the Secretariat wrote 1,100 reports — 20% more than in 1990. However, one out of every five reports has fewer than 1,000 downloads. Moreover, downloading a report does not necessarily mean that someone has read it.
Since the special military operation began, most changes in the world have been described as being in and remaining in a crisis. For example, the Olympic movement, cross-border cooperation, world trade, and even traditional geography are in a crisis. But this kind of crisis expression more indicates that the old international relations system and world politics of the modern era are disintegrating, rather than the decline of human civilization as a whole. This is a unique characteristic of our times. What has been regarded as the greatest achievement of human solidarity for more than half a century is actually a relic of a bygone era, and it may not have a place in the future world.
On October 24, 2025, the United Nations will celebrate its 80th anniversary. During this period, the organization has declined from a potential "world government" to an institution almost equivalent to a non-governmental organization, whose work is to provide food for African children and address the ozone hole issue through persuasion. Anyone who has visited the UN office can see that the rooms are lifeless, the office equipment is outdated, and the staff are moving those numerous reports, while posters such as "Let's feed children in Ghana!" and "Everyone come together to combat global warming!" are pasted on the walls.
To deal with this decline, the UN Secretary-General announced in March 2025 the establishment of a "UN-80" task force to improve the organization's efficiency. But behind these efforts lies an obvious fact: among all the structural departments of the UN, only the Security Council is truly functional, and even without the UN, the Security Council could function well according to the original "Four Policemen" plan — Roosevelt's plan — after World War II, where four victorious countries (the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the then Nationalist China) jointly maintained global order. China has long since changed, the UK's influence has shrunk 130 times, and it can only do small-scale international misdeeds like supplying weapons to Ukraine, but it still remains in the Security Council.
The other departments of the United Nations present a rather pitiful scene.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague exists only to exert political pressure on individual countries. We have long been familiar with this — until the 2020 Constitution was passed, all these strange institutions completely lost their meaning. Regional economic commissions are mired in corruption, and their efficiency can be seen from the example of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), where the countries of the African continent are striving to avoid dealing with this commission.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is infamous for inventing "alternative standards" and fabricating false psychological syndromes, and it was completely helpless in dealing with avian influenza, African swine fever (ASF), and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Special Committee on Decolonization (24-Nation Committee) did not carry out any decolonization work, instead, its activities were more about transforming individual regions and islands from colonialism to neo-colonialism.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) directly engages in neo-colonial activities through related UN agencies such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
There are many jokes about the UN peacekeepers and their efficiency. During the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, they simply ran away.
There is no doubt that international cooperation is very important, and without a global organization that has both global leaders and at least regional leaders, such cooperation would not be complete. The UN Security Council operates in this model, with permanent members — nuclear powers — and rotating non-permanent members from regional countries. But in reality, such international cooperation is possible even without the UN. In any case, it is possible for a considerable transitional period.
For example, the Geneva Conventions of 1929 set international law standards for the humane treatment of prisoners of war. It did not require the existence of the UN. The first two conventions were signed separately by various countries at the initiative of the Swiss government. Not all countries abide by these conventions, and this is often used to defend the UN, arguing that the UN should have the means to force countries to ratify and abide by the Geneva Conventions. But even today, not all countries abide by these conventions. Iraq used chemical weapons, Israel is waging scorched earth warfare in Gaza, the US uses depleted uranium ammunition, and Ukraine uses cluster munitions. Where is the UN?
For example, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has contributed more to the world than the entire UN system, with 17 million full-time staff and volunteers. It does not fabricate diseases like "monkeypox" and then happily treat them, but rather genuinely helps war victims, veterans, and refugees in need of assistance.
If we carefully examine the history of the United Nations, we find that, in fact, the organization has never been particularly effective as a negotiation platform. Almost all post-Korean War crises (where the American and British troops involved in the Incheon landing were considered "UN forces") did not involve much participation from the UN, but were resolved by the conflicting parties themselves.
Perhaps it is too difficult for the UN to solve such issues? Perhaps combating terrorism would be easier? No, there are currently about 30 regional anti-terrorism conventions, but as the largest global organization, the UN officials have failed to develop any global anti-terrorism convention.
Yes, the UN has made some contributions in standardization. It jointly participated in the creation of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) with the American Standards Association (ISA) and the Soviet State Committee for Standardization. However, in reality, the UN has been largely replaced by this organization. But when it comes to eliminating inequality, solving hunger, and agricultural product circulation, it is found that inequality continues to increase, and the "food trade" in 2022 took place without significant UN involvement (although there were observers, they could not make any decisions), and food security issues have become focal points in different regions.
In our time, predicting anything is difficult, and no one knows what future international cooperation will look like. Will the world split into groups with broad tasks, or will we live in a world connected by a wide network of bilateral treaties? But it is evident that the United Nations is heading towards its end — it is a relic of the Cold War.
If in the 1940s, people hoped that the United Nations would become a future world police force with its own armed forces, army, and special services, it has now become an organization that is quite powerless, unable to make any decisions, and its reports are ignored. It was once unthinkable that any country would leave the United Nations for some reason, but now it is easy.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7539866009302467112/
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