UNO Theme A - Page 10
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US and the UN:
During the Cold War, USA had to take into account the Soviet Union, which remained an obstacle in the former’s relations with Asia, Africa and Latin America. It had to recognise the principle of national sovereignty of individual nations. The US and USSR led confrontation had transformed the General Assembly into hostile warring arena through much of the 1970s and 1980s with U.S. ambassadors like Daniel P. Moynihan and acerbic Jeane Kirkpatrick becoming popular in USA. But the UN did serve as a useful clearinghouse for mediating the Cold War relations. In the 1990s, Republican supporters like Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, lambasted U.N. peacekeeping, blocked payment of U.N. dues, and ridiculed U.N. programs. Similarly, Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina a spokesman for the right termed the United Nations "the nemesis of millions of Americans."
The collapse of the Soviet Union ended constraints on US.. It was first evident during the 1990-91 Gulf war, when Gorbachev’s suggestions for peaceful solution were brushed aside.
Then US and its allies increasingly turned to direct military intervention to secure their interests in the name of humanitarian concerns, when national independence and sovereignty were trampled upon.
It is cynically called “ethical imperialism,” where the UN has performed the critical function of providing a legal cover for neo-colonial ambitions to exercise authority with out accountability.
The United Nations' agenda and core U.S. security interests have been made to converge.
For example, the U.N. Charter says nothing about the importance of elected government, yet U.N. missions routinely sponsor democratic transitions, monitor elections, and promote free institutions. And create more problems. The charter explicitly prohibits U.N. intervention in the internal affairs of any government (save for enforcement actions), yet the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, created in 1993 at the United States' urging, exists solely to nudge governments to do the right thing by their own people (mostly to suit US policies)
The United Nations' charter does not mention terrorism, but the United Nations passes and encourages governments to ratify antiterrorist conventions, freeze terrorist assets, and tighten security on land, in air, and at sea. Reportedly, the situation in East Timor, whose population is mostly Christians in Muslim Indonesia, where de Mello administered, has not improved. There are similar movements for independence on some other Indonesian islands. Yes Australia’s command over Timor has persuaded Dili to grant oil and other mineral concessions to Australian companies.