United Nations: Ukraine?

What is the United Nations doing about Ukraine?

What is the UN doing these days? Are they worth keeping?

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https://unric.org/en/the-un-and-the-war-in-ukraine-key-infor….

Are they worth keeping?

Is the basis of your query an inference that the entire UN should no longer exist because of some unknown action (at least to you) regarding Ukraine?

What would you like for the UN to be doing that you think they are not?

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IIRC, the U.N. Is providing housing and food relief to Ukrainians in need. In addition, they have taken an active role in getting Ukrainian wheat shipped to Africa to prevent people from starvation.

The U.N. is a peacekeeping organization that at least give countries the opportunity to communicate with one another. Nothing wrong with that.

Is it perfect? No. But besides Edson Lopes guitar playing, what is?

AW

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In what sense is the UNs peacekeeping mission successful?

Name some examples.

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In what sense is the UNs peacekeeping mission successful?

In Ukraine? I hope you are aware there is NO ACTIVE peacekeeping mission in Ukraine - they don’t typically operate in active war zones and Russia has veto power over such regardless. Certainly adding Russia as a permanent member of the Security Council (the group that would actually approve of boots on the ground) was a very bad idea.

If you are asking about historical successful missions, there have been many. One them my father served in {I also served in a joint UN/US Peacekeeping mission in Egypt but it is not listed below].

[BTW, all of this is readily available via google.]

https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/our-successes

https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/past-peacekeeping-operations

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Government in the final analysis is a valve on conflicts.

The UN is one more valve where is questionable that anything can be worked out.

As a human being I am proud to report the species is muddling through.

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In what sense is the UNs peacekeeping mission successful?

Name some examples.

Cyprus, UN troops (including Canadians) kept troops there between the two sides for IIRC 29 years until everyone forgot what the Greeks and Turks were fighting about. I came within 3 days of going there in 1970 for six months until the Company Commander decided I was more use to him on the Battalion rifle team in Canada than playing Skat in a six man outpost behind a light machine gun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Nations_peaceke…

My longest known and best friend today was knocked off the back of an APC by artillery fire while doing Intel work during the Kosovo War. He never fully recovered so was pensioned off early with a damaged back. He managed to take leave and visit us while we were in Germany, I was in the process of planning our return to Canada at the time.

My elder brother did a stint on the Golan Heights but he was a finance guy who probably couldn’t be trusted with a weapon. }};-@ I have pictures of the front line in Cyprus from when we visited as tourists years later. We had dinner one evening in a Greek owned restaurant … but other than the owner all the staff were Turks.

When DT mentioned defunding the UN (he was probably after the prime NY real-estate for a Trump tower?) Montreal jumped forward and offered to host a new UN tower. Somehow that died on the drawing board.

So if UN goes, does that mean NATO will be next on the list? Perhaps we should warn the Finns and Swedes that we can’t be trusted?

Speaking of the Finns, Canadian Junior Hockey team plays their Juniors tonight at 7PM Eastern Time

Tim <old soldier, sailor, aircrew NATO kind of guy.>

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Name some examples.

The Sinai

Some warring parties in Africa. Although I have zero expertise in that.

Relations between eastern and western Europe avenues in the Un averted nuclear war many times over during the cold war.

Currently we do not fully know what Russia will do as a retaliation over the war but the Un functions as a place all sides can have backroom discussions whether in NYC or anywhere else in the world.

Dismissing the UN just tells me peace is not top of mind. I am a hawk, but peace is more useful.

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Speaking of the Finns, Canadian Junior Hockey team plays their Juniors tonight at 7PM Eastern Time

Tim <old soldier, sailor, aircrew NATO kind of guy.>

End of the second period score Canada 5 Finland 1 (lucky shot). }};-D

Certainly adding Russia as a permanent member of the Security Council (the group that would actually approve of boots on the ground) was a very bad idea.

If I remember my history correctly (something that’s always in question), it was necessary to make Russia a permanent member of the Security Council to make the UN happen. Russia fought on the same side of WWII as the US, France, and the UK. And the UN was formed in the aftermath of that war.

While making Russia a permanent member seems odd today, having the UN at all for the last 3/4 of a century (or thereabouts) has probably still been a positive thing.

–Peter

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