Last week, in this “Planet Earth” column, we referred to the impossibility of the current United Nations Charter of 1945, with the exercise of the right of veto by one or more of the five great powers, to debate about peace in current conflicts. Of a war that has stopped being cold and has become ubiquitously hot.
In 1948, Einstein saw that this veto would be a serious problem. More specifically, he proposed that the mere United Nations be transformed into a universal government, truly effective, to resolve the most serious conflicts. And based on the ideas of Immanuel Kant, from his 1795 essay on “Perpetual Peace,” he proposed that the UN be transformed into a world federation of governments. An idea that obviously did not prosper.
The right of veto was therefore maintained, to perpetuate the impossibility of discussing the issues excepted by any of the five triumphant “great powers” of the Second World War (USA, Russia, China, United Kingdom and France). On the path of an increasing deterioration of the problems, with the result of true historical fossils (the case of the two Koreas), or even the situation that exists today in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine.
In short, in the current context, the UN cannot provide a solution to anything serious. But there will have to come a day when the US, or Russia, or China, or even France or the United Kingdom, will surely understand that it is time for a radical change to avoid the worst, with the elimination of the right of veto. Going to a specific vote for each country (as happens in the IMF and the World Bank) based on its GDP. To form democratic majorities and finally work on a policy of peace for nations that are not disunited in the face of this purpose.
I hope so.