{"id":3373,"date":"2025-10-19T13:48:41","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/?p=3373"},"modified":"2025-10-19T13:48:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:48:42","slug":"to-survive-the-united-nations-must-leave-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/2025\/10\/19\/to-survive-the-united-nations-must-leave-america\/","title":{"rendered":"To survive, the United Nations must leave America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Carl Bildt<\/a>Share<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving the headquarters out of the US is a natural step, owing not only to the withdrawal of US funding and the need for cost savings, but also to the latter’s refusal to grant visas to those attending UN gatherings.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is always an occasion for taking stock of the state of the world. But this year, on the 80th anniversary of the UN\u2019s founding, it was also an occasion to take stock of the organisation itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By any measure, the UN\u2019s situation is dire. While Russian aggression against Ukraine and mounting tensions between the US and China cannot be blamed on the UN, they do highlight a fundamental problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN Security Council \u2013 where China, Russia, and the US each wield a veto \u2013 is locked in a permanent confrontation over one issue or another, blocking the rest of the organisation from moving forward on almost anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the situation in the Middle East, where the UN has played a central role in conflict resolution and peacemaking ever since the State of Israel was established (under a UN resolution).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numerous UN peacekeeping operations in the region have helped to alleviate tensions, and massive humanitarian efforts, primarily aimed at Palestinian refugee communities, have saved countless lives. While the UN has not forged a lasting peace, it has certainly helped prevent some wars and shortened others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, however, the UN has increasingly been sidelined. The so-called Quartet \u2013 the UN, the US, the European Union, and Russia \u2013 is now a distant memory, and numerous UN operations have come under direct attack, primarily by Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli government not only questions the humanitarian efforts of UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) but now also blocks the organisation\u2019s work whenever it can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Hamas\u2019s Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the UN was essential to keeping the situation in Gaza relatively stable. Though it couldn\u2019t overcome divisions among the Palestinians, especially after Hamas assumed power in Gaza in 2006, it could, and did, help provide the basic means of survival for the enclave\u2019s two million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now Israel has questioned or attacked virtually every aspect of the UN\u2019s work on this issue, and it could not have done so without America\u2019s tacit support. US president Donald Trump, in particular, seems willing to accept virtually everything that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s extremist government does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the UN has struggled to mobilise an effective response in South Sudan, a semi-failed state, and in Sudan, where a devastating civil war is entering its third year. Similarly, from the Katanga secession in 1962 to the recent peace operations in northeastern Congo, Central Africa continues to preoccupy UN peacekeepers and mediators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the world, there is no shortage of crises that demand UN engagement \u2013 from Gaza and Sudan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, and Afghanistan, to name just a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with the larger powers fixated on their confrontations with one another, and with the Trump administration withdrawing not only active support but also funding, the outlook for the UN appears grim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US provides 25% of UN funding, but it has stopped sending its contributions. It also traditionally accounts for an even larger share of voluntary financing for humanitarian operations, but these funds, too, have been cut. Making matters worse, China, the UN\u2019s second-largest contributor, is also behind on its payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its financial situation growing desperate, UN secretary-general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warns that staff across the organisation will need to be cut by one-fifth. Morale is said to be low, as is the prospect of a change for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With his recent address to the UNGA, Trump made clear that he has nothing but contempt for the organisation. The Trump administration\u2019s forthcoming review of America\u2019s multilateral commitments is almost certain to deliver more bad news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the UN have any future? While the demand for it is as great as ever, its ability to deliver has obviously been diminished. There is no way for it to survive without scaling back its ambitions and abilities; precisely how it goes about this will be a central issue over the next few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Guterres\u2019s tenure ending in 2026, the process of selecting his successor will also have to feature a debate about ensuring the UN\u2019s long-term survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving the headquarters out of the US is a natural step, owing not only to the withdrawal of US funding and the need for cost savings, but also to the US\u2019s refusal to grant visas to those attending UN gatherings (as it did with the Palestinian leadership this year).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, a UN that is no longer headquartered in New York would be different in many ways. But relocation also may be the only way for it to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dag Hammarskj\u00f6ld, the UN\u2019s second secretary-general, famously remarked that the body was not created to deliver Heaven, but rather to spare us from Hell. That task remains as important as ever. But for things to stay the same, everything must change.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Carl<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Carl Bildt is a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carl BildtShare Moving the headquarters out of the US is a natural step, owing not only to the withdrawal of US funding and the need for cost savings, but also to the latter’s refusal to grant visas to those attending UN gatherings. The annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is always an occasion for taking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3374,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions\/3374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}