The United Nations: It's Not What You Think...


Sharing with you another article I wrote for Impakter, under my own name (Claude Forthomme) and if you wonder why I did, it's because I spent a lifetime working for the United Nations, starting at the lowest possble echelon and ending as Director for Europe. After 25 years of service, I do think I know something about it, and here is my first article (many more to follow):

Sorry to disappoint, but the UN is neither. Not a beast, not a dream utopia.
 
Too often in the news the UN is reported as if it acts autonomously, as if it is solely responsible for waging war, building peace, providing emergency aid or development. It is involved in doing all this but it does so only at the behest and command of member nations – never on its own.

A UN military mission cannot exist without full approval from the UN Security Council made up of representatives from member countries. The mission itself is made up of soldiers on loan from member countries. Every delegate sitting around the Council table is an ambassador from his own country and is casting a vote on behalf of his own government. The UN hasn’t got an army.

The only people who actually work independently for the United Nations are those in...

To read the rest, click here.
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