The U.N. Is in Danger of Becoming Irrelevant

The U.N. Is in Danger of Becoming Irrelevant
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, listens during the U.N. Security Council meeting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Feb. 25, 2022 (AP photo by John Minchillo).

“We the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war … do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.”

These words, from the preamble of the United Nations’ founding charter, capture the ambition, far-sightedness and optimism of the leaders who founded the organization in 1945. But today, they ring a little hollow.

On Feb. 24, after years of tension and months of anxiety, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With social media users sharing an almost blow-by-blow account of the conflict online, the world has looked on in horror as Ukrainian forces defend their democracy.

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