"Both the North Korean stand and the US position point to one development - that the world is increasingly returning to the atavistic ways of muscle, and jettisoning diplomacy as a central forum for the management of world and inter-state affairs."
UN Becoming Ineffective
New Vision (Kampala)
EDITORIAL
February 8, 2003
Posted to the web February 8, 2003
Kampala
NORTH KOREA has vowed to take pre-emptive military action against the United States, whom it fears is getting set to attack it after the impending regime-change strike on Iraq is accomplished.
While Pyongyang's posturing may be laughable, not unlike the Luganda saying "nga akabwa akaboggolera enjovu (a puppy barking at an elephant)", it does raise questions about the direction of world order and its implications on global stability.
North Korea's attitude has probably been informed by the way the Iraq crisis is panning out. In a live television broadcast on Thursday, US President George Bush said that while he would welcome a new United Nations resolution, America would do whatever it takes to disarm Iraq.
The implication here, confirmed in earlier statements, is that the US would strike Iraq with or without UN permission.
Such statements, made repeatedly, undermine the UN's authority. The Koreans cannot trust the UN (Security Council) to defend them, and the US is not confident that the world body will advance its interests. Both the North Korean stand and the US position point to one development - that the world is increasingly returning to the atavistic ways of muscle, and jettisoning diplomacy as a central forum for the management of world and inter-state affairs.
The UN's predecessor, the League of Nations, was set up in 1919 to preserve international peace and security by preventing or swiftly settling disputes. Partly because some world powers, including the US, were not members or withdrew, it became increasingly ineffective, and was unable to prevent the Second World War. Continually undermining the UN could lead to a similar fate.
