The same writers who predict that the United Nations will soon cease to exist correctly
predicted the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall. Regardless of whether they are
right or not the UNs latest inaction regarding Iraq is a sign that the UN is well on its way
into insignificance.
About ten years ago James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg predicted in their third book The
Sovereign Individual" that the United Nations would cease to exist early in the 21st century. The only
reason why this prediction should attract our attention is that these two also predicted the double fall of
the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall. What appeared to be foolish predictions turned out to be correct.
Whether they will be correct here as well is a question which may hinge in part on the current state of
affairs in the Middle East. When President Bush told the UN that it could either act or face its own
irrelevance he was pointing directly in this direction.
The founding of the UN in the wake of World War II and the failed League of Nations was hoped to
prevent further problems of the sort which fostered the two earlier major conflicts. Bringing together the
nations of the world to find solutions and to create an international body to provide control where needed
was a laudable goal. What the idealists forgot was that the political goals of various nations are not
uniform and that individual quests for power may transcend the perceived common goal of world peace.
The UN failed to prevent the Cold War the Vietnam War numerous conflicts in the Middle East and
policies of ethnic cleansing" in Africa and the Balkans.
Today the most potentially destabilizing influences in the world are located in the Middle East through
Central Asia. The United States has been the primary target of these influences however the other
nations should not fool themselves. If America falls or fails to protect them they will be next. These
nations recent participation in the UN debate over Iraq shows just how little their governments care or
how little they have learned from past events. Meanwhile if the Bush Administration allows itself to be
significantly influenced by them or by a UN failure to recognize the facts it will be making a grave
mistake.
Today America is essentially the last man standing after the Cold War. During the Vietnam war it was
often stated by the political left that we cant be the worlds policeman however with the situation as it
is now we have little choice. The United States is the only nation left with both the strength and the
moral authority to take action on the problems which face the collective western world. Whether they
like it or not these problems will have to be dealt with eventually. Just as Hitler did not go away after
Munich our present adversaries will not go away. Appeasement will not work now and historians will
note that it never has in the past.
Of course there is the possibility that a large number of nations may favor UN inaction just to spite the
United States and Western Society. In the event that this reaction sets in we along with the Europe and
significant parts of Asia must decide where their future success lies and whether or not their culture is
worth preserving. No one else will do it for them. If they can see Aristotle St. Thomas Voltaire Sun Tzu
Buddha Confucius and others of the worlds great philosophers destroyed on the altar of moral relativism
then they are betraying themselves the rest of humanity and philosophy as well for if all are equal
then all must be preserved and none must be allowed to take precedence over the others. However the
sad truth is that at present only Western Culture has seen fit to preserve everything it comes across.
Moral relativism is an idealists chimera.
President Bush needs to sharpen his ultimatum. If the UN will not take action to enforce its own
resolutions and will not protect stability of the world then someone else must step in and do so. If it is
the United States which has the ability and will to do so then that must be its present role. We have had
this role thrust upon us in World Wars I and II. Without American involvement in these wars the face of
the world would be vastly different today. With greatness comes responsibility. It is time for us to answer
the call again; if necessary to save humanity from itself. If the United Nations wants to sit twiddling its
collective thumbs then it may well be time for it to vanish from the scene.
