Problems Still UNresolved

After three days, about 200 five-minute speeches(some longer), 85 nations signing nearly 300 treaties and, of course, 91 “orderly” demonstrations, the Millennium World Peace Summit at the United Nations in New York came to an end this September. Over 185 meetings occurred between government leaders at the United Nations, not including the dozens held in hotels and other New York venues.

It would appear, from these figures, that the UN had a successful gathering. However, while UNSecretary-General Kofi Annan called the summit “a defining moment for the leaders and for the United Nations,”plenty of skeptics claimed “it was only a feel-good public relations exercise” (United Press International, Sept. 14).

What was accomplished by the 191-nation organization? Primarily, a broad, nine-page declaration listing six “fundamental values” essential to international relations: freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, better management of the environment and, lastly, a sense of shared responsibility of all nations in managing the global economy and social development.

This document actually may cause more harm than good. Here is why. The UN, according to the declaration, will strive to uphold the sovereign equality of all states, as well as respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence. But at the same time, the UNwill also strive to uphold the right to self-determination of peoples. This presents a problem for many nations in territorial disputes right now. Consider how Chechens, Tibetans and Kurds could preach from the memorandum stating they demand freedom and “self-determination,” while their “mother” countries—Russia, China, Iraq or Iran—could argue back from the same UN memorandum stating that they deserve “respect for their sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Here, in the most concrete accomplishment of the summit, planting seeds for more war might have been the major achievement! Believe it or not, words to that effect were sounded by the late Herbert W. Armstrong back in 1945, when he attended the inaugural session of the United Nations. He predicted that day, “I do not see peace being germinated here, but the seeds of the next war!” He said the UN was producing “nothing but strife and bickering” and that it was “destined from its inception to end in total failure.”Strong words to proclaim on such an optimistic day.

But how true they have turned out to be. The summit even saw the United Nations trying to bolster its reputation as a more worthy “peacekeeping” force by expanding its mandate:”that the United Nations regularly intervene in civil wars when the human stakes are high.” But does this not contradict its original 1945 charter? Was the UN created to stop war within nations or between them?

This last-ditch effort to salvage its reputation will create more problems and further damage the credibility for the organization. The UN, in sticking its nose in intranational wars and ethnic conflicts, would have to be able to assign blame: Which side is the good guy? Could this possibly work? The UN cannot even be successful at keeping “peace”(consider the botches in Rwanda, East Timor, Kosovo, Sierra Leone). Now they want to try their hand at making peace?

The fact is, as Herbert Armstrong predicted over 55 years ago, the UN will not be able to keep or make peace, within nations or between nations. In fact, it will only increase the possibility for more conflicts, intra- and internationally.

Finally, the summit produced a number of bold pledges to be turned into reality within 15 years.

By 2015, the UN aims to cut in half the number of those who earn less than one dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger. In the same year, it declares that all children on Earth will be able to complete elementary education, that each gender will have equal access to education, that maternal mortality will be cut by three quarters, the mortality of children under age 5 will be cut by two thirds (not addressing how this will significantly cause more problems for population control) and that the hiv/aids epidemic will be reversed. And the UN resolved to spare no effort to free humanity “from the scourge of war.”

However unrealistic these goals are for the UN to achieve, they will be acheived by a different power very soon. The Almighty God, in His inspired document, canonizes a pledge that He will free the world from the scourge of war. It will be a time of peace among and within nations. It will be a time when, yes, all children will have equal access to education regardless of gender, and all will complete their education. The aids and hivepidemic will be wiped out; maternal, infant and child mortality will not merely be cut down but totally eradicated! And not at the expense of an uncontrollable population explosion.

Our free booklet The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like,written by Herbert W. Armstrong—who so vividly predicted the UN’s bleak future—explains this awesome, utopian future awaiting this planet. Write for it today!