THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 28, 1995 TAG: 9506280017
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Fifty years after its founding, the United Nations is in danger of foundering. That's too bad. If it could be reimagined, it could serve a more useful function now than ever before.
The United Nations has long been a victim of the grandiose hype that attended its birth. It was supposed to assure peace everlasting, and naturally it hasn't. With no power of its own, the United Nations can't impose peace on anyone, as the debacle of Bosnia demonstrates.
For most of the United Nation's first 50 years, the bipolar standoff of the Cold War made it all but irrelevant. The war and peace issues were handled at the summit or not at all. The United Nations often degenerated into a venue for angry Third World talk and little action.
Yet in the shadow of those charades, U.N. programs on pollution, medical care, children's health and humanitarian relief grew up that have often performed vital functions handled by no other agency. And now that the Cold War is over, the United Nations actually could become a handy clearinghouse for some of the problems facing a multipolar world.
Unfortunately, it may not get the chance to grow into a new role and perfect some of the old. The United States is in a penny-pinching, isolationist mood. It is not just one-world conspiracy nuts or foes of family-planning services who think the United Nations should be eliminated. Peacekeeping misadventures in Bosnia and Somalia have left a bad taste in the mouths of even loyal supporters. Many countries scorn the United Nations as ineffectual, arrogant or anachronistic.
Instead of letting the organization languish, however, it's time to rethink its purpose, to keep what works, fix what's broken and scuttle what never worked and never will - peacekeeping in the middle of a shooting war, for instance.
In remarks to commemorate the 50th anniversary, President Clinton was correct in demanding that the United Nations get its act together, cut bureaucracy and streamline operations. He was fanciful to imply that the organization could live up to the hype and become a peacemaker.
But the organization can do much good in areas where international cooperation is required. It can provide a place to try to work out disagreements. If it didn't exist, something like it would have to be invented. Since it does exist, it needs to be redesigned to fill a more realistic role.
Despite opposition by ideologues, polls show that most people agree the United Nations has a part to play. But if a serious effort at renewal isn't mounted soon, the United Nations will have a hard time lasting another 50 years and won't deserve to survive. by CNB