The Imperial Veto in the UN Security Council Must End
By Andres Kogan Valderrama
HAVANA TIMES – While we continue to witness the massacre against civilians and the complete destruction of the Gaza Strip by the State of Israel, after the indiscriminate massacre by Hamas against Jews a few weeks ago, there seems to be no possibility of a peaceful solution to this horrific conflict between religious fanatics and colonialists.
This after the United States vetoed a proposed UN Security Council resolution that called for a humanitarian pause in Gaza (1), which shows once again the failure of such an organization to contribute anything to world peace. Such has repeatedly happened since its founding, which was nothing other than the imperial division of the planet by the victorious powers of the Second World War.
Hence it should not be surprising that the Security Council is ultimately a paper body, controlled by five members with the power to veto resolutions (Russia, the United States, China, Great Britain and France). These countries have applied it on countless occasions, to protect their geopolitical interests, at the cost of the lives of the peoples.
Historical examples of vetoes, and there are many, show Russia being the country has applied it the most, followed by the United States, where both have directly or indirectly protected dictatorships, invasions and true massacres that have occurred in different countries, blocking the possibility to build a democratic world with full respect for human rights.
Consequently, the five imperial powers have protected and validated multiple horrors against humanity, such as the Apartheid regime in South Africa, George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, the ferocious repression in Syria by Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the Zionist colonization of Palestine, leaving those responsible completely unpunished.
But what is most disconcerting is having to see and read sectors of both the left and the right in different parts of the world, criticizing the horrors of some and protecting those of others, when they are exactly the same in terms of crimes against humanity and violation of human rights.
That is why it seems inconceivable to me not to empathize in the same way with what is happening with the Ukrainian and Palestinian people, who have been humiliated, destroyed, and annihilated by murderous States, which use all their weapons and propaganda to justify their genocides and convince people, who seem not to see humanity as a whole.
Having said the above, and in the face of an imminent nuclear threat, the time has come to think about putting an end to the imperial veto of these five countries and structurally refound the Security Council, so that once and for all the voice of peoples and moderate people will be heard.
Enough of accepting racist hate speeches that belittle entire peoples, as happens with far-right sectors, but also enough of the rhetoric celebrating a new multipolarity and an anti-imperialism of idiots that validates authoritarianism and the repression of some governments, as happens with sectors of the extreme left, since they only feed fanaticism, hatred and the dehumanization of others.
In short, we have already hit rock bottom and we cannot continue with the same international bureaucracy of the United Nations, left without any possibility of real interference in the face of so many aberrations committed by corrupt and criminal rulers, who should be tried, convicted and imprisoned throughout the world for the damage they have done to humanity.
How many more deaths and humanitarian tragedies are we going to have to continue to endure, so that respect for life is placed at the center of everything and is above any type of particular interest and inhumane political and economic systems, which do not respect minimum democratic standards and a basic baseline for peaceful coexistence?
The article makes sober and valid points.
I’m from one of those countries which has a veto. But I have to say that it’s a disgrace.
It is an anti-democratic joke that certain self serving bozos, idiots and psychos that rise to power in these five countries get the right to have a veto.
It’s a disgrace that Russia or the USA (on behalf of it’s strategically important proxy Israel) have a right to veto resolutions aimed at reducing carnage.
The UN is a fine ideal but it is toothless.
Murderous, thieving regimes such as those in Russia and Israel simply ignore UN Resolutions regarding their crude and vulgar policies of systematic land theft.
Look at the vile invasion of Ukraine now lengthening out into a long war of attrition.
Look at the mass slaughter of women and children currently being carried out in Gaza.
The UN votes for a humanitarian truce, but the systematic slaughter of hungry women and children only speeds up. And while the whole world is looking one way, cynical land theft at the point of a gun in the West Bank is continuing at a despicable pace.
The democracy of the UN is a fine ideal. But is it only really good for one thing ?
To shine a light on those countries which lay claim to being splendid democratic examples, but ultimately are only sad examples of hypocrisy ??
The UN is A Joke you only have to see the Cuban dictatorship seating in the Human Rights commission to realize what a waste of time and money, and a mockery for freedom and human rights.