Fact: the UN has been INEFFECTIVE in stopping aggression/war. What do you think?

How can you say that?

Look at all the Rwandans they saved... uh nevermind.

How about how they prevented genocide in Darfur.. umm skip that.

But look a the success of the Oil-for-food program.. err that won't work either.

But look at how the UN forces kept peace in southern Lebanon... ahhh not a good example either.

So, okay, they've basically failed their basic mission, but it's not like the UN peacekeepers go around raping women and children... shucks, that's wrong, too...

The UN never really had authority. Many countries were afraid that giving the UN too much power would wind up in a world government and dictatorship, so they left it without any real power. On top of that, the five charter members (United States, Britian, France, Russia, and China) very rarely agree on anything, and each of them have veto power on anything that comes through the UN councils, so the UN never can get anything done.

While I consider the UN ineffective as well in its intended goal of peace, it is a place where countries can come face-to-face and in fact have to come face-to-face. So if there were no UN, fighting countries might never talk because they didn't want to; the presence of the UN requires that at some time the fighting countries ambassadors must come into contact, and that other ambassadors force them to talk. Which may wind up making peace anyway if only because they get a chance to talk that they might otherwise not have had.

The existence of a United Nations body is an attempt to regulate the political and economic relations of all countries. Sure, it may be ineffective today, but the bottom line is: we must never give up our efforts in improving the political will of the UN over errant governments. We cannot afford to give up any effort to bring world peace, no matter how puny. This truth is the final source of the UN's authority.

You ask how the UN can possibly maintain its authority in these times. But perhaps the key to the answer lies in REPHRASING the question: What can WE all do to help the UN gain more integrity and authority?

On the whole I think they've done pretty well over the years. It's not their fault if countries like the US want to use the UN for their own political agenda. Did you know that the US is farther behind paying it's dues than any other country? They owe millions.

The UN can only do what it can to convince other countries to fall in line. The US is the worst abuser of power. Look what it has done in Iraq against UN wishes. Iraq was just fine under UN control til W invaded.

The US is behind much of what is going on is Lebanon and the Israelis. They are supplying all the weapons and the intellegence. So point your finger at Bush as well. He's the most to blame.

its true.think of the UN as a middleman for the world,they can't just stop a war without troops from the UN members,thats why the original League of Nations was replace by the UN.maybe in the not too distant future, the UN might be replace by something else.etc>the Global Defence Initiative(GDI) get it?

UN is nothing but the forum of people who just watch the show and act as per US decisions and frankly do u think UN or US wants to stop this war? They also want to kill hizbullaahs, over all UN failed to handle this issue.

The UN is impotent and corrupt.

The blend of cultures doesn't work.

The UN needs to be relegated to social programs and stop even pretending it can (or wants to) control the dangerous regimes and terrorist in the world.

The UN has been ineffective for quite some time. I believe they will really need a changing of the Guard to help to restore any credibility. Kofi retiring is not enough, their corruption runs very deep.

Does the UN involve itself in fighting. I thought they sent soldiers with guns to war torn countries so they can stand by and watch as innocent people get caught in the crossfire.

Seriously, they're allowed to fire weapons? Choose sides?

What do you expect from an organization that has no backbone and no moral authority.They have dictatorships, like Cuba, on the human rights commission. They can't enforce resolutions like 1559 ( in support of a sovereign Lebanon). They are morally corrupt - with peacekeepers who rape the local citizens they are to protect and in the corruption of aid programs ( ie. Oil for Food ).