by Stephen of the Thinkery
The next President of the United States is going to inherit a collosalmess. Our troops will still be bogged down in Iraq no matter whatresolution passes the Congress, and may be in Iran as well. There isnot one nation on the planet in which our reputation is improving. Ourproblems with North Korea will not be resolved for the simple fact thatBush has refused to deal coherently with them since taking office andis showing no signs of making a change. The next president, ourspokesperson to the world and the main architect of the way in which wewill interact with the world, will be in trouble.
We can bethankful that there exist some institutions specifically designed tofoster international cooperation and to assist nations that findthemselves trapped in situations they cannot resolve. Of course I'mspeaking of the United Nations. The UN offers our only hope forprogress in Iraq. If we are also fighting Iran, the UN will be aourbest hope for being able to talk with them as the conflict winds down.And the UN will of course play a key role in our efforts to repair thedamage that has been done to our international alliances andrelationships.
A huge obstacle to all of this, however, is theAmerican people. The UN has a terrifically bad reputation among us -not just conservatives, but liberals as well. It is constantly depictedas a do-nothing organization, a paper tiger, a place for theineffective and the corrupt to gather and blather. But is that the realpicture of the UN?
I decided to take a quick look at three areasof UN involvement and the progress, if any, that has been made: Rwanda,East Timor and Bosnia-Hercegovina (I'm cheating with this one because it's EU and not UN. Deal with it).
