The U.N Security Council - Powerless and without authority?

[rjfp1962]

What is the point of the United Nations Security Council? The Soviet Union were made a permanent member of it when it was formed in October 1945.
When the Soviet Union dissolved, why was the Russian Federation automatically placed in the former's position within the council?
President Zelensky is a leader asking all the difficult questions.. If the United Nations can't reform, they should "dissolve" I think he's 100% correct and it has to change.
The way I see it - these meetings of the council are largely symbolic and acheive little if anything...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM24YCH5cnw

(The video footage President Zelensky supplied the council ISN'T shown in this YouTube video)

[46and2]

I heard on the radio yesterday that it is possible to make ammendments to the running of the security council via a 2/3 majority in the general assembly. If thats the case the UN needs to get on with it to help save any credibility it has left. First Syria now Ukraine. It will come with ramifications for the other permanent members as well.

[lizardbrain]

They need to get the Hermes rebranding guys in. Something that rolls of the tongue. Maybe League of Nations?

[Murph7355]

46and2 said:

I heard on the radio yesterday that it is possible to make ammendments to the running of the security council via a 2/3 majority in the general assembly. If thats the case the UN needs to get on with it to help save any credibility it has left. First Syria now Ukraine. It will come with ramifications for the other permanent members as well.

They can't remove the permanent members (the clue's in the name ).

Allowing Russia to take the USSR seat was probably unwise. But I suspect the main function of that council is keeping dialogue open and trying to get agreement between countries able to lob nuclear weapons around. Keeping Russia on side during the USSR collapse was probably a priority back then.

I suspect the main path on this is to first get Putin to withdraw. Maybe get UN peacekeepers in for a referendum on Donbas and other separatist chunks, and keep sanctions in place while ever Putin remains in power.

[Biker 1]

As above - the security council is basically a misnomer. It is only really a talking shop, where at least there is some sort of back channel for negotiations.

[glazbagun]

The job of the SC was to allow the surviving powers of WWII to influence the rest of the world and to prevent direct confrontation between them.

Hence the proxy wars that have been playing out for the past seventy years, including Ukraine and the Yemen. The main use of UN Peacekeepers is to allow less expensive troops to hold down war-torn areas, but since they can't attack the government of a country without UNSC approval they're pretty useless too.

Linda Polman's "We Did Nothing" is a pretty good, if depressing, read on UN peacekeeping operations in the 90's. The organisation is deliberately weak as it's the only way to get everyone onboard.

Edited by glazbagun on Wednesday 6th April 14:07