In my last essay, https://respectfulpointsandcounterpoints.com/the-new-world-order-part-i/, we focused on the economic side of the New World Order. In a nutshell, the US invested what would today be $250 Billion to help both its allies and former adversaries restore their economies; they did this so that those countries would be better trading partners with the US. They also lowered trade barriers (minimized tariffs) so that countries that lacked the resources to meet their needs could acquire those resources affordably through trade rather than having to resort to military force to get them. Alas, two generations later, and our leaders seem to be clueless of the hard lessons learned by wise men after experiencing two devastating world wars.
Those same wise leaders, tempered by so much misery, destruction and death, realized that they needed to redesign the world order such that instead of “Might making Right”, there would be some type of rule of law approach to addressing future national conflicts. At the core was establishing a rule that said no nation could use military force (or threat thereof) to take territory or resources from another nation, and there needed to be a means to physically prevent anyone from breaking that rule. Two key institutions were necessary to make this possible: 1. A functioning world “governing” body with representatives from all nations. And 2. A powerful military alliance that would cause any nation that attempts to use force to take territory or resources from another nation to fail.
The structure for a world body had been created two decades before as the brainchild of US President Woodrow Wilson: the League of Nations which the United States Senate refused to join. Led first by FDR and then Truman, the United Nations came into being in April of 1945, a month before the end of the war in Europe. Ukraine was one of the first of the 51 nations to sign the original UN Charter. Because the US was the UN’s primary creator and benefactor, the UN was located in the US on New York City’s East River seven miles from America’s welcoming icon to the world: The Statue of Liberty. In time, 193 nations (all the nations on Planet Earth except The Vatican) signed the UN charter and pledged to abide by its provisions.
The key provision of the UN Charter is Article 2 (4): “all Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations”. As the world’s only superpower at the time, the United States was the main guarantor that this provision would be enforced. (Imagine how meaningless all this would be if the United States ever chose to use or threaten to us its military force to take territory from other nations.)
While there are, from time to time, a few military personnel from different nations under the auspices of the UN, it was impractical from the start for the UN to control a military force capable of enforcing its provisions.
The wise leaders of the United States and Europe realized that a powerful military alliance was essential to contain bad actors and most specially the Russian dominated Soviet Union.
Next post will address NATO.
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