“We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” So begins the UN Charter. Yet Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is well into its fourth year, confirming just how far the UN has strayed from its foundational promise.
The problem is not simply that the UN has failed to stop a major war. It is that the state waging the war exercises a veto within the very body that the Charter entrusts with preserving international peace and security.
Last month, the Security Council met once again to discuss Ukraine, and once again, the world saw how Russia has turned the Soviet Union’s permanent seat, which it usurped in 1991, into a license for impunity. If ever the council tries to respond to Russian aggression, the Kremlin blocks it.
