The un’s reform

Dag Hammarskjold, the second U.N. secretary-general and the man who fathered U.N. peacekeeping operations, used to describe the role of the world body in this way: “The United Nations was not created to take humanity to heaven but to save it from hell.”

On many occasions, the United Nations saved human society from hell. With few exceptions, it has successfully prevented states from invading other countries. Decolonization and democratization also advanced. The United Nations may not have been directly responsible for these changes in the international environment, but it doubtlessly encouraged such trends.

At the same time, there are many cases in which we saw hell. In particular, the United Nations failed to prevent ethnic cleansing and genocides after the Cold War. Bosnia and Rwanda are typical examples. Terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and failed states emerged as new threats, but the United Nations has yet to devise sufficient ways to cope with them. In the face of the Iraqi crisis, it could not present an effective alternative to the U.S. unilateristic first-strike argument. As a result, both the United Nations and the United States lost prestige.

A high-level advisory panel commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently released a report listing ways to reform the United Nations. It points out how various threats the world now faces are interrelated and stresses the need for “a comprehensive strategy” to deal with them that not only involves military operations but economic measures as well.

U.N. Security Council reform is a necessary reform to that end. But many small countries are skeptical that reform is no more than a reshuffling of privileges and power. We need to improve the accountability of the Security Council to show that is not the case. Currently, 95 percent of the discussions in the Security Council are closed. It needs to be more transparent.

Currently, all of the permanent members of the Security Council are nuclear powers. That makes it difficult to reflect the interests and viewpoints of non-nuclear powers. It is necessary to advance disarmament from the standpoint of a non-nuclear state.

Therefore, the inclusion of such countries as Japan and Germany as permanent members can be justified and can help the United Nations recover its ``legitimacy,'' according to the German diplomat.

Viewpoints on disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament, are important. But it is not easy to have them reflected in the Security Council since most of the current permanent members are poisoned by their absolute faith in nuclear weapons, which they see as an ultimate symbol of their power and status in international politics.

Test 4 Modern International Relations in South Asia

Ex.1 Read the text and put 5 questions to its context. Give the Russian equivalents to the words in bold and make up your own sentences with them.

South Asia

The term South Asia is often considered synonymous with the term Indian subcontinent, and includes the following neighboring states:

• India

• Pakistan

• Afghanistan

• Bangladesh

• Nepal

• Bhutan

• Sri Lanka

• the Maldives

All of these countries are members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Geographically, the Indian subcontinent would additionally include some disputed territory currently controlled by China and Myanmar. It covers about 4,480,000 km² (1,729,738 mi²), or 10 percent of the Asian continent. However, its population accounts for about 40 percent of Asia. Some or all of Afghanistan is sometimes considered part of the region of South Asia because Afghanistan has shared many historical currents with the region, but is not located on the subcontinent.

Geo-politically, the Indian subcontinent can be divided into the following regions:

• the Himalayan states/Himalayas

• the Peninsular India/Deccan Plateau

• the Indian Ocean states (also includes India's Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands)

On account of the great geostrategic importance of the region, the interests of global economic powers and of several great states, such as the US, some European countries, and the Russian Federation overlap in it. Western concerns and, and following them, governments of correspondent states, are directly interested in control over natural resources in Middle Eastern and Central Asian states, and Black Sea-Caspian region countries. In the least, they are interested in profiting from their exploitation. The realization of large-scale trans-Asian transportation projects promotes the reorientation of Central Asian states toward the West.

After the USSR's collapse Turkey and Iran found themselves in a situation of conflicting interests, struggling, in fact, for influence in the region. Moreover, Iran is attempting to force so-called "political Islam" onto the region, that is, to create possibilities for directly influencing the policies of new states through the help of an ideological hegemony. Turkey is also actively using the factor of political and economic influence within the environment of Turkish nations. Growing awareness of the role of ethnic proximity increases the intensification of the consolidation processes of Turkish states, which have recently become especially active.

Iran is especially interested in attaining nuclear capability. The West regards the penetration of Soviet nuclear technologies and weaponry into Iran to be another danger, separate from the spreading of Iranian-Islamic influence. Publications have appeared in the western mass media about former Soviet nuclear scientists helping Iran with the production of nuclear weapons, about the transfer of nuclear materials to Iran, etc.

Ex.3. Answer the following questions in writing.

1. What is Indian subcontinent? How does it relate to South Asia?

2. Enumerate regions that South Asia can be divided into?

3. What factors awake interest of global economic powers towards South Asia?

4. How did the USSR’s collapse affect the situation in the South Asia region?

5. What increases the intensification of the consolidation processes within the region?

Ex.2 Make the literary translation of the text.