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The United Nations at 80
The UN’s grim future
Going rogue, decay or Trumpification.
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A United Nations armoured vehicle in southern Lebanon.
PHOTO: AFP
The Economist
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The United Nations has known many crises since its founding in 1945, from the mysterious death in Congo of its secretary-general, Mr Dag Hammarskjold, in 1961, to Mr Nikita Khrushchev’s alleged shoe-banging in the Cold War, the massacres of civilians under its protection in the 1990s, and America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. As leaders prepare to gather in New York this week for the UN’s 80th birthday, veterans say none of those disasters feels as calamitous as this one.
With President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, there are many traumatic scenarios for the UN, but three stand out: going rogue, decay and turning Trumpian.
