Reform the UN Security Council
The current global geopolitical climate is worse than it has been since the end of the Cold War. We are closer than ever to intentional or accidental nuclear war.
What has brought us to this disastrous predicament?
Quite simply, it’s geopolitical competition. Australia is foolishly buying into the root cause of the problem. Evidence the Albanese government’s enthusiasm to be part of the conflict in Europe, despite all the alternatives for us that would help de-escalate the situation. There has been little discussion about the trade and resource implications the Ukrainian conflict poses for us. Perhaps because there are very few. There’s been even less talk of assessing the ways in which we can become more independent of those reliances [ sic]. Given the lack of altruism in domestic politics, I become very suspicious when it imbues foreign policy. It certainly gives the arms industry — and GDP — a boost.
This flawed approach has cheer-leaders in so-called independent think tanks like the ASPI (Australian Strategic Policy Institute), which celebrates NATO’s new association with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea ( AP4), calling it a “ shift to taking a truly global approach to strategic competition”.
Talk about drawing a line in the sand.
Binoy Kampmark’s description of NATO’s blundering strategy is instructive. Essentially, NATO should have been disbanded soon after the USSR collapsed. It seems Macron is a lone star in talking sense within the organization.
There is a serious lack of imagination going on.
Australia ought to be responding very differently, from a position of strength through greater resource and trade independence and by leading reform of the UN Security Council, as our own Doc Evatt famously did. Paul Keating is dead wrong about China having no record of attacking other states. He has conveniently forgotten Tibet, Vietnam and India. But we must resist the temptation to find ‘good’ guys and ‘bad’ guys. The solution — and the only solution in which I can muster the fortitude to defend Taiwan’s self-determination — is to reform and strengthen the UN’s peace-keeping role. Former UK PM John Major explains what needs to be done clearly in this video at 23:00. Increase the size of permanent members and widen the veto power to at least 3. That is the minimum that needs to be done. A UN Peace-keeping force needs the technical means to intervene and diffuse rather than escalate a military conflict.
“UNMISS Celebrates United Nations Day” by United Nations Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
The whole global rules-based order needs to be embraceable by a much broader base of nations. Australia can assume a more non-aligned leadership role as a resource-rich continent without the disadvantageous reputation of being too big. We shouldn’t wait for a world leader or another cataclysm to occur before giving a significant amount of our energy to this endeavour. I think it should begin at the grassroots of the UN. That is why I have joined my local branch of the UN — the UNAAQ. Why wait until things get catastrophic?
Post script: Good news!
The UN Secretary General António Guterres, is calling for urgent reforms to the Security Council. Announced on the 20th of July, 2023 on the UN website, the Secretary-General launched a new policy brief outlining his vision of a more robust multilateral framework to boost peace and security, for a world in flux. The brief, known as The New Agenda for Peace , highlights geopolitical tensions, and distrust in public institutions.
The post-Cold War period is over, and we are moving towards a new global order and a multipolar world,”
António Guterres said.
The Secretary-General called for strong measures to prevent conflicts at the global level and address geopolitical divisions. He highlighted a “paradigm for prevention that addresses all forms of violence”, focusing on mediation and social cohesion. He has prioritized and realistic mandates from the Security Council.
“The Security Council in particular should more systematically seek the advice of the Commission on the peacebuilding dimensions of the mandates of peace operations,”
Mr. Guterres said.
“ United Nations Grunge Emblem — Sepia” by Free Grunge Textures — www.freestock.ca is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Originally published at http://equanimity.blog on July 14, 2023.
