Mr. Trump's characterization of the United Nations as a “club for people to get together, talk and have a good time” is only partially correct. As he recognized in a tweet, the UN as it is structured today is actually causing more problems
President-elect Donald Trump tweeted the sad truth about the United Nations on the day after Christmas, saying it was “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.”
Not long after the president-elect’s tweet appeared, the UN propaganda machine churned out a rebuttal, tweeting the following image listing its Pollyannaish version of its major accomplishments: (See Image Right)
Other than its valuable work in supporting and coordinating the delivery by aid workers of food, medical and other humanitarian supplies to areas of the world beset by natural disasters or conflict, the United Nations has failed, or has been largely irrelevant, in key areas for which it seeks to take credit. This article will focus on peacekeeping, poverty reduction, protection of human rights, help in alleviating the plight of refugees and migrants, and use of diplomacy to prevent conflict.
For example, the UN boasts about its peacekeeping missions, which it says keep peace on four continents. What the UN narrative leaves out is the cholera its peacekeepers brought to Haiti, killing nearly 10,000 people, for which the UN has very belatedly accepted some responsibility. The narrative also leaves out the continuing sexual abuse and exploitation scandal involving UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, which UN senior officials tried initially to cover up.