Word: generality
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1970
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
AFTER a quarter-century, the U.N. survives, but the question remains of how much it accomplishes beyond that. Secretary-General U Thant's own assessment is that "the U.N. has done well, but it has not done well enough." Certainly it is no longer a defense of the U.N.'s record merely to recall Adlai Stevenson's remark that if the U.N. were to disappear, something very much like it would have to be created. One of its most useful functions remains as a place for hostile big powers to meet and, if they so desire...
KEEPING THE PEACE: Kashmir, Cyprus and the Congo have all been U.N. successes. In the Middle East, a U.S.-backed General Assembly resolution successfully cooled the Suez crisis of 1956, but that plus was wiped out in 1967. When Cairo demanded that the U.N. pull out its 3,400-man Emergency Force, U Thant swiftly complied rather than try to stall for time. It was one of the more spectacular misjudgments of Thant's flaccid, nine-year stewardship. As a result, Egypt began mobilizing near Israel's borders, and the Six-Day War was on. In the Soviet...
...seismographs around the world measured the impact of the closely spaced explosions, the U.N.'s anniversary session was shaping up, like the U.S. underground test, as a strictly low-yield affair. On the first day, when General Assembly President Edvard Hambro of Norway rose to declare that "the world will be listening to what we say and watching what we do," he stared out over vast expanses of empty seats and delegates of far less stature than had been anticipated...
...soon be knocking on the U.N.'s doors. Of a total of some 65 territories, trusts and colonies that are headed for independence, 50 have populations under 100,000. All together, these potential members will represent fewer people than there are in New York City. But in the General Assembly they will be able to amass enough votes to block the two-thirds majority needed for any important decision...
...past experience is any guide, the new ministates will be using their debating privileges to the maximum, a stupefying-and increasingly serious -problem for the U.N. The U.S. has suggested that the smaller nations be given "associate" membership but no General Assembly vote. Another proposal is that each nation's vote be weighted to reflect the size of its population. With its steadily growing membership, the U.N. promises to become an ever more faithful mirror of Marshall McLuhan's "global village." But unless some measure is adopted to deal with the small-nation problem, it will also become...