The U.S. and the World Need a UN That Works
An institution that’s more necessary than ever should be helped to do better.
Present at the destruction?
Photographer: Xinhua News Agency/Li Muzi via Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump will command the world’s attention at the United Nations General Assembly this week. After last year’s affirmations of U.S. sovereignty and denunciations of Kim Jong Un as a “Rocket Man on a suicide mission,” who knows what bolts Trump will hurl this time? His chairing of a Security Council meeting on nonproliferation and a U.S. event on the “world drug problem” promise other opportunities for drama.
These theatrics shouldn’t be allowed to shift the focus from a broader problem. In 2018, governments face a pressing and fundamental issue: What can be done to adapt the UN to a new era of rising nationalism and geopolitical competition? The U.S., under this president’s leadership, has no answer. In most ways, it seems unaware of the question.