Sparrows and Eagles

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The Treaty of Versailles, German scapegoat, League of Nations, World War II………………………………..
You could have guessed where this list finally ends. This is where the hypocritical world seems to end the list with a “period”. The “period” is what is globally called the “United Nations”. It was believed that all world miseries would end on October 24th 1945; that was when this period was born.
It all seems to stem from the time when Germany was humiliated and forces accept responsibility for the World War I. The brutality of treaty of Versailles was realized only after years after the signing. The treaty had many things to be mocked about. First one being, that despite the humiliation and armistice on Germany, it was still the strongest nation in Europe economically. The treaty could not or rather did not impair Germany’s economy. The next parody is that the BRA of the treaty of Versailles, Woodrow Wilson who talked about the greater responsibility his nation had to play in the years to come, was reluctant to sign it and never joined the League of Nations. Following the treaty was the League of Nations which was a joke by itself. The League was never a success, not even in the beginning: exclusive of Founder, Scapegoat and so many. It was a joke from the day it started. No wonder, the Reich dumped it for his good. The league was more of a joke than a solution. The main reason for the establishment of the league was to avoid another large scale war. The main reason that the protagonists of the UN cite today for the success of the later to the league is that it has avoided the WW III. I will get back to this later. One of the best mockeries of the League was by Benito Mussolini, I enjoyed it the most and that’s probably why I put that as the title. Well, this title, just like its predecessors is a polyseme that carries with it an intended pun, probably more than one.
The mockery as it is, “The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out”.
The main rationale behind establishing the United Nations was to avoid the WW III. Well the protagonists argue that it served its purpose. The UN has been softer towards the happenings in the world. The responsibility and expectations towards the UN were greater than what it has done today. From the outside, undoubtedly the UN is a white pigeon just trying to spread peace in this war torn philistine world. Unfortunately for the people of the world, the wings of Samjodha are tied. But fortunately tied and not cut. The organization needs to revamp and revolutionize its working. It needs to identify the part it is good at and continue its working. Without question, the UN has been a harbinger in the health and education sector: WHO, UNESCO, etc.
There have been more wars since 1950s, Vietnam, Kashmirs, Somalia, Iraqs, Afghanistan, Sudan, Korea, Kosovo etc., and one of the best discoveries which I would attribute to the UN is the advent of terrorism. Terrorism’s upheaval just shows the absence of UN’s intervention or inept methods of problem solving adopted by the UN. Who the heck cares what the permanent members of the Security Council decide. Hegemonic China, Totalitarian back broken Russia, Imperial USA and its second fiddles UK and France make up the Security Council and have the magic word “veto” at their disposal. Well I am missing out on the Israel-Palestine conflicts, add that.
Can the mere prevention of third large scale war be a yard stick for measuring the success of an organization which presumably has even greater duties under its umbrella?
Of course, the efforts from the various UN organizations were immeasurable.
Persuading countries to adopt Agenda 21 in the Earth Summit, focusing on development of Africa, eradicating small pox, improving women’s rights, reducing child mortality rates, futile but trying to protect ozone, fighting drug abuse, improving global communications, Safeguarding and preserving historic cultural and architectural sites - Ancient monuments in 81 countries including Greece, Egypt, Italy, Indonesia and Cambodia, have been protected through the efforts of UNESCO, and international conventions have been adopted to preserve cultural property, Improving education in developing countries - As a direct result of the efforts of UN agencies, over 60 per cent of adults in developing countries can now read and write, and 90 per cent of children in these countries attend school.
These are some of the efforts (from a list from UN website, http://www.un.org/Overview/achieve.html) of UN which need to be applauded. These are all related to education, health, human rights, living conditions and anything else other than war and politics. That’s the reason I stress on a stronger UN role in war prevention.
What it does now is the peace keeping missions aimed at improvement of post war conditions in the war inflicted regions. The war casualties after UN formation have been heavy. The creation of the state of Israel, suez war, six day war, Israeli-Egyptian war, Yom Kippur war, – 65,000, East Germany – 100,000, Congo crisi—100,000, Angola and Mozambique(separately) –150,000, North Yemen—80,000, Nicaragua—60,000, Colombia---45,000, El-Salvadar and Sierra Leone---- 150,000, Algeria-637,000, Eritrea-Ethiopia war---70,000, Yugoslavia(Tito) – 200,000, First Indo-China war-------400,000, Colombia-------200,000, India(1947)----500,000, Romania------150,000, Myanmar--------130,000, Sudan-500,000, Guatemala------200,000, Indonesia---400,000, Uganda(Idi Amin)--------300,000, Vietnam(post war)--------430,000, Angola-------550,000, East Timor------200,000, Lebanon – 150,000, Cambodia----225,000, Iraq(Saddam)-----300,000, Uganda(after Amin)---------300,000, Kurdistan-----300,000, Liberia ---- 150 000, Iraq (1990-)-- 350 000, Bosnia and Herzegovina -- 175 000, Somalia-400,000 and various other minor wars and killings ().
Now what do these total to? Close to a 10 million. This is until 2000 AD. After this begins the big hunt, destruction of cities, killing of terrorists and innocents alike, pouring the blood of vengeance and shattering dreams. Sam is very good at these. The various estimates close in on about a million lives in Afghanistan and Iraq (http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html) and close to a quarter million in the Chechen war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Second_Chechen_War). There are wars still going on, incessantly and these numbers are just the rough estimates.
Wikipedia states that the WW II casualties number about 72 million. This was the cause of a full scale war engulfing the whole world, Imperialism, Nazism, Communism, Fascism etc.
The world is now volatile. It could just burst open anywhere: Korea, Kashmir, Iran, Israel, China, and it could very well be of a global scale. The UN is delaying the defeat which the League was not able to. There is much more to come if the war and political policy of UN is not reviewed or revamped.
Human mind is designed to be on the look for avenues for wars, disputes and disagreements. If it was gold yesterday, it is oil and religion today and for tomorrow future holds the key for rest of the doors. We may or may not live to see the doors chosen by our own children. Rather than using UN as a place to bitch about one another, it can be reformed to undertake greater roles than it is actually playing like electing the members of Security Council on the basis of votes of all the members of UN, stopping wars rather than post mortem of the warring regions etc.
United Nations is not a period but a semi colon.
Contrary to Mussolini’s comment on the league, I would say, UN is a mere spectator when Eagles hunt and a mere spectator too when sparrows bleed.