"We don't know who to shoot"

were allegedly the words of a young Russian soldier.  I have not heard the alleged recording - and I don't speak Russian so I would have to rely on a translation. I am wary of translations, all translations. I am wary of them for good reasons. 

I see a lot of translations and the originals from which they purport to come. There is no such thing as an "exact" translation. Even between speakers of the same language there are differences. There are differences even between people who are in intimate relationships with each other, partners and children, parents and siblings. Our understanding of language is unique and intensely personal.

Is this one reason why the United Nations has failed? Is it because we don't understand one another even on the most basic level?

But, you want to tell me, the United Nations is still there. It is still doing things. 

Really? The United Nations is a shell. It barely exists. There is that huge building in New York and there are other buildings in other places. To many people it looks active and productive but it is what is going on - or should be going on - inside those places which matters. 

The "veto" power is being abused again and again.  Five countries have the power to veto resolutions - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Some view the veto power as the means of maintaining stability, others view it as the reason the United Nations so often fails to do what it set out to do.  Any resolution of the Security Council relating to a member with a veto power is almost certain to fail. Some will argue that countries like France and the United Kingdom should not have a veto power at all. They are, it is argued, not "super powers". The world has changed since the United Nations was formed.

I have had many dealings with various parts of the United Nations. I was involved in the International Year of Disabled People - a year which started with high hopes but has largely failed to achieve much in forty plus years. Right around the world people with disabilities still lack access to far too much. 

Despite that I spent years of my life advocating for what eventually became International Literacy Year. My family and friends thought I was insane. It would never take off. The "if people are illiterate they are easier to control" was trotted out over and over again. I was told there would be opposition within the United Nations - and there was - but it did happen. I can live with the fact that I will always be considered a dangerous fool by some for doing what I did. I still believe that a fool who can read is less dangerous than a fool who cannot read. The year did not achieve what it should have achieved - but that doesn't mean it achieved nothing. Still, there might have been other ways of achieving what was achieved.

It may have started with good intentions but, as an organisation, I feel the United Nations is ineffectual. It lacks any real power. It has failed, yet again, to stop a war. Some are still not prepared to accept the break up of the USSR - even though that is what so many people wanted and for which they actively campaigned. It hasn't stopped the growth of China or any of the border wars between so many countries.  Almost certainly it never will. 

I am reminded over and over again of one of the fragments that Dag Hammarskjold  left in "Markings" and I often wonder what he would make of the present state of affairs, "Only he deserves power who everyday justifies it."  If that is true then the United Nations no longer deserves any power at all. It has lost all authority.