Word: thant
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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...
...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 invasions of Hungary...
...instructed to determine the status of the cease-fire talks between Egypt, Jordan, Israel and United Nations Negotiator Gunnar Jarring. The talks, stymied by Nasser's missile movements near the Suez Canal and by Jordan's civil war, will almost certainly be suspended indefinitely. United Nations Secretary-General U Thant acknowledged as much last week when he decided to let Diplomat Jarring return to his regular assignment as Swedish Ambassador to Moscow. Nasser was indispensable to getting the talks going. Before...
...greatest debacle was awaiting him in June 1967, when Nasser rashly took Syria's word that Israel was preparing an attack and ordered U.N. peacekeeping forces out of the Gaza Strip. He later admitted that he had not expected Secretary-General U Thant to comply. To his surprise, Thant rushed the U.N. troops out, leaving an obvious danger zone unguarded. In the face of Egyptian mobilization, the Israelis launched a devastating pre-emptive attack on Egypt. Drubbed in the Six-Day War, Nasser resigned, knowing that the Arab masses would plead for him to return. He did, a scant...
Despite the imposing cast of characters, there is little likelihood of major diplomatic breakthroughs. That would be consistent with the U.N.'s record of the past 25 years-few big successes, some small ones and many disappointments. As Secretary-General U. Thant said last week: "There are times when I believe that the U.N. has not been faring so badly; that we have had an uneasy peace during the last 25 years, and that we have at least avoided an atomic conflagration; that nearly a billion people have gained their independence, without the bloodshed and struggles which other nations...